Anton BRUEHL
photographer Australia 1900 – United States of America 1982
United States from 1919

The Fabric Group abroad no 40 1928
gelatin silver photograph
signed in pencil on verso
image 34.2 (h) x 26.8 (w) cm
Purchased 2000
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
NGA 2000.377

At the height of the roaring twenties, Anton Bruehl created ‘The Fabric Group’ advertisements – a trio of cut-out paper dolls dressed ‘in the New York manner’ in suits available from the upmarket menswear store Weber and Heilbroner. They embarked on weekly adventures in the Big Apple before venturing overseas to continue their escapades.

Bruehl’s innovative advertising campaign ran from January 1927 to December 1928 in The New Yorker. It kept readers enthralled with the trio’s adventures which always included a mention of their Fabric Group suits. Travelling from New York to Paris, London, Venice, Turkey and Germany, Bruehl even included two Australian episodes, a nod perhaps to his country of birth. Upon their return to New York, the trio was greeted with a hero’s welcome. The campaign was fresh, intriguing and whimsical and was awarded an Art Directors Club medal in 1928.