Otto Baumberger
1889–1961 · Swiss painter, graphic artist and poster designer
Otto Baumberger (Altstetten, now part of Zurich, 1889 – Weiningen, 1961) was a Swiss painter, graphic artist and poster designer associated with Swiss Expressionism. He is best known for his graphic work and posters, of which he designed more than 200 in a wide range of styles. He also taught design and drawing at ETH Zurich.
After leaving a textile-design apprenticeship early, he trained as a lithographer in Zurich and later studied in Zurich, Munich and Paris. From 1911 he worked with the Zurich graphic workshop J. E. Wolfensberger, and from 1916 he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich. In 1931 he joined the architecture department at ETH, where he taught colour in relation to architecture and space, and in 1947 he was appointed associate professor.
His posters and graphic work drew on Art Nouveau, Art Deco and New Objectivity. His 1923 poster Marque PKZ, made for a Zurich clothing store, shows a collar and part of a herringbone jacket; it is an example of the Sachplakat, or "object poster", and is regarded as a classic of Swiss poster art. His legacy lives on mainly in that graphic tradition and in his teaching.