Description:
St. Stephen porter beer is an original 1920 vintage Hungarian advertising poster designed by Andras Biczo.
St. Stephen Porter beer was one of the most popular products of Kobanya Brewery. The brewery was founded by Vilmos Freud Toszeghy in 1894 and had been producing a great variety of beer from the very beginning. By the end of the century the company was very popular and had a large export network as well.
The author of the poster, Andras Biczo was a popular artist in the 20th century, who was known for his humorous style. His realistic and funny works had a nice and light atmosphere. Biczo not only designed posters, but illustrated books and drew historical characters in a folk manner. This work represents Biczo's style accurately. The artist depicted the advertsied product in great detail, held by a man wearing a traditional, Hungarian historical costume. There is not much textual information on the poster, except from the name of the product at the bottom.
The figurative style was typical of Art Nouveau, but this is not the only artistic tendency of the era present on the poster. The homogenous background and the proportions of the man holding the advertised product and the beer bottle itself draw the attention to the product. This tool is typical of the so-called Sachplakat or Plakartstil style. The style originates from Germany and can be described as a more modern and clear trend than Art Nouveau in the 1920s. On this piece the modern simplicity is mixed with the ornamented nature of Art Nouveau that results in a balanced composition.
