General Dynamics

In 1955, he was named as art director of General Dynamics, the newly founded American industrial company to which his graphics gave a strong modern identity.

For the first conferences of the International Agency of Atomic Energy, (AIEA-IAEA), of 1955 and 1958, Nitsche created his celebrated series of posters for General Dynamics.

Erik Nitsche created posters of highly symbolic value, taking inspiration from the ‘Swiss International Style’ and was helped by the printing skill of this friend, the lithographer Roger Marsens in Lausanne.

The first 'International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy' took place at the seat of the United Nations in Geneva from the 8th to the 20th of August 1955.

All aspects of atomic energy were discussed, from the exploitation of minerals for nuclear power plants, to university research and its medical use.

The result of this conference was the creation in 1956 of the 'International Agency for Atomic Energy', (AIEA-IAEA), which was ratified by almost all states during the second conference in 1958.

Atoms for Peace poster 1955

‘The pyramid of flags’

The first poster of the series, the flag pyramid, symbolizes all the nations together under the acronyme of the atom and capped by the English slogan for the conference, ‘Atoms for Peace’.

< 'L'atome au service de la paix, hydrodynamics'.

The most well-known of the General Dynamics posters, with the terrestrial globe at the centre and a Nautilus shell. From its spiral emerges the Nautilus submarine, a summit of technology.

The USS version of the poster for the American territories. >

Erik Nitsche and the printer Roger Marsens working on the lithographic stone used for the Nautilus poster in 1955.

< ‘Atoms for Peace’ in Russian. The ‘Astrodynamics’ poster, which illustrates ballistic research and rockets being put into orbit.

On the ‘Aerodynamics’ poster the text is in German and represents, in the midst of the Cold War, tentatives to fly nuclear propulsed planes capable of flying for a week.
The silhouetted planes are B-36’s put into service in 1954. >

< ‘Atoms for Peace' in Hindi. In this ‘Electrodynamics’ poster, nuclear electricity symbolized by the atom at the centre of the light bulb, would light up the world.

Sometimes nicknamed the ‘Rubik’s cube’, this poster in Japanese with its ‘Nucleodynamics’ subtitle, makes a reference to molecular research. >

A nice symbolic representation of an organic molecule or a section of DNA.

< ‘Atoms for Peace’ in Arabic.
Here the sub-title is ‘Radiation Dynamics’ and Nitche, in a poetic way is telling us about the latest research into the mutation and radiation of vegetables, a premonition of the genetic manipulations of today.

‘Solar Dynamics’ >
In this poster in Spanish, the mosaic of concentric circles symbolizes the scientific study of the sun and the associated research for energy production using solar panelled mirrors.

‘Atoms for Peace, Basic Forces’, in German.
Erik Nitsche illustrates research on gravitation and electro-magnetism, fondamental forces which govern matter, from micro-waves to the movement of the stars.

The red point in a white circle could represent an atom or a sun, but could also be interpreted as an egg, a symbol of the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe.

< 'Atomo per la Pace, Servodynamics'

A superb illustration of the working of the first computers. Three colored lights flicker like a lighted sign in a network of data processing synapses.

< ‘Exploring the Universe, First Steps into Space’.

This poster is sometimes known as the ‘manta ray’ but in fact represents the wing of an aeroplane in a wind tunnel with its graphic flux of air.

‘Exploring the Universe, Subatomic Worlds’ >
nicknamed by some as the Boson Higgs, this abstract image was inspired by ‘Drip’ paintings and ‘Lyrical Abstraction’. It illustrates atom traces and collisions in a particule accelerator.

< With the text:
'Exploring the universe, worlds without end'

Proof before letter >

'Exploring the universe, Weather control'

The text in this poster refers to the research undertaken to understand and to try to control and modify the weather through chemistry, here symbolized by the beaker.
To this day, only modest results have been obtained when trying to provoke changes in rain and hail using silver iodide.

This poster reminds us of an episode from the Cold War : The first American tentatives to put rockets into space had ended in failure, the rockets exploded when taking off. However in 1957 the Russians were able to send their Spoutnik into orbit.
In their anti-soviet paranoia the American military was persuaded that the Russians were capable of manipulating the weather in order to send lightening bolts to strike American rockets.
To try and understand how the Russians could have destroyed the American rockets, the government spent millions on weather research. This programme would benefit General Dynamics.

These two posters were reissued under the ‘Exploring the Universe’ series.

< Basic forces

Nuclear fusion >

"Exploring the universe, The energetic sea".

The rendering of the movement of the sea reinforced by the image of the jelly fish, symbolizes the research on the energy of marine currents, the tide and waves.

One of the more beautiful posters from the series, nicknamed the ’Jellyfish’.

TRIGA is the name of a small experimental nuclear reactor built by General Atomic, a division of General Dynamics.

The experimental reactor TRIGA was revealed to the public at the second 'International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy' which was held in Geneva in September 1958.

'Convair 880, The world fastest jetliner'

A modernist design was decided for this jewel of the aeronautic construction industry.

