The Daily Valdemar No. 25: April 6

Valdemar Andersen, cover for Hvad er Litografi (i.e. What Is Lithography), 1912.
Private collection.

Today's moment of calm is a piece of advertising: Shouting, but with tact.

The printers Andreasen & Lachmann were ambitious, establishing their business in Copenhagen 1911. They set out to prove that they were modern, international of outlook and had the latest know-how. They were intent on being the game changers among printers. Within one year they had created an exhibition on "Modern Posters" to put up the argument what Danish posters were lacking. Valdemar Andersen was the only Dane represented among the best of the young German poster artists. The exhibition came with a critical booklet and the very same year they published another one on the art of lithography. It is the cover of the latter that we see above.

Artistry had to be properly balanced was the argument. Th. Lind was the author of both booklets and his primary example of what not to do was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Inarguably a great artist, but he did not bend to the rules of good advertising. Advertising is a language of its own, Lind advocated and poked at the Design Museum that it was high time to begin collecting printed material for commercial use to further awareness among the artists. It is after all the art form, which reaches everyone, as he concluded.

The cover image is printed in four colors proving what lithography could and a photographic process still could not. The text is short and clear, there is but one central figure, and even better she attracts attention while acting as a vertical arrow pointing to the lower 1/3 of the picture plane. From there the logo takes up full attention. By transforming the logo into imagery, it is seen and not read, as was the ideal. The right half of the cover bears the name and address of the printers, almost shouting its presence in comparison to the image. Advertising is after all the fusion of being pushy and a gentleman, according to Lind.

Speaking of the logo, there is another - a signature - in the right corner of the image. Valdemar signed everything. He was an artist. Full stop.