Metropolis, 1927
Price range: £115.00 through £255.00
Werner Graul made this poster in Berlin around 1926 for UFA, the studio behind Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Where others showed the city of the future, he went straight for the face: the film’s robot woman in close-up, all Art Deco lines. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has a copy, given by Graul himself.
She has been staring out of this poster for nearly a hundred years, and she still doesn’t blink. Give her a wall where she can hold the room, and let her keep her secrets.
The print
Print Quality: Gallery-standard archival pigment giclée, made to order
Media: 308gsm 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Texture & Tone: Super-matte, smooth chalky finish with soft, muted blacks
Longevity: Museum-grade, generational permanence
Photo Rag suits this poster especially well. Its matte cotton surface holds the flat colour and crisp Art Deco lines of the original lithograph without any glare.
Sizes available:
30×45cm, 12×18″, fine art print, open edition
40×60cm, 16×24″, fine art print, open edition
70×100cm, 28×39″, fine art print, open edition
Safe, tracked delivery guaranteed worldwide, with sustainable packaging.
The story
Fritz Lang shot Metropolis in 1925–26 at UFA’s Babelsberg studios near Berlin, and it premiered in Berlin in January 1927, the most expensive silent film yet made. It imagines a vertical city where a wealthy elite live high in the towers while the workers labour in the depths below.
At its heart is the Maschinenmensch, the “machine-human” built by the inventor Rotwang and given the face of Maria, the workers’ gentle heroine, so that she can stir them to revolt. Brigitte Helm, aged 19 and in her first film, played both: the real Maria and her robot double.
Werner Graul’s poster, published by UFA and printed in Berlin by Dinse, Eckert & Cie., puts the robot’s face front and centre. The Museum of Modern Art in New York holds a copy, catalogued as a gift of the artist.
