The rip-roaring metropolis of the 1920s
It was the age of drag balls,
Metropolis, and Josephine Baker. Of scientific breakthroughs, literary verve, and the political chaos of the Weimar Republic. After the best-selling
Hollywood in the 30s and
Jazz: New York in the Roaring Twenties,
illustrator Robert Nippoldt teams up with author Boris Pofalla to evoke the
fast-moving, freewheeling metropolis that was
Berlin in the 1920s.
Like a
cinematographic city tour through time,
Night Falls on the Berlin of the Roaring Twenties takes in the urban scale and the intricate details of this
transformative decade, from sweeping street panoramas, bejeweled with new electric lights, to the foxtrot and tango steps tapped out on dance floors all over town. With characteristic
graphic mastery of light, shadow, and expression, as well as a silver-printing sheen, Nippoldt intersperses portraits with cityscapes, revealing the changing scenery and dynamic hubs of this burgeoning and rapidly industrializing capital, as well as the
extraordinary protagonists that made up its
hotbed scene of art, science, and ideas.
With an avid eye on the eccentrics and outlaws who set the tone in this heady age as much as the established “greats,” Nippoldt includes rich profiles not only of the likes of
Lotte Reiniger, Christopher Isherwood, Albert Einstein, Kurt Weill, Marlene Dietrich, and
George Grosz, but also of “the woman with ten brains” Thea Alba, “Einstein of Sex” Magnus Hirschfeld, and the city’s notorious criminal Adolf Leib. The book also showcases some of the most prominent cultural and political phenomena of the time, whether the most iconic film characters or the frenzied chaos of the Weimar government cabinet.
But beyond the people and the places, above all the book captures the
incomparable and ineffable spirit of time and place, of an epoch suspended between two world wars and a country
caught between joie-de-vivre daring and the darkness of encroaching National Socialism. Before the night falls, Nippoldt shows it all to us: the bright lights and the backstage whispers, the looming factories and the theoretical physics, the roar of the sports hall and the hush of the theater, the songs of the Comedian Harmonists, the satire of George Grosz, and the iconic Marlene Dietrich as she lights up a cigarette in top hat, tuxedo, and come-to-bed eyes.
Awards:
- German Design Award, 2019, Frankfurt
- Best Book Award, 2018, Los Angeles
- Berlin Type Award, 2018, Berlin
- Red Dot Design Award, 2018, Essen
- ADC Award, 2018, Berlin
- Joseph Binder Award, 2018, Vienna
- ADC Award, 2019, New York
- Indigo Design Award, 2019, Amsterdam
- iF Design Award, 2019, Hannover
- A' Design Award, 2019 Como/Italy
- Econ Megaphone Award, Shortlist, 2019, Berlin
- International Design Award, 2018, Los Angeles
- International Creative Media Award, 2018, Meerbusch
- Stiftung Buchkunst, Shortlist, 2018, Frankfurt
The authors
Robert Nippoldt is a German graphic designer, illustrator, and book artist. He is best known for his award-winning books Gangster, Jazz and Hollywood about America in the 1920s and 1930s. His studio is located at the very hip old depot of Muenster.
Boris Pofalla studied art history and literature at the FU Berlin. He is author and art critic for Die Welt. His debut novel Low was published in 2015. He lives in Berlin.
Night Falls on the Berlin of the Roaring Twenties
Hardcover, 21.6 x 34 cm, 1.33 kg, 224 pages
ISBN 978-3-8365-8089-2
Edition: German
