Liebigbild

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Italian Liebig picture around 1900

Liebig pictures are collective pictures attached to the product packs of Liebig's meat extract . The meat extract was named after the German chemist Justus von Liebig (1803–1873).

origin

In addition to much more significant discoveries, Liebig developed the meat extract in 1847 by evaporating a beef extract. A company founded by the German-Brazilian Heinrich Georg Giebert in Antwerp in 1862 under the name Fray Bentos Compagnie Giebert produced the extract industrially in Fray Bentos in Uruguay from 1864 . Since the livestock was raised for leather and fur, there was an excess of meat, which, in contrast to the extract, could not be kept for long and was difficult to transport far. In 1865 the company was renamed " Liebig's Extract of Meat Company " and the headquarters relocated to London . With clever advertising, some of which anticipated the strategies of today's branded goods advertising, she experienced a rapid rise to become a dominant global company. Justus von Liebig and his heirs could hardly benefit from this, because he only owned 100 shares and the right to check the product for constant quality. 1968 was merged with the English company Brooke Bond & Company for Brooke Bond Liebig Ltd . The partner was already known for the collector's pictures of the "Brooke Bond Tea Cards". In 1984 the company was taken over by Unilever .

History of origin

The first Liebig pictures appeared in Paris around 1875 when Liebig Extract set up its own advertising office there. The direct forerunners are chair pictures (from 1874), which were small, colorfully printed cards with a discreet advertising print that acknowledged the use of a leased chair or a bench in the Parisian parks. The earliest Liebig pictures were printed as series of 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and, in one case, of 24 pictures, but were mostly given individually. The closed delivery of entire series probably began from 1880. A series almost always consisted of 6 pictures in the format 105… 110 × 70 mm. Until around 1930, the white glass extract pot with Liebig's lettering could not be missing from the pictures.

Collections

French Liebig picture from 1884

Supported by scrapbooks specially offered for this purpose, the systematic collection of images began around 1890 and, mainly in the following 20 years, led to an almost epidemic passion for collecting. There were first catalogs, special magazines and dealers. Rare series were paid for with up to 300 gold marks, and there were even forgeries. Many companies imitated this type of advertising by the Liebig Company (also with regard to topics, format). Because meat extract was relatively expensive, Liebig pictures were primarily collected by the urban bourgeoisie, less often by workers or the rural population. The advertising with the pictures worked perfectly, even if it was at times problematic for the company that the advertising material, which was given out by the merchants at will, was more popular than the product itself.

Up until the First World War, the pictures were printed as chromolithographs , initially exclusively in Parisian print shops, from around 1885 more and more in German companies. Different offset printing processes later prevailed. After the Second World War, most of the pictures were printed in Italy. Only a few of the designing artists are known by name. Nothing is known about the presumably high print runs either.

Representations

German Liebig picture (1910)
above: Citadel Bala Hissar ; below Chaiber Pass

The Liebig pictures were not artistically demanding. The graphic artists - often permanently employed - are known of only a few pictures; none of the images is signed. In the first time the pictures contained humorous individual depictions with childish motifs.

The series of images later dealt with a wide variety of geographical, natural history and historical topics and, supported by explanatory texts on the back and an appealing design, conveyed ideas about the world beyond one's own horizon of experience. "They served as supplements and replacements for textbooks and probably shaped the worldview of young people to a considerable extent, both through repeated viewing and the associated intensive reception as well as through the information conveyed - and the omitted." There are many Liebig images appeared in several countries and languages, they were generally politically and religiously neutral. Compared to other collective pictures, there are almost no nationalistic motifs. It was not until 1933 that there were some series distributed only in Germany. Over a period of around 100 years, 1870 series with around 11,500 images in 12 languages ​​were issued. In Germany the sale was discontinued in 1940, in Belgium in 1962 and in Italy in 1975. Since 1998 (only in Italy) Liebig pictures have been published again in small editions. The format has changed slightly to 105 × 60 mm. Around two to three series are issued each year, topics include dinosaurs, ball sports, the euro, and new Olympic sports.

literature

  • The President of the Justus Liebig University Giessen (ed.): Justus Liebig (1803–1873). His time and our time exhibition catalog. Giessen 2003, pp. 55-58, ISBN 3-9808949-1-6
  • Hartmut L Köberich: Advertising and collecting pictures. Catalog with evaluation of the scrapbooks and Liebig pictures from the period 1872–1945 . Lumdatal Verlag, Rabenau 2003, ISBN 978-3-9802680-3-5
  • Christa Pieske , Konrad Vanja u. a .: The ABC of luxury paper. Manufacture, processing and use 1860–1930 . Exhibition catalog. Museum für Deutsche Volkskunde, Berlin 1983. pp. 232-236, ISBN 3-88609-123-6
  • Detlef Lorenz: Advertising art around 1900. Artist lexicon for collecting pictures . Reimer, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-496-01220-X
  • Bernd Jussen (Ed.): Liebig's collecting pictures. Complete edition of series 1 to 1138 . Berlin, 2002 (Atlas of historical image knowledge 1) (All German-language image series on two CD-ROM), ISBN 3-936122-15-6
  • Bernd Jussen (Ed.): Liebig's collecting pictures Complete edition of series 1 to 1138 , Atlas of historical image knowledge 1, editors: Miriam Dittrich and Carolin Ritter, funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, CD-ROM, Directmedia Publishing Berlin 2002/2008, ISBN 978-3-89853-640-0

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christa Pieske: The ABC of luxury paper. Manufacture, processing and use from 1860 to 1930 . Berlin 1984, p. 236

Web links

Commons : Liebigbild  - collection of images, videos and audio files