Holzer, Charles (or Karl)

History

Charles Holzer was born and educated in the villages of Seefeld and Grosskadolz about seventy miles from Vienna, Austria near the Czech border. After serving a five-year lithography apprenticeship with a printing firm run by monks in Vienna, he became a lithographic journeyman, travelling throughout Austria. Following working at various litho shops in Paris Charles Holzer came to England in 1900, initially to see the British Empire Exhibition at White City, but decided to settle here. He met his future wife Catherine Marie Louise Collatz around 1903. He found work at Hubner & Wilson, Viner’s, Mazzawati Tea Co, Hurrand & Fuller and several other commercial art studios and litho shops in London. It appears that Holzer was involved in the colour printing of several Lever Brothers’ advertisements during the Edwardian period, including Pears soap, Sunlight soap and Lux.

Between 1914 and 1919 he was interned due to his Austrian nationality. After the war he established and ran the chromo-lithography shop at Hubner’s Ltd at Brecknock Road, Tufnell Park, London. Here, sets of original lithographic plates were made up for various printers including McCorquodale & Co Ltd. Holzer later introduced photo-lithography at Hubner’s.

Charles’s son Henry (born 31 December 1907) served his apprenticeship as a chromo-lithographer at Hubner’s from 1922 to 1927. After 1930 Henry studied fine art at the Regent Street Polytechnic and Central School of Arts and Crafts. From 1932-33 he accepted a teaching post at Hornsey College of Art, taking charge of the litho department after a couple of years. By the late 1950s he was in charge of the whole printmaking department, then operating at Alexandra Palace. 

Henry Holzer remembers working on the “Gilbeys Port” advertisement (c.1927) and the fruit labels in this collection, printed from plates produced in Hubner’s studio in London. Most of the early posters and labels (pre -1914) came from Charles Holzer’s journeyman’s portfolio showing samples of his work. Charles Holzer’s first known work in London was for Hubner & Wilson, working on a Gilby’s Invalid Port advertising poster that showed a view of the Pool of London including Tower Bridge designed by Wilson.

After his retirement in 1968, Henry Holzer moved with his wife and young family to Norfolk. From his studio he worked full time as a prolific painter and printmaker becoming widely known for his landscapes in oil and pastel. The Usher Gallery, Lincoln gave him a major retrospective in 1970-1 and this was followed by another at Yarmouth Central Library. For about twenty years, from the 1970s, he was President of the Yarmouth and District Art Society.
Henry Holzer presented his father’s advertising collection as a gift to HAT’s permanent collection in 2001.

Archive content

Date range: 1903-1950s

Scope/Formats

Comprises some 50 printer's proofs for posters, can labels, flyers, leaflets, brochures and magazine supplements. Highlights are some stunning Edwardian colour plates promoting Pears Soap (reproduced after original oil paintings), some vivid advertisements inspired by Art Nouveau design e.g. Kleinert's stockings and Marsh & Co's biscuits and cakes and many others reflecting changing female fashions during the first half of the 20th century.
Most items include printer's colour guide strips along the edges indicating the number and colour of each plate used in the process. A sample set of 15 colour progressive plates was donated with the collection.

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