Ivo Puhonny

Ivo Puhonny
Born	(1876-07-19)19 July 1876 Baden-Baden
Died	6 February 1940(1940-02-06) (aged 63) Stuttgart
Nationality	German
Occupation(s)	Graphic artist, illustrator, puppeteer
Known for	Sachplakat movement, puppet theaters

Advertisement poster for the Baden-Baden bal masqué, 1901

Ivo Puhonny (19 July 1876 – 6 February 1940) was a German graphic artist and puppeteer, son of the landscape painter Victor Puhonny. Puhonny is primarily known for his advertising art in the Sachplakat style, and for founding the Baden-Baden Puppet Theater in 1911.

Life and work

Graphics

Puhonny studied at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe and was influenced by the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Involved in the poster art movement of the early 20th century, Puhonny created advertisements for products such as margarine (for Schlinck & Co.) and cigarettes (Batschari). He also illustrated books and created etchings and lithographs. His graphics work is preserved in the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg and the Gallica Bibliothèque Numérique of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Puppetry

In 1911 he founded the Baden-Baden Künstler-Marionettentheater, dedicated to puppet performances. Puhonny and his wife carved and clothed the puppets and designed the stages for the plays. The theatre was based in Baden-Baden during the winter, and went on tour during the summers. Many of his puppet dolls are displayed in the collection of the Munich City Archives and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Personal life

Ivo Puhonny's urn at the Baden-Baden cemetery

Puhonny married his school sweetheart Lisa, with whom he had two daughters, Eva and Doris. His home in Baden-Baden was a gathering place for important artists of the time, including Else Lasker-Schüler, Otto Flake, Klabund and Carl Sternheim. Puhonny was prone to depression because of his experiences during World War I, and the emergence of Nazism affected him due to his foreign-sounding name and the socially critical nature of his work, which became increasingly sidelined after World War II began. His circle of friends and acquaintances included Jews whose emigration, deportation and suicides exacerbated his depression. Suffering from a nervous disorder, he died at a sanatorium in Stuttgart following a stroke.

Bibliography

• Ciarlo, David (2011). Advertising Empire: Race and Visual Culture in Imperial Germany. Vol. 171 of Harvard Historical Studies. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674050068. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
• "Plays by marionettes prove popular in Germany". Popular Mechanics. 55 (3). Hearst Magazines. March 1931. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
• Catalogue of Copyright Entries: Books, Volume 7, Issue 2. orig. the University of Harvard. Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1910.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• Sachs, Harvey; Manildi, Donald (1995). Rubinstein: A Life in Music. Grove Press. ISBN 9780802115799. Retrieved 2012-12-07.

Further reading

• Puhonny, Ivo (1919). Ivo Puhonny's Künstler-Marionettentheater.
• Puhonny, Ivo (July 30, 1919). "Vom deutschen Puppenspiel". Frankfurter Zeitung (in German). 30 (557). OCLC 553037170. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
• Engert, Joachim O. (2009). Genre- und Landschaftsmaler Victor Puhonny: Prag 1838 - 1909 Baden-Baden ; Biographie und Werkverzeichnis. Künstler in Baden-Baden 2009 (in German). Ancien-Grafik. ISBN 9783000270451. Retrieved 2012-12-07.

Material below compiled from Gamble, William Burt (2009). The development of scenic art and stage machinery: a list of references in the New York public library. University of Michigan. New York Public Library.

• Hirsch, Gilbert (April 29, 1916). "A master of marionettes". Harper's Weekly (v. 62): 475–476.
• Puhonny, Ivo (1913). "Vom Puppentheater". Geleitworte (in German) (4). Mannheim: 47–49.

External links

• Ivo Puhonny marionette collection Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (in German)