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    Artist

  • Oppenheim, Louis, 1879-1936

    • Title

  • Pat & Patachon poster

  • Physical Description

    1 poster : lithograph, color on cloth-backed paper ; 28 in x 37 3/8 in ; 72 cm x 95 cm

  • Date

    1923

  • Notes

    In bottom left-hand corner, poster has a logo from Lindemann & Luedecke, Berlin and a logo from the German film production company UFA-Leih (for UFA-Verleih). In bottom right-hand corner, the poster has a logo that is dated August 27, 1923 and a logo for the Palladium.

  • Summary

    Poster depicts a tall man with a moustach leading a shorter man by the wrist. The poster's design is in a flat, simple style known as Plakatstil or Sachplakat in German graphic design history.

  • Subject

    Forms (Documents)

  • Genre

    Posters

  • Medium

    Lithographs; Prints

  • Part Of

    Arnold and Werner A. Stein Collection,, AR 25821

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

Pat and Patachon are characters from the silent film era in Europe. They are tramps or vagabonds, with Pat being the tall one (always wearing a rope as a belt) and Patachon being the short one. Internationally the characters are known by many names: In America they were known as Ole and Axel while in their native Denmark they were known as "Lighthouse and Sidecar." In England they were named "Long and Short." From 1921 until 1940 they appeared in over fifty silent comedy films and were the major entertainment coming out of Denmark. Movies were made of their shenanigans across Europe. Pat and Patachon were instrumental in the development of American versions of the same duo, for example, Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello.

Louis Oppenheim (1879-1936) was a German graphic artist, painter and type designer. Born in Coburg, Oppenheim studied in London from 1899 to 1906. He moved to Berlin and started his work as a graphic artist in 1910, signing his work with his initials, "LO" and working for clients such as AES, the Reichsbahn, Persil and Adrema. His posters are considered a significant product of the 'Berlin poster style'. Oppenheim worked for the type foundry Berthold and created a handful of significant and widespread typefaces, all of which share modernist characteristics, such as Lo-Type and Fanfare which are still in wide use today. He also designed the first coin of the Weimar Republic in 1919.

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Citation

Oppenheim, Louis: Pat & Patachon poster, Leo Baeck Institute, 2019.39.