Walter Allner

International Poster Annual – 1948 | 1949

Information

Introduction:
Publication of this volume was inspired by the wish so often expressed by experts to see the best posters of the year from several countries collected into one book. Judging by the numerous proposals and hints received, the annual should supply a badly felt want, despite the many books already devoted to applied graphic art or to the work of independent artists. It is intended as a complete and readily accessible collection of documents, affording a comprehensive picture of international poster art, and forming a handy book of reference and an outstanding, stimulating and useful professional manual.
Compiled, designed and edited by W. H. Allner, under the art direction of A. M. Cassandre, this first issue of the International Poster Annual attempts to do justice to all these claims. It presents 479 posters by the best-known artists of 15 countries, with commentaries by W. H. Allner (France), Dr.
Eugen Bauer (Hungary), Jack Beddington C.B.E. (England), Fritz Bühler (Switzerland), Dr. E. Hölscher (Germany), E. McKnight Kauffer (U.S.A.), Jean Picart
Le Doux (France).
Text and captions in English, French and German.

Details

Walter Allner studied at the Bauhaus from 1927 to 1930 under renowned figures like Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky, and Klee. In 1933, he became Jean Carlu's assistant in Paris before founding his own advertising agency, Omnium Graphique, and serving as art director of Formes. He exhibited as a free artist in Paris and was active in the Salon des surindépendants and the Salon des réalités nouvelles. Allner was the Paris correspondent for Graphis magazine from 1945 to 1948 and co-directed Editions Parallèles. In 1948, he founded and edited the International Poster Annual until 1952. After moving to the U.S. in 1949, he freelanced before joining Fortune magazine in 1951, where he became assistant art director. He also consulted for major clients like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Linked Information

International Poster Annual - 1948 | 1949. Designed by Walter Allner
International Poster Annual – 1948 | 1949. Designed by Walter Allner
Walter Allner studied at the Bauhaus from 1927 to 1930 under renowned figures like Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky, and Klee. In 1933, he became Jean Carlu's assistant in Paris before founding his own advertising agency, Omnium Graphique, and serving as art director of Formes. He exhibited as a free artist in Paris and was active in the Salon des surindépendants and the Salon des réalités nouvelles. Allner was the Paris correspondent for Graphis magazine from 1945 to 1948 and co-directed Editions Parallèles. In 1948, he founded and edited the International Poster Annual until 1952. After moving to the U.S. in 1949, he freelanced before joining Fortune magazine in 1951, where he became assistant art director. He also consulted for major clients like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, and the Museum of Modern Art.
More graphic design artefacts
From the design archive:
From the design archive:
From the design archive:
From the design archive:
More graphic design history articles
In the late 1960s, IBM was one of the world’s pre-eminent corporations, employing over 250,000 people in 100 countries. While Paul Rand’s creative genius has been well documented, the work of the IBM staff designers who executed his intent outlined in the IBM Design Guide has often gone unnoticed.

Members Content

Little is known about the talented designer Günther Glückert. Born during the 1930s, a period that proved less than conducive to nurturing youthful artistic endeavours, did not halt Glückert's path of becoming a talented designer.

Members Content

As part of their marketing strategy, Kast + Ehinger, commissioned a selection of German designers to produce advertisements aimed at the design industry. I have scanned in quite a lot of their advertising matter, all of which were back-page advertisements from three German design magazines. Der Druckspiegel, Gebrauchsgraphik and Graphik – Werbung + Formgebung.

Members Content

A 1,500 essay on the transformative era of graphic design from the 1970s to the 1990s. Moving beyond the constraints of modernism, designers like Wolfgang Weingart and April Greiman redefined visual communication through bold experimentation with type, colour, and early computer graphics. This essay highlights how postmodernism and New Wave design introduced complexity, individuality, and digital innovation in to graphic design.