The prevalent culture of physical fitness in Weimar Germany had a visual analogue in the dynamic, uncluttered vocabulary of The New Typography—what László Moholy-Nagy, writing in 1925, termed "the hygiene of the optical, the health of the visible." The New Typography was frequently adopted in graphic material advertising sporting events, and in this case it promoted an expressive dance movement that flourished in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. This poster's design exemplifies the typophoto—a combination of type and photography felt to communicate with the greatest clarity—with the women's dynamic poses amplifying the rhythmic lettering and radiating segments of the yellow circle. "The liveliness of asymmetry is an expression of our own movement and that of modern life," wrote Tschichold in 1928; "it is a symbol of the changing forms of life in general."

Gallery label from

The New Typography, December 23, 2009–July 26, 2010.

Medium Photolithograph
Dimensions 35 1/2 x 33 1/4" (90.2 x 84.5 cm)
Printer Graphische Anstalt F.W. Rohden, Essen, Germany
Credit Purchase Fund, Jan Tschichold Collection
Object number 326.1937
Department Architecture & Design

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