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⚠️ Vorsicht Pufferlücken! – 1966 – Original A2 Safety Poster by Deutsche Bundesbahn | Screenprint | 59.4 × 42.0cm | West Germany
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Berlin, GermanyOn Whoppah since August 2023 • 12 sales
Product description
⚠️ Vorsicht Pufferlücken! – 1966 – Original A2 Safety Poster by Deutsche Bundesbahn (West Germany)
Rail‑yard accident prevention in photographic modernism
| Screenprint | 59.4 × 42.0 cm | West Germany
🎬 Introduction
A concise, high‑impact warning poster from the Deutsche Bundesbahn’s mid‑1960s Unfallverhütung (accident‑prevention) campaign. The headline “Vorsicht Pufferlücken!”—beware the gap between railcar buffers—sets an urgent tone. A grainy, documentary photograph freezes the perilous moment: a shunter caught between two looming buffers, whistle to lips, the scenario punctuated by a single spot‑color helmet in safety yellow. The bold red sans‑serif title rides the spacious upper field, an exercise in postwar European corporate design that prizes clarity, hierarchy, and speed of comprehension.
The visual economy is deliberate: three inks, one decisive image, and typographic alarm. Screenprint texture softens the halftone while the circular buffers and angled figure stage a visceral sense of compression—the precise hazard named by the poster. Built for depot walls and workshops, it functions as both instruction and tightly composed mid‑century industrial graphics.
✨ Why It Matters
Mid‑century rail safety posters were utilitarian and ephemeral; few endured heavy service environments. This example exemplifies the shift to photography‑led messaging, using a single accent color (helmet) and alarm‑red type to encode risk and direct behavior at a glance. The Deutsche Bundesbahn Unfallverhütung series is prized by collectors for its synthesis of modernist typography, documentary photography, and occupational safety culture—appealing across railway history, graphic design, and social industrial heritage. The A2 screenprint format is typical of internal communications of the period, with known series variations in crop and headline hierarchy that make comparative collecting especially rich.
📐 Poster Details
- Year: 1966
- Country: West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany)
- Size: 59.4 × 42.0 cm
- Format: A2
- Studio / Publisher: Deutsche Bundesbahn, Unfallverhütung Department
🔎 Condition
Good vintage condition with honest display traces that frame beautifully; the print reads clean and strong with vivid red headline and intact yellow spot color. Ships safely rolled in a sturdy tube.
Specifications
ConditionVery goodColorsGrey, BlackMaterialPaperNumber of items1OrientationPortraitArt sizeMediumHeight59 cmWidth42 cm
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Seller information
About this seller
Berlin, GermanyOn Whoppah since August 2023 • 12 sales