Thursday’s ad is for Bier zu jeder Jahreszeit, or Beer – in Every Season, from 1951. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe 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 September/October page from the 1951 calendar, and one website claims this is an illustration by German artist Heinz Fehling, but it’s obviously not. I didn’t initially recognize it, but finally figured out it’s a painting known as “Beautiful Coletta,” created in 1885 by artist Toni Aron. I actually used it in a post I did about the painting’s subject, Coletta Möritz, Die Schützenliesl. I suppose it’s possible Fehling copied it for the calendar, but it certainly doesn’t look like his style. Given the months for this calendar page, it’s obviously referencing Oktoberfest, but what she’s wearing looks to be from the 19th century rather than the 1950s. It’s impossible to read, but the text in upper left-hand corner is “Everywhere the pure trunk of hops and malt passed by a beautiful hand – a double pleasure!”

And this is the original painting: