Xanti (Alexander) Schawinsky Lot n° 518

Xanti (Alexander) Schawinsky Giro d'Italia/Vetrina Motta, Galleria, Milano 1934 Vintage gelatin silver hand-tinted. 19.1 x 13.8 cm. Signed, dated and titled in pencil on the verso. - Extensive positive retouching for reproduction purpose; print with traces of usage. Provenance Estate of Xanti Schawinsky; private collection, Switzerland Literature Hans Heinz Holz, Xanti Schawinsky. Bewegung im Raum. Bewegung des Raums, Zurich 1981, ill. p. 49 (this print); Peter Hahn (ed.), Xanti Schawinsky. Malerei, Bühne, Grafikdesign, Fotografie, Berlin 1986, ill. p. 67 (this print) After emigrating to Italy, Schawinsky worked as a graphic designer for advertising, where he was able to utilise his knowledge of photography and typography acquired at the Bauhaus. His unconventional window design for the store of the Motta pastry manufacturer near the Cathedral in Milan on the occasion of the 'Giro d'Italia' demonstrates a “new advertising style” (Max Bill) with its humour, liveliness and elegance. According to Herbert Bayer, a Bauhaus colleague, Xanti Schawinsky had a decisive influence on the graphic design of the 1930s in Italy.