Olympic Games
Poster
1936 (printed)
1936 (printed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
A poster advertising the Olympic Games held in Berlin in August 1936. It was published by the German Railways Head Office for Tourist Traffic and the Propaganda Committee for the Olympic Games. The increasing international rivalry that developed in the Olympics after their re-establishment in 1894 was reflected in their posters. The German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, saw the Berlin Olympic Games as a major opportunity for publicity for his Nazi regime and its racist ideology, and high-profile posters were commissioned from Würbel and Ludwig Hohlwein. Classical realism was Hitler's chosen style, and this design incorporates sculpture from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and a heroic head crowned with laurels.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Olympic Games (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Colour lithograph |
| Brief description | Poster advertising the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936, signed Würbel. |
| Physical description | Poster |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given in an exchange with the Library of Congress Poster Collection, Washington D.C. |
| Object history | This poster was given to the Museum as part of an exchange between the Library of Congress poster collection in Washington D.C. and the V&A |
| Production | The maker of this poster was long cited as being Franz Würbel. However page 20 of the official report of the games published in 1937 credits Werner Wurbel as the artist so the maker's name was reattributed. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Summary | A poster advertising the Olympic Games held in Berlin in August 1936. It was published by the German Railways Head Office for Tourist Traffic and the Propaganda Committee for the Olympic Games. The increasing international rivalry that developed in the Olympics after their re-establishment in 1894 was reflected in their posters. The German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, saw the Berlin Olympic Games as a major opportunity for publicity for his Nazi regime and its racist ideology, and high-profile posters were commissioned from Würbel and Ludwig Hohlwein. Classical realism was Hitler's chosen style, and this design incorporates sculpture from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate and a heroic head crowned with laurels. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.2905-1980 |
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| Record created | March 4, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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