Max Karagöz on Building a German Poster Collection from the Cabinet Up

Max Karagöz, a poster collector based in Wiesbaden, Germany, has amassed a private collection of original German advertising, exhibition, and political posters from the late 19th-century Jugendstil through the Weimar Republic. He frequently collaborates with Museum Wiesbaden, where he curated a cabinet exhibition focusing on the Weimar Republic up to the Nazi takeover in 1933, which ended diversity in political posters. Karagöz began collecting three to four years ago, inspired by Ludwig Hohlwein's Wiesbaden posters. His holdings include works by Lucian Bernhard, Julius Klinger, Hans Rudi Erdt, Ernst Deutsch, and lesser-known artists like Carl Gunschmann. He has mounted three exhibitions: "Poster Women. Women Poster" (supported by the UN/SEEN project), and two on political posters from 1918–1933 and 1949–1991. Karagöz values personal stories over monetary worth, citing a sentimental Wiesbaden poster he nearly lost. He also collects related ephemera and Leica photos by Dr. Paul Wolff. His ultimate goal is to establish a Plakatfreunde Museum to permanently display the collection and honor Dr. Hans Sachs, founder of the Verein der Plakatfreunde.