Van de Velde’s poster
was designed in 1899 for Tropon food concentrate. Although it holds the title
of first fully abstract poster, this was actually Van de Velde’s only poster of
his career. Not only did he design the
poster for Tropon but he also created other materials and packaging for the
company. He emphasized abstract form by
using abstract patterns. The primary
subject of the poster is a pattern of abstracted egg whites.
As Allegemein
Elektricitats-Gesellschaft’s new artistic consultant, Behrens created a unified
brand for the company. This included the design of anything from advertising
materials to office buildings and factories.
In 1910, Van de Velde created a poster advertising AEG’s new light bulb. This piece carries strong modernistic
elements with its use of the basic geometric shapes laid out on a well-balanced
grid.
Upon first glance it
is easy to notice these two pieces of art have a similar hierarchy to one
another. Both have the company name displayed
in the upper third, the product being advertised in the center of the
composition, and additional text in the lower third.
The majority of each
poster’s content is contained within a border.
For the Tropon poster, Van de Velde continued the abstract curvilinear
lines from the egg whites as a transition into the uniform dark brown border
that can be seen on the top and left of the image. These curvilinear lines also create shapes
throughout the main portion of the design.
The dark lines flowing through the egg whites divide it into more
simplified shapes. Abstract shapes, but still more simplified.
Like Van de Velde’s
border on the Tropon poster, a similar feature can be seen in Behren’s AEG
poster. Little repeating dots
representing light make up the thin outlining border that contains the majority
of this image within it. Also similar to
Van de Velde’s piece, Behren used his dotted lines to divide up the image
space, creating simplified geometric forms.
It is interesting to note that in Van de Velde’s piece, the prominent
color is a yellow while the diving lines are a dark brown. In Behren’s piece it is the opposite. Yellow borders divide the dark brown
composition.
Both pieces have a
strong sense of direction. Although the
Tropon poster is more abstracted in its form, like the AEG poster, it still has
a downward motion. Both pieces lead the viewer’s
eye from the title of the company at the top, to the prominent product being
advertised, down to the bottom blocks of color containing additional text.
Although these two
pieces represent completely different styles they still poses many similar
features. This shows the underlying
skill possessed by both artists. They hierarchy, shapes, and composition of
both the Tropon poster by Henri Van de Velde and the AEG poster by Peter
Brehens attribute to the success of the pieces and the artists alike.