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Lucian Bernhard

Introduction

Lucian Bernhard was a graphic designer, interior designer, type designer, professor, and artist from

Germany during the early years of the twentieth century. He was born on May 15, 1883, in

Stuttgart, Germany to a Jewish family. Lucian Bernhard was born as Emil Kahn, but he changed

his name in 1905 to his commonly known pseudonym, and his first name often spells as Lucien.

Bernhard purposely made up most of his early biographical stories because of his belief that the

facts of his youth were irrelevant in judging his work and life as an adult. The graphic designer

enjoyed toying with the details of his early life, and he revised stories contingent on the mood of

his audience. His children were Karl Manfred, and Ruth, who was a famous photographer and

some of his friends included Fritz Eichenberg, Cipe Pineres, and Aeron Burns.

The graphic designer’s year of birth (1883) accorded with the explosion of Art Nouveau

and Jugendstil. When he was still a young boy, he visited Glaspalast in Munich, and he reviewed

a big exhibition of European arts that included the theater posters of Jules Chevet and the wildly

colorful cabaret, Toulouse Cheret, Alfonse Mucha and Toulouse-Lautrec.

He also saw the

Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers, and Their Work. In Print, V. 4, #1.

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Maquettes for the commercial advertising posters which were works of the famous Biggerstaff’s,

William Nicolson, and James Pryde and they proved to be of an immense influence to the

teenager’s poster making. The designer would later say that he had ‘walked drunk with color’

through the exhibit. The exhibition inspired him to the extent that when he went back to his home

which was drab Wilhelmina style, he repainted every wall and furniture with the colors that he had

seen. He did so in the absence of his parents, and when his father came back to the house, it angered

him that he is said to have disowned him and he threw him out of the house.

Bernhard made up his mind to go to Berlin because of the manifestation of the wonders of

manufacturing invention. He did so even if Munich was the epicenter of the more fundamental

German graphic arts. In Berlin, there were poster competitions which were meant to identify the

upcoming talent for the advertising industry which was expanding at a very high rate. A specific

contest which was sponsored by Priester March company awarded the winner fifty dollars, and

Bernhard saw the opportunity and took it. Without enough to produce his entry, he made some

mechanical designs which turned out to have stunning consequences for the designer.

Bernhard decided to use maroon/brown background which was very unusual because

posters of that period either applied bright primaries or black and he then condensed an ashtray

with a couple of matches on its side. He then drew a cigar, and this was because he saw that the

ashtray was in need of some other graphic element with the intention of balancing the composition.

Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers, and Their Work. In Print, V. 4, #1.

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From the cigar came smolder, and from the smolder came a few meagerly dressed Jugendstil

dancing girls. He placed it on a checked tablecloth because the ashtray needed grounding.

He then hand-lettered ‘Priester’ at the top of the poster, and he was convinced that his

work was classic and so he exhibited it to the artiste who applauded him for his beautiful cigar

poster. The designer realized his mistake and deconstructed the image painting out of the cigar,

ashtray, smoke, and tablecloth, leaving only the red brand name. The poster was unceremoniously

thrown into the dustbin by the judges because they found it odd. However, the sales manager of

Berlin’s chief proto-advertising firm and poster printer knowing that he knew the role that

marketing played in Germany’s growing economy. He looked at the poster in the dustbin and

immediately liked it without even looking at the other signs. Bernhard won the contest, and the

sales manager became his long-term benefactor.

When he was still a young boy, he visited Glaspalast in Munich, and he reviewed a big

exhibition of European arts that included the theater posters of Jules Chevet and the wildly colorful

cabaret, Toulouse Cheret, Alfonse Mucha and Toulouse-Lautrec. He also saw the Maquettes for

the commercial advertising posters which were works of the famous Biggerstaff’s, William

Nicolson, and James Pryde and they proved to be of an immense influence to the teenager’s poster

making. Bernhard opened his studio when he was only twenty-three tears old because he became

highly sought after and in one decade the company had employed more than thirty professional

artists. He became the first professor of poster art at the Berlin School of Arts and Crafts.

AIGA | the professional association for design. (2018). 1997 AIGA Medalist: Lucian Bernhard.

[online] Available at: https://www.aiga.org/medalist-lucianbernhard [Accessed 1 May

2018].

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In the first ten years of the twentieth century, arts and crafts in German received promotion

through organizations like the German Werkablend with the urban areas becoming hotbeds of

advertising. The graphic designer’s sachplakat epitomized his new form, and they individualized

new kinds of imagery whereby bright and pleasing colors replaced subtle hues. The designer also

made inroads in German typography, and he designed his alphabets with the aim of protecting his

inventions. His first typeface was Antiqua created in 1913, and it was a good book face, released

by the Flinch Foundry in Frankfurt. The war halted his designs on a temporary basis, and he didn’t

design for a few years.

