Solo show
Julius Klinger: Posters for a Modern Age
4 Mar 2021 — 15 Aug 2021 at Poster House
· New York City
Poster House's 2021 exhibition Julius Klinger: Posters for a Modern Age shines a spotlight on one of the early twentieth century's most inventive graphic designers. Born in Vienna in 1876, Klinger developed a bold, reductive style that anticipated many of the principles later associated with modernist design — flat colour, strong geometry, and arresting typographic wit.
The exhibition brings together a rich selection of Klinger's commercial posters, revealing how his work for major European brands and cultural institutions pushed the boundaries of what advertising art could be. From his early Viennese Secession-influenced pieces to the dynamic compositions he produced in Berlin and beyond, the show traces a career defined by restless formal experimentation.
Klinger's story is also a deeply human one: a Jewish artist whose life and legacy were cut short by the Nazi regime. Poster House uses this exhibition to restore his rightful place in the canon of modern design history.
The exhibition brings together a rich selection of Klinger's commercial posters, revealing how his work for major European brands and cultural institutions pushed the boundaries of what advertising art could be. From his early Viennese Secession-influenced pieces to the dynamic compositions he produced in Berlin and beyond, the show traces a career defined by restless formal experimentation.
Klinger's story is also a deeply human one: a Jewish artist whose life and legacy were cut short by the Nazi regime. Poster House uses this exhibition to restore his rightful place in the canon of modern design history.
About the artist
Julius Klinger
1876–1942
Julius Klinger was an Austrian painter, draftsman, illustrator, commercial graphic artist, typographer and writer. Klinger studied at the Technologisches Gewerbemuseum HTL in Vienna.
About the artist →About the venue
Poster House
· New York City
Poster House is the first museum in the United States dedicated exclusively to posters. Located in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, on 23rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, the museum opened to the public on June 20, 2019.
