Avus 30 Mai poster – Vintage motor racing poster – Ludvig Hohlwein – 1937

Avus 30 Mai poster – Ludvig Hohlwein – 1937 This dynamic looking motor racing poster was created by the German artist Ludwig Hohlwein in 1937. It was produced to advertise a race meeting held on 30th May 1937. It was to be the last race held on the track until 1951 and is marked as the first and only time that Germany’s famous Silver Arrows used the track. Avusrennen 1937 Upon its completion in 1920, the Avus race track was 19.5 km (12 miles) long, consisting of a packed dirt surface with two parallel straightaways and flat wide-radius corners at each end, driven counter-clockwise. However, due to its construction, age and the improvement in the ability of the motor cars, by 1935 the track was no longer adequate. In fact, it was dangerous for cars reaching average race speeds in excess of 200 km/h (124 mph). The 1936 season was skipped in order to make improvements to the course. In an effort to make AVUS the “world’s fastest race track”, the circuit was resurfaced with asphalt, and the north curve was turned into a steep 43-degree banked turn, made of bricks. The curve had no retaining barrier, so cars that missed the turn easily flew off it. The Nordkurve soon gained the nickname “the Wall of Death”. The winner of the 1937 Avusrennen, was Mercedes driver Hermann Lang. Lang’s average race speed of about 276 km/h (171 mph) was the fastest road race in history for nearly five decades. His time was finally matched on a high-speed banked circuit at the 1986 Indianapolis 500. The AVUS racetrack AVUS is the name given to the Automobil-Verkehrs-und-Übungs-Straße in southwestern Berlin, Germany. It was opened in 1921 using a section of the Autobahn public road. It was initially set up as an Automobile traffic and training road and doubled up as a racetrack for automobile and motorcycle racing. Avus is the oldest controlled-access highway in Europe. It was last used as a motor racing circuit in 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern part of the Bundesautobahn 115. Ludvig Hohlwein poster artist Ludwig Hohlwein was born on July 26, 1874, in Wiesbaden, Germany. Following University, he trained and practised as an architect in Munich until 1911. He then moved to Berlin and switched to poster design. Hohlwein developed a unique poster artwork style. It incorporated high tonal contrasts and a network of interlocking shapes that make his work instantly recognisable. His style also consists of sharply defined forms, bright colours, a sense of humour, and textured patterns. Hohlwein was a pioneering artist of the Sachplakat poster artwork style. Hohlwein was a prolific artist. It is widely believed that by 1925, he had already designed 3000 adverts. He is considered to be one of the best illustrators of the early twentieth century. Some of his most famous posters include his 1910 Richard Strauss festival poster, and the 1912 advertising posters for the Zoologischer Garten München. One featuring a bright pink flamingo and another featuring two big game cats. His sporting-related posters are popular and promote a diverse range of sports. These include his 1928 Fussball-Wettspiel poster promoting the sport of football on motorbikes. His ‘Stay Young, Play Golf’ poster depicts a female golfer and his 1932 ‘Winter in Deutschland’ skiing poster that features a blonde woman with skis. He was also chosen to produce a poster for the 1936 Olympic Games that depicts a skier saluting the crowd.