Richard Roth

Biography

Posters, exhibition displays, book jackets, covers, logos. Born 23 March 1907 in Augsburg. Studied at Munich’s Akademie der bildenden Künste: a teacher was Adolf Schinnerer; and the Kunstgewerbeschule, where his teachers included Richard Klein. This was followed by further study at the Leipzig Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst; Walter Tiemann was one of his teachers. 1934-8: worked as freelance designer. By 1935: member of the Bund für Gestaltung, Augsburg. 1937: won a poster competition for the Stuttgart Horticultural Show. 1938: advertising artist at the Dorland agency, Berlin, succeeding Herbert Bayer as head of the art studio. 1940-45: military service. 1945/6: managed Dorland’s Munich office. 1952-3: co-designer of the German Communication and Transport Exhibition held in Munich 1953. 1958: designed posters for the Brussels World’s Fair, Bayer. Motorenwerke, and a cover for the journal die neue linie. From 1959: taught applied graphic art at the Munich Akademie der bildenden Künste. Roth won numerous prizes for his posters, among these, for the national horticultural exhibition, Stuttgart, 1937; DRUPA exhibition, Düsseldorf, 1951, Olympia exhibition, Munich, 1956; International Motor Show, Frankfurt, 1959.

Writings by

  • ‘Claus Peter Gross’ (exh. designer), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1958, pp. 44-9
  • Walter Amstutz (ed.), Who’s Who in Graphic Art, Zurich: Amstutz & Herdeg Graphis Press, 1962. , 1962
    • ‘Postage stamp design in West Germany’ (Blase, Cordier, Rohse and others), Graphis 208, 1980, pp. 146-9, 184.
  • ‘Centrotex. Textile advertisements from Czechoslovakia’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., March 1950, pp. 40-47
  • ‘Aluminium advertising’ (Walter Breker), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Sept. 1955, pp. 50-53
  • ‘IVA poster competition’ (International Traffic exh., Munich), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Oct. 1962, pp. 52-6

Writings about

  • Walter Hofmann, ‘Der süddeutsche Gebrauchsgraphiker Richard Roth’, Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, Leipzig: Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein., 1935, pp. 105-8 plus 4-p. supplement
  • E. Hölscher, ‘roth’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1950, pp. 9-17
  • A. Wannemacher, ‘The best posters [of] 1949’, Graphik, 1950, pp. 368-72, esp. p. 372
    • E. Hölscher, ‘Advertising art in post-war Germany’, Graphis 34, 1951, pp. 58-79, esp. pp. 58, 64, 65 Graphik, 1954, 6, pp. 306-7 (ads, cover for Chemischewerke Hüls)
  • brief biography, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., July 1952, p. 55
  • ‘German Communication and Transport Exhibition, Munich 1953’ (special number), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Sept. 1953
    • Graphik, 1955, 7, p. 350 (poster for BV Oil)
  • Vollmer, 1958
  • www.travelbrochuregraphics.com.
  • E. Hölscher, ‘Advertising of the Bayerische Motorenwerke’ (BMW), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1955, pp. 32-7
  • E. Hölscher, ‘German Olympia 1956’ (munich exhibition), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., July 1956, pp. 18-25
  • note on RR’s poster for Brussels World’s Fair, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Nov. 1957, p. 61
  • E. Hölscher, ‘The best German posters of 1958’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Aug. 1959, pp. 2-9
  • E. Hölscher, ‘The best German posters of 1963/4’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Aug. 1964, pp. 2-17
  • Eberhard Hölscher, ‘Richard Roth’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1937, pp. 12-19
  • E. Hölscher, ‘The best German posters of 1949’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., July 1950, pp. 23-7
  • E. Hölscher, ‘New ways of the German Federal Mail’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1953, pp. 2-3
  • E. Hölscher, ‘Time-tables for German omnibuses’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Oct. 1954, pp. 46-7
  • E. Hölscher, ‘The publicity of the German Federal Railways’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., April 1955, pp. 2-9
  • E. Hölscher, ‘Heidelberg’ (poster competition), Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., May 1959, pp. 60-61
  • E. Hölscher, ‘German posters 1959/60’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Aug. 1960, pp. 10-19

Exhibitions

  • Schäzler-Palais, Augsburg, 1947.