Niklaus
Stoecklin
Bi-Oro. Stoecklin's Bi-Oro suntan
lotion is one of the most celebrated posters of the Object Poster Style
that dominated Swiss product advertising from the '20s through the '50s.
Of the hundreds of posters done in this super-realist style, none surpasses
the subtle highlights and rich surfaces in Stoecklin's still-life. Stoecklin
was a surrealist painter who made his first poster in this style in Basel
in 1922. Influenced by the Purist style of Corbusier and Ozenfant, he desired
to express the perfection of the Machine Age through a precise visual language.
This goal was especially suited to lithography, where brilliant color and
richness in texture could be achieved to make objects look real. The Swiss
had a passion for this style, perhaps because it appealed to their love
of precision, but also because it could be understood by everyone - not
a simple task in a country with four national languages. Stoecklin's masterpiece
became a Swiss Poster of the Year award winner in the competition's first
year.
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