Reference

If you take a look at the history of the poster in Germany, there is one name you will cross sooner or later: Gunter Rambow. Since the 1960s, this name is synonymous with surprising, groundbreaking posters. As is the case with many famous poster designers, there are a few that have become “classics,” repeatedly shown and pictured alongside the man. Those who are familiar with his posters might already have corresponding visual associations. However, this man has created over 3000 posters in the past 50 years; it is interesting to consider this full spectrum of work.

Let’s take a closer look at his biography: Gunter Rambow was born in 1938 in Neustrelitz, a city in the east of Germany. After an apprenticeship as a glass painter he began his studies of free and applied graphics at “Staatliche Werkakademie” in Kassel. These six years of education would be the formative influence of his later career. In Kassel he met his teacher, the young professor Hans Hillmann, who had overtaken the poster courses of Hans Leistikow, a graphic design pioneer of the 1920s and 1930s. Hillmann, an illustrator, rediscovered the use of photography in poster design and became one of the most influential international poster designers of the 1960s (mainly due to work for two art house film-distributors). Rambow became part of this movement, which was later called the “Kassel school of posters”. 

Rambow went on to create his own work, first with detailed illustrations, then later with photographic experiments and montages. It was then that the poster designer Gunter Rambow was truly born; his success would follow shortly. Many of his early posters received awards, and in 1960 he started his own studio in Kassel (later in Stuttgart, and then for many years in Frankfurt am Main).

In the late 1960s his posters against the war in Vietnam as well as for the independent magazine “Egoist” became zeitgeist-icons, and were put up in many student flats. The 1970s marked the beginning of his work for many cultural organizations, especially theatres. With his photographic compositions, Rambow developed a unique and recognizable graphic style that revolutionized the picture language of German poster design, and made him a leading figure of international graphic design. An important moment for Rambow was 1974, when he was appointed to a professorship for visual communication at his old school in Kassel. For 17 years he shaped the way of teaching with innovative educational projects, and of course several poster workshops.
At the same time his studio partnership “Rambow Lienemeyer van de Sand” became one of the leading graphic design studios in Germany. They were responsible for the book design and advertising graphics of the publishing corporation “S. Fischer Verlag” and the integral branding of the television station “Hessen 3,” among many other projects. 

In 1991 Rambow was appointed to a professorship at the newly founded “Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste” in Karlsruhe, where he also served as the school’s headmaster for a while. He continued his educational career in Karlsruhe until 2003. In 30 years, he had taught a whole generation of young designers, many of which became leading personalities.

In 2005 he moved his studio to a restored historic farm house in the eastern part of Germany. Here in Güstrow he also opened the “Galerie Rambow”, a space for graphic design exhibitions with a focus on international poster design. As curator, he regularly showcases the works of distinguished colleagues. Next to this he continues to create posters for clients – mostly from the theatre scene. With his current work, Rambow has reinvented himself once more, and now follows a style of visual minimalism through the reduction of forms, colors and images. His work from the early 1960s to the present are still connected and quintessential Rambow–visual notes of exclamation, and images made to stick in people’s heads.