J.F. Sichhart
BMW 319
The BMW 319 received a more powerful engine compared to its predecessor model, the BMW 315. The new 2-litre, six-cylinder power unit with 45 hp is, therefore, the dominant theme of this advertisement. Poster artists not only designed advertising posters for BMW, but were also commissioned, as in this case, to produce advertising brochures. Whilst the various body variants are drawn in classic fashion inside the prospectuses, BMW for the first time treads new paths with regard to the front page. With the arrival of photography, the company deliberately opted for the poster artist J.F. Sichhart. He was regarded as one of the Munich pioneers who integrated the new media into advertising.
The photographer does not show us the entire automobile, but draws our attention to the front end of the vehicle as viewed from below. Even then, the most striking feature of the typical “BMW face” was the so-called “double kidney grille”. Although developed only two years previously, the shape of the radiator grille quickly became, along with the logo, the second best-known BMW attribute. The shape of the famous double kidney grille was to undergo frequent change in the future, but in spite of these metamorphoses, both features have to this very day retained their role as hallmark BMW brand characteristics.
