Experiments in advertising

Kölner Messe - cm. 8 x 7 (Cologne Trade Fair)

Suedsee - South Seas with Junks (1921) 9.8 x 13 cm

African women with pitchers 11.5 x 14.5

Bedouins 12 x 15.5

As early as the opening years of the 1920’s, at the same time as the opening up of the consumer society in Europe and the United States, Christian Hess began experimenting with the possibilities for artistic expression in advertising, convinced from the outset that commercial publicity would develop into a major form of mass communication.
Hess’ sketches for advertising posters began in 1920, when he was a student at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, and continued well into the 1930’s.

Judging from the studies and sketches to have survived, Hess’ output must have been prolific. Although there is little documentary evidence of finished works, there is more than enough to testify to his inspired creativity. Of Hess’ intensely productive experiments from those early years there are sketches and studies of designs to advertise businesses, trade fairs, tourism, cultural happenings and traditional events such as the Tyrol Passion Play at Erl or the Bavarian Carnival. As early as the 1920’s Hess’ iconography reflected the signs of nascent globalisation that was beginning its spread from Northern Europe to Africa to Latin America and to the South Seas.    

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