Sommer - u.Ferienhauser, Modell - Ausstellung 1908

With bold simplicity and architectural clarity, this rare 1908 German poster promotes a model home exhibition showcasing summer and holiday houses from a design competition held by the weekly magazine Die Woche. Designed by Josef Bichlmeier, the image presents a perfectly composed vision of bourgeois domesticity—a freestanding villa with red Mansard roof and bay windows, framed neatly within an oval like a cherished architectural illustration.

Executed in the crisp, graphic style of early 20th-century German design, the poster avoids excess ornamentation, favoring stylized silhouettes and flat color fields. The deep brown background anchors the composition, while the clean white typography, gently curved, conveys elegance and modernity. The house, meanwhile, sits nestled in a geometric garden with bright flowers at its foot, projecting order, comfort, and modern taste.

The exhibition, held at the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum in Krefeld from August 2–30, 1908, reflects a wider cultural interest in model homes and rationalized living environments at the dawn of modern architecture. Events like this combined middle-class aspiration with evolving ideas of healthy domestic space, design reform, and lifestyle aesthetics.

Bichlmeier’s poster is not only a testament to early 20th-century graphic design but also a fascinating document of the intersection between architecture, publishing, and public taste. An exceptional and beautifully preserved artifact, it offers collectors a rare glimpse into the visual culture of pre-war Germany’s burgeoning modern era.

Germany - Exhibition - Advertising

Kaiser Wilhelm Museum

Good condition, creases