Albert Staehle

Albert Staehle was born in Munich, Germany, in 1899 and died in the USA in 1974. He began his career as a German-American painter and illustrator at the Meggendorfer Blätter in Munich. In the face of increasing politicization and nationalization in Germany, he decided to leave the country and try his luck in the USA – a venture he successfully accomplished.

From the late 1930s to the mid-1960s, Albert Staehle was one of America’s best-known illustrators. He was practically born with artistic skills, as both his father and his maternal grandfather were artists. Staehle studied art at the Wicker School in Detroit and at the Art Students League of New York and regularly attended further art courses to continuously improve his skills.

In 1937, Staehle won a poster competition with his illustration of a cow feeding her calf with a bottle of Borden milk. The Borden Company later developed this theme further in its long-running “Elsie the Cow” campaign. Staehle’s award-winning poster was so successful that he was immediately recognized as an animal illustration expert.

Another highlight of his career was the poster for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, which was one of the most highly regarded illustrations at the exhibition. The painting contrasts bright colors in the background, showing the Trylon perisphere and fireworks in the sky, with darker colors in the foreground, where people, including a central figure of an attractively and formally dressed lady waving an arm, are depicted.