On the occasion of the exhibition “Hanns Kralik – Mensch wie stolz das klingt. Kunst & Politik” at the Grafschafter Museum in Moers Castle, MWK designed a hardcover book and the accompanying advertising campaign, consisting of a poster, banner ad, invitation and handout.
The painter and graphic artist Hanns Kralik grew up in Moers in the Lower Rhine region, was persecuted by the National Socialists, spent time in a concentration camp, managed to escape, was active in the Resistance and from 1945 was head of the cultural department of the city of Düsseldorf. He left behind an extensive artistic oeuvre: drawings, prints, paintings and political commercial art.
As a political prisoner in the Börgermoor concentration camp, Hanns Kralik designed the song sheet for the “Moorsoldatenlied”. A special font was developed for the exhibition and the book, based on the designs of the letters on the song sheet, and used throughout all the campaign media.
A newspaper was published as a handout to publicize the exhibition and distributed in Moers. A medium entirely in keeping with Kralik’s lifelong political commitment, who himself designed countless leaflets and magazines in the resistance against the Nazi regime. Many of his political works were placed as advertisements in the magazine, while others served as visual material.
The 224-page hardcover book was published by Diana Finkele, Ulrich Hecker and Ralf Zimmermann for the Grafschafter Museum in Moers Castle. It provides an insight into the artist’s work, but also shows many contemporary documents of Hanns Kralik’s moving life story.
