Hannes Gaab

Biography

Illustrations, lettering, book jackets. Born 11 October 1908 in Mainz. 1923-9: student at the Mainz Staatsschule für Kunst und Handwerk. 1937-9: student at the Munich Akademie für angewandte Künste. 1939: awarded 3 rd prize in Gutenberg Exhibition poster competition. 1940-45: military service. Gaab illustrated a number of books for the Eggebrecht-Presse. 1962: Art Prize, City of Mainz. His Sappho (1952), Daphnis und Chloe (1958) and Goethe’s Belagerung von Mainz (1961) are considered among the finest examples of German book art. Died 2 September 1988 in Mainz.

Writings about

  • Hans Adolf Halbey, Hannes Gaab, Offenbach a.M.: Klingspor Museum, 1959 (includes bibliography, 1936-58)
  • H.A. Halbey, Hannes Gaab. Buchillustration, Graphik, Malerei (exh. cat.), Mainz: Gerke, 1962
  • GKS, 1963, p. 222
  • H.A. Halbey, ‘Hannes Gaab’, Illustration 63, April 1971, pp. 8-11 (includes list of Gaab’s illustrated books)
  • Hans Laut, ‘Exlibris von Illustratoren’, Illustration 63, Aug. 1971, pp. 59-62
  • H.A. Halbey, ‘Bertolt Brecht “Die Liebenden” mit Zeichnungen von Hannes Gaab’, Illustration 63, April 1982, p. 29
  • Nino Erné and others, Hannes Gaab, Gedanken zu Person und Werk, Mainz: Schmidt, 1988.
  • Erich Pfeiffer-Belli, ‘The graphic artist Hannes Gaab’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., July 1960, pp. 24-9
  • Walter Hofmann, ‘Plakat-Wettbewerb für die Gutenberg-Reichsausstellung Leipzig 1940’ (results of poster competition), Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, Leipzig: Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein., 1938, pp. 531-4, esp. p. 533

Exhibitions

  • Klingspor Museum, Frankfurt a.M., 1959
  • Mainz, 1962.

Collections

  • Klingspor Museum, Frankfurt a.M.