LUDWIG HOHLWEIN (1874-1949)

MARCO POLO TEE. Circa 1925.

43 1/2x29 3/4 inches, 110 1/2x75 1/2 cm. Geraschdruck, Leipzig.
Condition A-: minor repaired tears at edges; minor abrasions along vertical and horizontal folds.

Among Hohlwein's regular clients were two important companies that sold high quality, luxury comestibles: Riquet, a coffee and chocolate company, and Frank Kathreiner, for whom he designed posters advertising Atlas Salad Oil, Kathreiner Wein and Marco Polo Tea. Between 1910 and 1930, he created at least five posters for this second brand, visually evoking the different countries from which the tea was imported. His first poster featured a Chinese servant dressed in blue (see Swann Sale 1935, Lot 14). He followed with posters featuring a Japanese woman, a Japanese geisha in profile, a native of Ceylon and lastly this image of a Chinese man. During the first World War, he adapted the image for the times and depicted a cavalry soldier serving tea. Here, using his mastery of watercolors, Hohlwein depicts a wizened man with tea bags in his lap. Frenzel 3, Hohlwein / Stuttgart 221.
Artist or Maker
Ludwig Hohlwein