Auction 102 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
Lithographic poster advertising the "Degenerate Art" (Entartete Kunst) exhibition in Munich. Munich: Max Schmidt & Söhne, 1936. German.
A propaganda poster for the Nazi exhibition on modern art ("Degenerate Art"), designed as a parody of El Lissitzky’s renowned 1919 work Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (Russian: Клином красным бей белых!). Design: Hans Vitus Vierthaler (signed in the plate).
Lissitzky’s original poster – one of his most iconic works – was published during the Russian Civil War, depicting a red triangle penetrating a white circle (symbolizing the Red Army’s victory over the White Army). The present poster features an almost identical design, but with reversed colors: the triangle is black (representing Nazi Germany), and the circle red (representing Communist Russia). Beneath the illustration is the phrase: "Was wir in dieser interessanten Schau sehen, wurde einmal Ernst genommen!!!!!" [what we present in this exhibition was once taken seriously – a paraphrase of the motto displayed at the First Dada Exhibition in Berlin (1920): "Take Dada seriously." Exhibition details and opening hours printed at the bottom margin.
"Degenerate Art" was the name of a traveling exhibition organized by Nazi authorities, displaying approximately 650 confiscated works by some 100 modern artists. The exhibition aimed to mock and condemn what the Nazi regime deemed degenerate and perverse in modern art. Among the artists featured were Lissitzky, Picasso, Munch, Chagall, Kandinsky, Matisse, and others. Ahead of each exhibition, the Nazis disseminated propaganda materials, including posters and explanatory booklets.
Approx. 30X20.5 cm. Good condition. Creases and minor blemishes. Professionally restored, with color touchups.
![Advertising poster for the film "Professor Mamlock". USA, [1938].
At the center of the poster is an illustration of the fil](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale102/211.jpg "\"Professor Mamlock\" – Movie Poster Designed by Jewish Artist Hugo Gell")
Advertising poster for the film "Professor Mamlock". USA, [1938].
At the center of the poster is an illustration of the film’s most well-known scene – the Jewish doctor, Professor Mamlock, being dragged by two Nazi SA officers, with the word "Jude" (Jew) inscribed on his coat. The margins list the film’s creators: directors Herbert Rappaport and Adolf Minkin, playwright Friedrich Wolf, and the Lenfilm (Ленфильм) Studios in Saint Petersburg.
The film "Professor Mamlock" was produced in the Soviet Union in 1938, based on a play by the Jewish physician Friedrich Wolf, and was among the first cinematic works to portray the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. Upon its release, it achieved unprecedented success in Russia, and within the same year was distributed worldwide, screening before millions of viewers. Due to pressure from Nazi Germany, the film was banned in several countries – including Britain, France, and China – but not in the USA, where it was screened in over 100 theaters (its premiere took place on November 7, 1938, two days before the Kristallnacht pogroms in Germany).
The poster was designed by Hugo Gellert (1892-1985), a Jewish-American painter, anti-fascist political artist, and member of the Communist Party in the USA. During World War II, he led the "Artists for Victory" organization – comprising some 10,000 American artists who contributed their skills to the fight against Nazi Germany. Gellert created this poster in preparation for the film’s premiere.
Approx. 100X68 cm. Fair-good condition. Fold marks. Some stains and creases. Tears along margins and fold lines (professionally restored, with minor color touch-ups). Small adhesive tape pieces on verso.
"Remember the Altalena with its Weapons and Soldiers", illustrated poster. Printer and illustrator not indicated, [Israel, ca. 1948].
Impressive illustration depicting the ship "Altalena" in the open sea. Printed in red, blue, and black.
Apparently printed by the Herut movement or former Irgun members after the shelling of the "Altalena" off the coast of Tel Aviv.
The ship "Altalena", named after Ze'ev Jabotinsky's literary pseudonym, was purchased in the USA in the summer of 1947 by the "Hebrew Committee for the Liberation of the Nation". Initially intended to bring illegal Jewish immigrants to Eretz Israel, it was later decided to also use it to transport weapons and military equipment for the Irgun. In June 1948, the ship sailed to the shores of Israel, carrying about 900 immigrants and a large amount of military equipment; however, in the meantime, the IDF had been established, and the Irgun was disbanded.
Even before the ship reached the shores of Israel, serious disagreements arose between the Irgun leadership and representatives of the Israeli government. The Irgun demanded that the military equipment on board the "Altalena" be transferred to Irgun units fighting within the IDF and Irgun units in the Jerusalem area (where units of the underground organization maintained their independence), while government representatives demanded that the military equipment be handed over first to the IDF. Upon the Altalena's arrival at the Kfar Vitkin shore on June 20, 1948, the area was surrounded by forces from the Alexandroni Brigade, and the Irgun members were required to immediately hand over the weapons unloaded from the ship to IDF authorities. Following the Irgun members' refusal, exchanges of fire broke out between IDF and Irgun forces, and the ship fled from the shore and sailed south towards Tel Aviv.
Upon its arrival off the coast of Tel Aviv on June 22, the exchanges of fire between IDF forces and Irgun members resumed, during which the ship was hit and caught fire. The "Altalena Affair" stirred the public in the country and sparked much controversy. Years after the incident, disputes and different versions of the exact sequence of events still exist.
A report about the distribution of the poster appeared in the left-wing newspaper "Al HaMishmar" on July 29, 1948: "The Irgun members, led by the 'Führer' M. Begin... announce from the billboards across Israel: 'Remember the Altalena!'" (to the best of our knowledge, this phrase appeared only on this poster).
69.5X49.5 cm. Good condition. Creases. Some stains. Framed. Not examined outside the frame.
HAPAG Mittelmeer- und Orientfahrten, advertising poster for the Mediterranean routes of the German shipping company HAPAG, designed by Otto Arpke. Berlin: Offsetdruck Otto Elsner, [1930s]. German.
A vividly colored printed poster depicting a small settlement on the coastline of Palestine (possibly Jaffa), with a large ship offshore and fishing boats near the coast. In the foreground, two local women are shown, one carrying a basket of fruit on her head, with palm tree branches behind them.
The transatlantic shipping company HAPAG (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft, English: Hamburg-America Line) was founded in Hamburg in 1847, operating one of the world’s largest commercial fleets, which was nearly wiped out twice – during both World Wars. The company ran passenger routes to numerous ports worldwide, including ports in the Mediterranean Sea.
Otto Arpke (Otto Arpke, 1886-1943), a German painter, illustrator, and graphic designer, born in Braunschweig. Trained in lithographic arts in Hanover, where he also studied at an art and design school; influenced by German painters such as August Schlüter, Emil Orlik, and Paul Scheurich. Served as a professor at the Kunst- und Gewerbeschule in Mainz. Arpke was renowned for his graphic works, including posters designed for Norddeutscher Lloyd and HAPAG (which merged in the 1970s to form Hapag-Lloyd AG), the poster he created for the film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", and magazine cover illustrations. He also designed elements for the interiors of the Zeppelins "Hindenburg" and "Graf Zeppelin II".
Following the Nazi rise to power, Arpke was accused of Communist sympathies and dismissed from his position in Mainz, though he later secured another post in Berlin. He was associated with a Berlin resistance group that distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, and he aided his Jewish friends in hiding and escaping Germany.
Approx. 60X85 cm. Good condition. Mounted on linen for display and preservation.