The designer received an invitation to the United States in 1922. He was thought to be

helpful in convincing American art directors in considering Modern design as an option to

saccharine and painted illustration, but the directors thought the idea was ahead of its time, and

hence it faced rejection. Even if his reception to America was weak, he decided to stay for six

months because New York city charmed him. He eventually stayed permanently leaving his family

in Germany. His wife and sons later joined him in the United States in 1932, and they came to

work as his assistants in the studio. Bernhard was invited to exhibit his work at the New York Art

Center. His show had good attendance and received much support in the press but he received little

business commissions but, in most instances, he was invited to render advice on some advertising

sketches, which failed in most cases. Although the American s never appreciated his German

designs, the designer refused to compromise to the American tastes, and for a better part of that

decade, he worked on designing furniture and interiors for affluent clients.

AIGA | the professional association for design. (2018). 1997 AIGA Medalist: Lucian Bernhard.

[online] Available at: https://www.aiga.org/medalist-lucianbernhard [Accessed 1 May

2018].

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Bernhard founded the first design consortium called Contemporary which produced

graphics, accessories to furniture, and textiles. The company also created seats for the Grand

Rapids furniture company. Nevertheless, the venture failed during the Great Depression. The

Contempora studio opened with the help of Rockwell Kent, Bruno Paul, Paul Poiret and Erich

Mendelsohn. In spite of his varied activities, he was not compassionate to the aims of the modern

movement, and he used to refer to himself as being a doer but not an ideologue or theorist. His

designs mostly based on instinct but not systems and he did not approve of the Bauhaus and any

ism which made more (or less) of the advertising process. the graphic designer usually used to say,

‘you see with your eyes, not your brain and what, you do with your hands should express the

physical process and should never be mechanical.’

For nineteen continuous years, the graphic designer produced 24-sheet posters a month for

Amoco and a sizeable number of white flash gasoline. Since advertising was still a copywriters

game, most of his signs were letter-dominated with words and short slogans accompanying the

logo. Most of his ideas took a short time to sketch. The president of Exhax and Bernhard became

friends after he tasked with designing the company’s matchbook. He had a long-standing

commitment to creating a original trademark, packaging, and the interior design of Brooklyn

factory and offices. Also, Radio City Music Hall, the Theatre Guild, Marlboro shirts, cat paw and

westing house became his regular accounts

The designer had developed letterings for Flisch and Bauer Type foundries in his home

country plus a traditional bold brush script. While on a steamship from Germany to New York in

Drucker, Johanna, and Emily McVarish. Graphic design history. Pearson, 2009.

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1922, Bernhard designed his first elegant script. At the end of world war two, the designer stopped

graphic designing and shifted his focus to painting. He made assertions that picture was his true

art keeping in mind the fact that he had painted Mundane portraits of women since the thirties. The

switch came due to the changing nature of the advertising business because decisions began to be

made by middle-level art directors and committees.

The designer realized that art directors consulted specialists for proportions of identities

and campaigns yet he was accustomed to doing the whole job. Thus, Lucian Bernhard was a very

passionate graphic designer who left a mark in the art and design niche. His best work career wise

was the Priester since it was the one that opened him up to massive opportunities in the world of

art and craft in Germany and eventually New York. He faced influence from Glaspalast in Munich

where he had gone as a teenager and seen many pieces of art, and he usually viewed his craft as a

masterpiece that deserves credit for the role that it played in advertising in Germany.

Conclusion

From above, When Lucian Bernhard was still a young boy, he visited Glaspalast in Munich, and

he reviewed a big exhibition of European arts that included the theater posters of Jules Chevet and

the wildly colorful cabaret, Toulouse Cheret, Alfonse Mucha and Toulouse-Lautrec. He also saw

the Maquettes for the commercial advertising posters which were works of the famous

Biggerstaff’s, William Nicolson, and James Pryde and they proved to be of an immense influence

to the teenager’s poster making. The designer tried many things when he was in Germany and the

United States, and his work is celebrated because it was prolific and significant.

Jobling, Paul. "Graphic Design History." (2003): 260-262.

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Works cited

Drucker, Johanna, and Emily McVarish. Graphic design history. Pearson, 2009.

Jobling, Paul. "Graphic Design History." (2003): 260-262.

Rollins, Carl Purlington American Type Designers, and Their Work. In Print, V. 4, #1.

AIGA | the professional association for design. (2018). 1997 AIGA Medalist: Lucian Bernhard.

[online] Available at: https://www.aiga.org/medalist-lucianbernhard [Accessed 1 May

2018].

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