
Gespensterschiff
Otto Arpke, 1920
$82
Print check at 8 x 10 in: 151 dpi, good. Trimmed 5.5% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $24.80 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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A 1920 German placard for the Gloria-Film production Gespensterschiff, directed and designed by Paul Leni, with the poster drawn by Otto Arpke. Arpke had, that same year, co-designed the Caligari campaign that taught German film advertising to be strange. Here he is again, a few months on, applying the new grammar to a supernatural sea picture — proof that the Expressionist placard was a working idiom, not a single stunt. Look at how the vessel and the lettering share one continuous rhythm; the type is not laid over the image, it is drawn as part of it. The house style of the German uncanny, out at sea.
- Maker
- Otto Arpke
- Date
- 1920
- Medium of the original
- One-sheet poster
- Original held by
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Wikimedia Commons · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Cleared for print
- Catalogue number
- PA-00719
| Picture | 8 x 10 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 9.6 x 11.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | 151 | Good | Trimmed 5.5% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 11 x 14 in | 110 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 12 x 16 in | 100 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 12 x 18 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | 75 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 18 x 24 in | 66 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 24 x 30 in | 50 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 36 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
| 30 x 40 in | 40 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 48 in | 33 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | Wrong shape: a 12% crop |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 1,210 x 1,600 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 36, lights 216 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 82.02
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
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