VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- Posters, advertising signs and – objects from the Collection Horst & Grete Krassa, together with comics, and historical film & photography will come up for auction at the Vienna Dorotheum, at a joint auction on 26. April 2003.
The auction’s highlights include an early poster by Friedrich Hohlwein dating to ca. 1914. Bidding for the first edition of his advertising classic, presenting the famous smoking dog associated with „Jutschi Casanova Cigaretten“, will start at € 800,-. Additional classics from around 1920, e.g. by Ernst Deutsch (Dryden) or Julius Klinger’s ‘Tabu’ advertising, are part of a particularly interesting batch of Viennese posters. The auction also presents a superior range of original poster designs including some by Walter Hofmann, Theodor Kindl, Theo Matejko, Raimund Schoderböck, or Gustav Mezey, the latter contributing a design for the film poster „Tanzrausch“ featuring Theo Lingen and Thea Weis (starting price € 200).
A selection of rare and special advertising figures, including some very sought-after unique items, come from the German Collection Horst and Grete Krassa, such as a rare silk poster for Mont Blanc, circa. 1955/60 (€ 150). This category also features several charming neon signs and window-displays from the 1920s to 1950s, such a wobbling pig advertising animal feed, a stocking-clad leg, or one train carriage. A variety of shop-window mannequins bear silent witness to products from the 1930s to 1950s, such as the company 4711, or ‘Straub’ cosmetics, to name just a few. Finally, the Collection Krassa also features a range of glass- and enamel signs, flat life-sized wooden advertising figures, and additional advertising posters.
The auction’s excellent selection of comics on this occasion presents along with original drawings (Art Babbitt, Ludwig Rybiczka, Hans Birnbaumer) and original drawings (Garcia-Lopez, Kirby) and paintings from the discontinued Comic-Museum of Wiener Neustadt. The star of this collection is Donald Duck, portrayed in 6 original acrylic paintings in the style of various famous artists such as Dalì, Miró, Picasso, Monet, or van Gogh (each € 100). Additional highlights include a wide selection of Mickey Mouse comic books in excellent condition, mostly from the 1950s, as well as editions from the Lehning Verlag, such as Nik, Sigurd, Akim, and Tibor.
A separate category of the auction presents historical film- and photography, including portrait photography, film stills, movie programs, and a small selection from the estate of the actor Hans Holt, with various distributors’ contracts, the original of the German film award of 1987 (‘Das goldene Filmband’), as well as manuscripts and handwritten notes (€ 1.200). Historical photography mainly presents interesting items from Vienna, Hungary, and from China.