Description:
Hutter Deer Soap is a vintage Hungarian poster maquette possibly designed by Robert Bereny around 1930.
The 1930s and the 1940s are considered a golden age in international and Hungarian poster art as well. A huge renewal and prosperity of commercial posters can be noticed during the interwar period in Hungary. Lajos Kassák, Sándor Bortnyik and Róbert Berény, three prominent Hungarian artists, returned to Hungary from emigration in 1926, and a modernist revolution started to emerge. Along with István Irsai, joining them in 1929, these four artists became the most important ones of the first generation of the modernist-constructivist direction of commercial poster design.
The new visual world of posters appearing on the streets was parallel with the modernness of the lifestyle symbolized by the products of the period: the comfortable, modern, wealthy bourgeois lifestyle was outlined by the posters advertising the fashion, travel opportunities, or brand quality edibles. Home was characterised by modern comfort created by technics and electrical appliances. Bathroom became an important part of the house, and protection of health and hygiene started to be more serious issues than before. The objects in the house are not pieces of crafts culture anymore, but they are industrial products, so their designer applies the approaches of modern art to design the works later to be reproduced - shapes are simpler, and flat-surfaced, geometrical or aerodynamic forms are spreaded, that is to say funcionality become equally ranked with aesthetics.
Several soap brands had commercial posters done in the period which were popular because of their modern visuality and clever ideas. Those posters advertising the soap brand ‘Flora’ may be the most well known today, but also other brands like ‘Albus’ or ‘Hutter’ had commercial series.
The history of Hutter soaps dates back to the Reform Era and it reflects the formation and development of national industry.
József Hutter, a soap craftsman started the first soap factory in Budapest in 1831, taking the first steps to the emergence of Hungarian cosmetic industry. The factory had soon competitors, but it developed fast and its products gained more and more popularity, thus it was transformed into a joint-stock company. It also funded the Elida Hungarian Perfumery and Vanity Soap Joint-Stock Company (from which later, with further integrated companies, the brand ‘Caola’ came into being which is a significant Hungarian company even today), in addition, other local soap brands, such as ‘Flora’, were incorporated in the 1930s.
This poster artwork for ‘Hutter deer soap’ is really similar to the final poster created by Róbert Berény in 1930 for the brand. It is possible that the poster artwork was also created by Berény and he decided to modify the design to make a final version. Both versions are good examples of the so-called “objective poster” which got its name after the focus on the advertised object, differing from the previous commercial posters which motivated to consume goods in general. This “objective” character was along with the constructive endeavour, connected to the four great artists mentioned above, which used the expressive power of abstract forms in poster art.
The use of paint-sprayer on this graphic design refers to its creation in the 1930s, when this tool was important innovation on modern posters and it ensured airy transitions - especially Berény was likely to use this technique that time.
Although the shade pictured by spraying creates a space in the images, they stay specifically plane. The constructivist pair of colours, the red and black in the background of the artwork switch places on the final poster, the water surface in the foreground changes from waved to smooth, the brand name gets below and its typography and colour changes as well.
The poster artwork and the final, printed poster also show mindful, mature concept and a skilful graphic design - both of the versions are fine examples of the modernity of Hungarian commercial posters during the interwar period.
