# Basel Object Poster (Swiss Sachplakat)

> The Swiss descendant of the German object poster, made in Zurich and above all Basel from 1919 to the early 1950s. One everyday product (a top hat, a tweed coat, a toothpaste tube, a fountain-pen nib, a match, a curl of butter) is painted larger than life with modelled light, cast shadows and tactile surfaces, set on a plain dark, pale or softly graded ground, with little more than the brand name as text. Rooted in the Neue Sachlichkeit, it raises the product to a quiet, uncanny icon; from about 1940 Leupin and Brun added humour and visual puns.

- Period: 1919–1955
- Where: Central Europe
- Origin: Basel and Zurich, Switzerland. In Zurich, Otto Baumberger's lithographed Baumann top hat (designed 1919) and PKZ coat (1923) set the model; in Basel, Niklaus Stoecklin (1896-1982), the leading Swiss painter of the Neue Sachlichkeit and Magic Realism, and his apprentice Peter Birkhäuser (1911-1976), followed by Herbert Leupin (1916-1999; Basel Kunstgewerbeschule, then the École Paul Colin in Paris, 1935-36) and Donald Brun (1909-1999). Colour lithographs for Swiss brands, shops and newspapers, printed by Basel and Zurich firms such as Wassermann and Wolfsberg.
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Swiss Sachplakat, Basler Sachplakat, Basel School object poster, Swiss object poster
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/basel-object-poster/

## How it works

- Show one product, or two crossed, larger than life and close enough to touch, isolated on a plain black, pale or softly graded ground.
- Render the object illusionistically: modelled light, a soft cast shadow, highlights on glass and enamel, and the true texture of tweed, wood, metal or butter.
- Let the object carry the brand: paint the name onto the label, tube or tablet, and keep any other text to a short slogan and the brand name, often a light italic line above a heavy drawn name.
- Lay the object on a diagonal or cross two objects in an X so a static still life gains movement.
- Make a visual pun from real things when wit is wanted: let two real objects together form a sign or a second meaning (Leupin's rolled newspaper above a globe as an exclamation mark, c. 1950; his quill crossed by a telephone receiver, 1941).

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (defining)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (occasional)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (defining)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (defining)
- [Script](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/script/) (occasional)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (occasional)
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (occasional)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (occasional)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (occasional)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Gradients](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/gradients/) (defining)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (defining)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Skeuomorphic material](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/skeuomorphic-material/) (defining)
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (characteristic)
- [Gloss & highlights](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/gloss-and-highlights/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Ornament-free](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornament-free/) (defining)

### Imagery
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (defining)

### Medium & production
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (defining)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (characteristic)

Avoids: Straight photography, Photomontage, Collage & layering, Modular grid, Horror vacui, Abundant decoration, Borders & frames, Experimental & distorted, Non-representational, Flat

Palette: #121212, #f1ece0, #2f56a6, #e0472b, #f0c419, #8a6a45

Typefaces: Brand name painted on the product (the woven MARQUE PKZ label, 1923; BINACA on the tube and METAMETA embossed on the fuel tablet, 1941), Light italic slogan over a heavy name (Birkhäuser's 'Wer rechnet, kauft im' above a bold Globus, 1942; Brun's lowercase 'gesund und gut mit' above Butter, 1951; on one line in Leupin's '...trink lieber' beside a heavy brush Eptinger, 1948; the italic alone in his lowercase telephonieren, 1941), Flowing pen script (Birkhäuser's Feba, written by the nib, 1941; Anti-solaire on Stoecklin's Bi-Oro, 1941), Heavy drawn slab serif (Stoecklin's GABA, 1927; Brun's condensed, mixed-case Butter, 1951), Shadowed roman capitals (Stoecklin's MARKEN MÜLLER, 1948), Bold drawn grotesque (Birkhäuser's inlined Globus, 1942; the address on Baumberger's Baumann)

Known for: Otto Baumberger, Baumann (designed 1919; lithograph, Mentor Verlag, Zurich; MoMA 462.1987, a later printing with the Fraumünsterstr. 17 address, which MoMA dates 1922 and Galerie 123 dates 1928): a silky black top hat, fully modelled and tilted on white, overlapping the red roman name Baumann, with the address in bold grotesque capitals; Otto Baumberger, Marque PKZ (1923; lithograph printed by Wolfsberg, Zurich; MoMA 670.1980): the collar of a herringbone coat cropped close, its PKZ label the only text; Niklaus Stoecklin, Gaba gegen Husten! (1927; lithograph, Wassermann, Basel; MoMA 427.1994): a flat blue head in profile swallowing a black lozenge above a slab-serif GABA on white, from the flat silhouette phase before Stoecklin turned to photographic precision around 1931; Niklaus Stoecklin, Bi-Oro sunscreen (1941; lithograph; MoMA 314.1999): sunglasses crossed over a tube on black; Niklaus Stoecklin, Binaca toothpaste (1941; lithograph; MoMA 313.1999): tube and translucent toothbrush in a glass on black; Niklaus Stoecklin, Meta Meta (1941; lithograph; MoMA 315.1999): a match crossed over an embossed fuel tablet on blue; Peter Birkhäuser, Feba Tinte (1941; lithograph; MoMA 409.1994): a steel nib writing the brand name in red script; Herbert Leupin, Telephonieren (1941; lithograph, Wassermann, Basel; MoMA 632.1981): a white quill crossed by a black telephone receiver on yellow, the single word in lowercase italic

