Bringing back Plakatstil, or Hosmer as a modern day Bernhard

One of many topics we covered in this week's reading was Plakatstil, the style that emerged in early 1900s Germany, also known as Poster Style.  This style immediately captured my attention as I recognized it's influence in more modern works I have admired and I was pleased to be introduced to the work of Lucian Bernhard and his contemporaries.  But a few of the examples of Bernhard's work looked especially familiar, and it took me a little thinking to make the connection to a local artist who's work I greatly admire, Santa Cruz local Steve Hosmer.

Hosmer runs a sign shop, Stokes Signs, which produces a wide range of signage for local businesses ranging from the more standard to quite unique and abstract.  But he has also created quite a large collection of poster art which I would argue is Plakatstil reincarnate.  My favorite of Hosmer's work is a collection capturing various Santa Cruz landmarks in Plakatstil style, a few of which I am sharing here, the full portfolio can be seen on the Stokes Signs website.

In these Designs we can see the trademark elements of Plakatstil, and Bernhard's influence specifically.  The use of flat illustration and bold colors, a heavily simplified composition often reduced to a single symbolic image.  The text content is also minimal and uses a very bold stylized typeface.  I am a huge fan Plakastil and other styles that share elements of bold graphic simplicity, although I was not familiar with the proper name for this style previously.  The use of bold colors and minimalist composition has significant graphical power and is very effective at grabbing attention and communicating an idea, emotion or the essence of a brand.  The end result is also incredibly visually pleasing.



















With a little Google research, I confirmed that Hosmer has credited Lucian Bernhard and Ludwig Hohlwein as his greatest artistic inspiration.  Hosmer's poster for Omei restaurant is a beautiful homage to one of Bernhard's most famous poster designs, his contest winning design for Priester.  The essence of the Priester design is echoed through use of the same color scheme, red/yellow/blue on black, the same basic shape of the matches is carried over to the chopsticks and the typeface is recreated.  And it's hard to see in the resolution of the photos available online, but even Hosmer's signature is a subtle tribute, in a similar typeface and with the name split in half and stacked in two rows, HOS-MER just like BERN-HARD.

Left: Hosmer, Right: Bernhard

I enjoyed learning about Lucian Bernhard this week and I was glad to stumble into this connection revealing an insight into the inspiration of a modern artist I greatly admire.  I applaud Steve Hosmer for reviving this beautiful style of illustration.  And I hope to soon enhance my wall real estate and personal inspiration space with a few works from both of these artists.


Links:
Interview with Steve Hosmer
Stokes Signs official website
Lucian Bernhard, wiki page
Ludwig Hohlwein, wiki page