LADISLAV SUTNAR (1897-1976) II OLYMPIAD IN AMERICA. 1947. 36x23 inches.

LADISLAV SUTNAR (1897-1976) II OLYMPIAD IN AMERICA. 1947.
36 3/4x23 3/4 inches.
Condition A-: creases in image. Framed.
As a designer and a teacher at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague, Sutnar''s pioneering Functionalist work was largely a fusion of Bauhaus ideas and typography, Constructivism, and his own work with photomontage and design. By the time he moved to America, at the age of 42, he had already revolutionized book design in his home country of Czechoslovakia. In 1929 he was hired as the Art Director for the Druzstevni Prace [Cooperative Works] publishing house, for whom he created a unified, unique and original appearance. This "unity" was the first appearance of a concept that Sutnar would later develop into the creation of corporate identity through visual recognition. Sutnar was also the official designer of the Czechoslovak Government''s exhibitions in foreign countries (winning several awards for his work in this field). In 1939 he came to New York to help set up the Czech Pavilion at the New York World''s Fair. With the outbreak of war in Europe, Sutnar chose to stay in The United States. Of all of the posters he designed while living in America, including several for the United Nations, Addo-X, and a few other corporate clients, none really came close to the pioneering designs he created in Czechoslovakia, except, perhaps, for this image. With its photograph of Sokol athletes (a nationalist Czech sports movement), signature Sutnar orange (a color he frequently employed in his book jacket designs), blocks of color and dramatic interplay between typography and image, it is clearly a work by Sutnar, even though it is unsigned and previously unrecorded.