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Plakatstil / Sachplakat](https://stylogeny.com/styles/plakatstil.md) (1905–1920)
- Influenced by: [Art Deco](https://stylogeny.com/styles/art-deco.md) (1910–1939)
- Alike in its design choices: [Mexican Calendar Chromo (Cromos calendáricos)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-calendar-chromo.md) (1930–1970), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Australian Travel Poster (ANTA Era)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/australian-travel-poster.md) (1929–1959), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/israeli-state-modernism.md) (1934–1974), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [French Post-War Visual-Gag Poster (Savignac, Villemot, Morvan)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/french-gag-poster.md) (1948–1979), 53% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hungarian Revolutionary Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hungarian-activist-poster.md) (1912–1919), 52% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Early Turkish Republican Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/turkish-republican-graphics.md) (1925–1960), 49% alike

## Sources

- Swiss National Library, 'The Object Poster 1920-1950', https://www.nb.admin.ch/en/the-object-poster-1920-1950 (Basel School object posters with one oversized, simplified but realistic subject and often only the brand name; New Objectivity; Morach's PKZ c. 1928; Leupin's Pelikan, 1952; lithography displaced by offset)
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklaus_Stoecklin (leading Swiss representative of the Neue Sachlichkeit and Magischer Realismus; only Swiss artist in Hartlaub's 1925 Mannheim exhibition; Gaba 1927 and PKZ 1934 as icons of international poster art; Sachplakate of the 1920s-1940s)
- Thomas Freivogel, 'Stoecklin, Niklaus', Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/027872/2012-05-29/
- Gail Davidson, 'A rare modernist poster', Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 20 October 2013, https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2013/10/20/a-rare-modernist-poster/ (by 1931 Stoecklin abandoned flat abstraction for hand-drawn, full-colour, photographically accurate depictions of industrial products)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Baumberger (Marque PKZ, 1923, for Burger-Kehl & Co.: collar and jacket with herringbone fabric and label; a Sachplakat centred on a single object; trained as a lithographer)
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Birkh%C3%A4user (Kunstgewerbeschule Basel 1928-1934, then apprenticed with Niklaus Stoecklin; early work labelled Magischer Realismus)
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Leupin (Kunstgewerbeschule Basel 1931-1935; École Paul Colin, Paris, 1935-1936)
- Charles Leupin, 'Leupin, Herbert', Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/027867/ (Basler Kunstgewerbeschule 1931-34; École Paul Colin, Paris, 1935-36; briefly in Donald Brun's studio, 1937)
- Galerie Hilt, 'Herbert Leupin (1916-1999): Malerei, Zeichnungen, Grafik, Plakate', exhibition documentation, Basel, 2013, https://galeriehilt.ch/media/files/herbert-leupin-ausstellungsdokumentation-2013-galerie-hilt-basel-01.pdf (a year in Paris at Paul Colin's private academy on a stipend; strong artistic impressions from Paul Colin and from his strongest rival, Cassandre)
- https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Brun (1909-1999; apprenticed as a Reklamezeichner with Ernst Keiser, who taught calligraphy in the graphics class of the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel, 1927-1930; subtle humour)
- Galerie 123, 'Baumann Fraumünsterstr. 17' (Otto Baumberger, created 1919; this copy the 1928 printing for the move to Fraumünsterstrasse 17, Mentor Verlag, Zurich, stone lithograph), https://www.galerie123.com/en/original-vintage-poster/35946/baumann-fraumunsterstr-17
- Museum of Modern Art, Architecture and Design collection records (titles, dates, media; printers read from the imprints on the collection images, e.g. 'Wolfsberg' Zürich on Marque PKZ, Mentor Verlag Zürich on Baumann and Wassermann A.G. Basel on Gaba, Globus and Telephonieren): Baumberger 462.1987, 670.1980; Stoecklin 427.1994, 313.1999, 314.1999, 315.1999, 426.1994; Birkhäuser 408.1994, 409.1994; Leupin 632.1981, 491.1951, 492.1951; Brun 249.1994; MoMA collection dataset, https://github.com/MuseumofModernArt/collection

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Basel Object Poster (Swiss Sachplakat)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/basel-object-poster/