NAPOLI
Heinz Edelmann
Heinz Edelmann [Design]: NAPOLI. Lissone, Italy: Arti Grafiche Meroni, [1984]. Original impression. 37.5 x 26.75 - inch [95.25 x 67.945 cm] trim size image printed via offset lithography on a semi-gloss sheet. A fine, fresh example.
39 x 26.75 - inch [95.25 x 67.945 cm] poster designed by F. H. K. Henrion: “A poster commissioned by Napoli ’99 Foundation as a contribution towards the cultural image of the city.”
The Naples NinetyNine Foundation sponsored a series of 25 posters from 1984 – 1986 with the primary objective of contributing to the knowledge, promotion and enhancement of cultural heritage of Naples and Southern Italy.
The 25 participating designers were Walter Allner, Stuart B. Ash, Saul Bass, Bruce Blackburn, Pierluigi Cerri, Ivan Chermayeff, Giulio Confalonieri, Heinz Edelmann, Gene Federico, Alan Fletcher, Jean-Michel Folon, André François, Milton Glaser, Tomás Gonda, F H K Henrion, David Hillman, Takenobu Igarashi, Mervyn Kurlansky, Italo Lupi, John Mcconnell, Armando Milani, Art Paul, Tullio Pericoli, Arnold Schwartzman, and Massimo Vignelli.
Their interpretations of the city cover a wide range of themes: architecture, poetry, music, the earthquake, pollution, Vesuvius. The 25 posters have been exhibited in Naples, Rome, Los Angeles, Dundee, and Lahti. The project won the award for the best social graphics at the 1987 Lahden Biennal Exhibition. Collect them all!
In 1958, with a not completely rewarding and not very promising career as a janitor and museum guard compromised when he managed to drop a Rembrandt, a Van Gogh and a Felix Vallotton, Heinz Edelmann was looking for something less humdrum, more challenging and adventurous, and decided to take up graphic design (at the time, design did not seem to call for any special talents, skills or abilities). In this quest for new thrills he was, however, fated to be cruelly disappointed: even though he produced a fair amount of posters (theatre, film, radio and TV) and designed numerous books and book jackets, illustrated about 50 books, worked in advertising (communications, canned vegetables, computers) and dabbled in animation, true excitement forever eluded him. Reliable observers unanimously describe him as crouching in a cluttered cubbyhole for 45 years, unnaturally immobile, hardly ever getting up, barely breathing, occasionally catching a fly with a lightning flick of his tongue.
Heinz Edelmann studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. After working for two advertising agencies, he became a freelance designer in Düsseldorf and later in The Hague. He designed many posters for films, theatre and radio stations.
His Yellow Submarine animated film, made with the Beatles, was revolutionary in every way. He also made the poster for it. He produced a fair amount of posters (theatre, film, radio and TV), designed numerous books and book jackets, illustrated about 50 books (including some for children), worked in advertising (communications, canned vegetables, computers), for magazines (mostly as a freelance illustrator) and dabbled in animation.
Biography text taken from AGI by Ben and Elly Bos and AGI by FHK Henrion