Adolph Friedländer

Adolph Friedländer ( born April 17, 1851 in Hamburg, † July 7, 1904 ibid ) was one of Germany's most famous poster lithographs of the late 19th century; the printing company he founded, produced 1872-1935 over 9000 different posters that advertised for artists, magicians, circus and vaudeville.

Life and work

Adolph Friedländer was the third and last son of Raphael Israel Friedlander and his wife Betty, nee Wagner. His father was a " merchant " been before he had taken the guild profession of the lithographer in Hamburg. He brought his son in his little operation at the first steps into Lithografenhandwerk. In the summer of 1865, Adolph Friedländer went for further training to Berlin and 1868 on tour by the best German rock printers. In 1872 he returned to Hamburg and began working as an independent printer. On April 1, 1875, he married the brunette Sarah Berling from Hamburg to Jewish rite.

With an inherited after the death of his father old stone printing press, Friedlander was in the valley Straße 22 in Hamburg- St. Pauli down and began the printing of labels for colonial and Delikatesswarengeschäfte. Due to the immediate vicinity of his print, in the variety theater, music halls and beer houses were located, but especially through the show positions on the Spielbudenplatz, he decided to abandon the label printing and its business in four colors on the developed in France since the 1870s, complex printing lithografierter to specialize posters. The breakthrough was told Friedlander printing through a major contract by Carl Hagenbeck in 1883 and 1884, with posters for the Sinhalese and Kalmyks caravan, an animal show, to make the sign.

1884 moved Friedlander in the valley road 57 in larger print premises and is managed on a first lithographic flatbed press, with which he could print about 600 posters in the hour. In the following years he expanded its machinery and incorporated his printing a publisher of, which in turn required new premises, which he found in 1887 in the valley road 83 to 85, where he now as Adolph Friedländer book printing and Lithogr. Kunstanstalt Hamburg renamed. 1890 appeared the first number of a magazine founded by Friedlander in its publisher, The courier. General indicators for the interests of all showmen and traders, circuses, vaudeville and Specialties stages, and related professions. In 1891 the Courier was ever officially issued by Adolf Fischl, 1901 by Max Cohn; 1901 presented the magazine ceased publication, followed by the anchor 1902, which was laid as an international trade body for showmen and artists at Friedlander; the anchor appeared until 1928.

From the mid- 1890s Friedlander also printed picture postcards, a new medium, which was especially used by circus people and the artistes. Its main business was, however, the printing of posters. Since the early 1890s, about 100 different posters were printed in the year, the frequency doubled until the turn of the century. 1904 one or two posters were produced and sent daily. On July 7, 1904 Adolph Friedländer died " after a long serious illness ," the obituary in the Hamburg State Gazette No. 159 of 9 July 1904.

The printing Friedlander 1904-1935

After the death of Adolph Friedländer his sons Louis and Max Otto took over the company. During the First World War came to a halt during the extensive entertainment scene, the poster production to a halt. The print volume rose in the 1920s, first again, however, came as a result of the global economic crisis in 1928 to a level of about 100 posters annually.

Max Otto Friedlander (1880-1953) was after he had operated the Flora Theatre, 1934 Sarrasani gone to South America. Since he was there no possibility of existence, he returned in 1935 returned to Germany, where he was interned in a concentration camp shortly and then emigrated. Ludwig Friedländer (1877-1953) had switched production to the modern offset printing and was owned by the chief draftsman Wilhelm (1904-1982) to continue the printing, especially in the title page and animal illustration. As a " foreign currency ", the printing press was tolerated after 1933, almost two years of the Nazi government; the traditional Friedlander printer Signet, a heart-shaped leaves with serrated edge, now called the " Jews cherry ". In 1935 the last poster of Fried countries with the number 9078; 1938, the operation was finally closed.

Reception

Adolph Friedländer posters can be found in a used book trade, in private collections and museums, such as the Munich City Museum. and the Theater Lübeck Figure Museum. Since the late 1970s, the posters found in exhibitions and publications reinforces attention. Approximately 200 posters published in 1979 Ruth Malhotra with a time-and art-historical assessment of the individual copies and the print shop. Following the scale of the print directory, since 2002 was an anxious by Stephan Oettermann and Jan J. Seffinga collection of posters with detailed descriptions of works and an extensive bibliography, a fourth revised edition learned in 2004. A Dutch Private Collection is meanwhile online.

The posters from Adolph Friedländer's production to be reprinted and widely available without their provenance is recognizable. Not all the posters had been provided with the printer logo and the phrase Lith Adolph Friedländer Hamburg, so still some products need to have been lost.