Willi Petzold

Willi Petzold was a German commercial artist, painter, glass painter, and one of the most important poster artists of the 1920s and 1930s. He designed posters and billboards for the state elections of Saxony in 1930 for the Economy Party and the German People’s Party and the international hygiene exhibition in Dresden in 1931. During the Third Reich Petzold produced posters for festivals on behalf of the Nazi Party (NSDAP).

During the devastating bombing of Dresden by the Allied on 14 February 1945, Petzold lost his atelier and all his properties. Nevertheless, he remained loyal to the city. Even after World War II, he was – as before – known for designing posters for political and commercial events, as well as for the reconstruction of Dresden.

The Official Report of 1936 wrote about the tender for the official poster and Petzold’s design: “The threefold task: to show the importance of the Olympic Games in a meaningful way, at the same time to point out Berlin as the host city and to advertise the Games in an emphatic way that could be understood by the whole world, had not been solved. However, since according to the regulations of the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture) the prizes offered for competition must be distributed, and the five best of the entered works were awarded prizes. The first prize was awarded to the Dresden graphic artist Willy Petzold, whose design - an antique bronze head with the winner’s head-band - did not meet the requirements for the official Olympic advertising poster, but seemed suitable as an advertising poster for the Olympic Art Exhibition and was later used for this purpose”. The N.S.-Air Show in Dresden 1933 of his second entry took place on the Großenhain air base near Dresden. The poster appeared in a photo from the art exhibition.