"Unadorned photography, definite colours, laconic texts set in functional type: these are the formal elements Michael Engelmann uses to produce a sign language that is dense, and yet seems nimble at the same time. Taking his lead from American advertising practice, he adopted a strictly conceptual working method in the 1950s, intending to drive any hint of unsophisticated adulation out of German advertising. Engelmann worked provocatively and showed a new way forward at a time when there was a sense of a fresh start and aesthetic reorientation between functionalism and pop."--BOOK JACKET