Monday’s ad is for Bier Jahrtausenden, or Beer – for Millennia, from 1951. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, poster art really came into its own, and in a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. In addition to posters and other promotional materials, the German Brewers Association also produced calendars promoting their beer beginning in 1951. This is the March/April page from the 1951 calendar, and one website claims this is an illustration by German artist Heinz Fehling, but it’s obviously not. This is based on an old painting called Malle Babbe by Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, who painted it between 1633 and 1635. I suppose it’s possible Fehling copied it for the calendar, but it’s definitely Hals’ work. It’s impossible to read, but the text in upper left-hand corner is “The cool beer has been drinking since time immemorial. Fashion drinks came and went, but the beer remained.”
Below is the original painting by Frans Hals, which currently hangs in the Gemäldegalerie, located in Berlin, Germany.
