Today’s Poster features Orville Wright, of the pioneer aviators the Wright brothers making demonstration flights in Germany in 1909. The story behind these flights is told here.

The poster is by Hans Rudi Erdt (1883-1918) and entitled ‘WRIGHTS Flugvorführungen‘, or ‘Wrights Flying Demonstrations’.  Tempelhof was to become one of Berlin’s main airports, closing only recently due to urban encroachment. At the time it was more famous as a military parade field.

Erdt (history here) was a proponent of the poster style ‘Plakatstil’ a reaction to art deco, and with innovative, inclusive use of then-modern type and fonts and flat, block colour, as seen so well here. I suspect that the drawing of the Wright aircraft is a tracing or projection of a photograph, as the proportions and perspective is exact as it would be in a photograph, but the structure of some details aren’t quite right, some parts being in front that should be behind others, giving a somewhat Escheresque effect. But a strong, very eye-catching design.

James Kightly, Vintage Aero Writer.

Shared on the Golden Age of Illustration Facebook page here.