In 1959 Convair, General Dynamics’ aeronautical division, produced the fastest plane in the world, the Convair 880, in reference to its high speed of 880 mph (970km/h).

To this day its modified version, the 990 is still the fastest civil transport plane ever to have been built, with the exeption of Concord. In fact, today, for reasons of fuel economy, planes fly slightly less fast at a cruising speed of around 830 mph (900km/h).

"Electric Boat, Undersea Frontiers"

General Dynamics was founded in 1952 with the fusion of ‘Electric Boat’ and ‘Canadair Ltd’.

Electric Boat, founded in 1891 provided the naval technology and the electric motors needed to launch the Nautilus submarine in 1955.

"STROMBERG-CARLSON, Electronic intelligence"

General Dynamics bought Stromberg-Carlson in 1955 which provided them with a long experience in electronics and telecommunications.

Erik Nitsche superimposed portions of concentric circles which represent radio signals or radar emissions over the contours of a map.

With incredible vision, he had already designed the WiFi logo 40 years before its birth.

Once more Nitsche can be considered as an avant garde artist in the domains of graphic art and technological design.

'Energetic earth, material service'

It is in the depths of the earth that we find the energy to light and heat up our homes.

In this poster an arrow changes from blue, a cold color, to yellow and then to red, the warmest color. In the background are buildings silhouetted in the night, the lighted windows are signs of warmth and life.

Once again, Erik Nitsche, in a brilliant sort of shorthand, depicts a domain of research still in its infancy at this time, but which would be the future to come.

"Material Service, Building material"

For this superb poster, Erik Nitsche looked for inspiration in Mondrian’s work and in which he illustrates scaffolding and building materials.

"Liquid Carbonic, Medical gases"

A spiral which goes from violet, (a slightly cold color) to blue (very cold), to the black of absolute zero, in order to symbolize the freezing techniques of liquid azote in health care.

This time he found inspiration in the Kinetic Art of the 1950’s

If we look directly at the spiral it begins to turn and pulls us into it. Nitsche is already proclaiming Optic and hallucinogenic Art which was not officially born until 1962, two years after this poster was made.

Erik Nitsche again at the forefront of avant-garde creation.

"Liquid Carbonic, Industrial gases"

A very technical drawing of an arrangement of pipes inspired by the Liquid Carbonic firm in Oakland. >

"CL-44 Canadair forty-four air cargo"

In this poster for the cargo plane CL-44 built by Canadair, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, Erik Nitsche chose to draw a wooden crate in dark brown tones when on the ground, but which gets lighter and brighter as it rises until becoming a turquoise blue color of the sky.

< 'Convair 880 the world’s fastest jetliner’.
The earth’s globe is lifted by the nations and their many colors which are crossed by General Dynamics' 880 plane.

‘TIGRA around the world, General Atomic’ >
All nations are united under the pacific use of atomic energy. The small grey circles symbolize nuclear power plants which bring energy and peace on earth in holistic harmony.

The Minerva

To illustrate this large historical retrospective of the company, Erik Nitsche reproduced an extraordinary image : ‘The Minerva, a great airship destined to make great discoveries, by professor Robertson’, as written by its ‘inventor’ Etienne-Gaspard Robert, painter and illustrator who was passionate about arts and sciences…. and ‘airships’.

Minerve was the Roman goddess of war but was also the protector of the arts, commerce and strategy.

In 1803 Robert drew his fantastic ship being carried by a hot air balloon, capable of carrying 60 people together with scientific and exploration material. The hot air balloon was heated by a giant candle, carried an array of baroque houses, barrels, huge ladders, not forgetting a church, a bugle, a cannon for defense, a parachute in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci and an astronomical telescope.

An allegory for progress, research and science.

< From old radio speakers to electronic transistor switches.
With the acquisition of Stromberg-Carlson (founded in 1894), General Dynamics acquired their long experience in telecommunications and electronics.

Ancestors of the Nautilus >
On this poster Erik Nitsche re-uses the drawings of 1850 to 1896 of fantastical submarines.

< From the Minerva airship to B-58 reaction bombers.

‘Dynamic America, just published’ >
The publication of the ‘Dynamic America’ book for the occasion of the large historical retrospective at the Rockefeller Plaza.

Photos of William Woodnut Griscom, founder of Electric Boat in 1891 which would become General Dynamics in 1952 and the two famous products of this company : the electric tramway and a strange ’Dr. Scott’s electric corset’.

During his career Erik Nitsche participated in numerous business publications and designed quite a few other posters such as this one for the ‘Canada Cup Wentworth’ an international golf championship of 1956.

Erik Nitsche, Biography (1908-1998)

Erik Nitsche studied in Lausanne, Switzerland, then moved to the United States at the age of 26, where he had a successful career as graphic designer and art director. In 1955 he was hired as art director for the engineering company General Dynamics. He designed a breakthrough series of posters, in addition to designing their corporate image, annual reports, and advertising. After the 1960's he worked mainly on children's books.

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