Finished in black with contrasting dark grey roof, and green coachlines with matching wire wheels, presented against a watercolour rural landscape background, this elegant 2-door cabriolet epitomises the brief pinnacle in the mixed fortunes of Austro-Daimler. Starting off in 1890 as simply the Austrian sales outlet of the German motor manufacturer, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, or DMG, founder Eduard Bierenz was soon persuaded to start making his own cars in conjunction with engine-builder, Eduard Fischer. Still an offshoot of the German company, in 1902 Gottlieb Daimler's son, Paul, took over technical developments, before being replaced in that role by the legendary Ferdinand Porsche. He took the company in a variety of directions, including more aerodynamic sports cars, aswell as powering buses, armoured vehicles and even the Zeppelin airship. After WW1, and before the company's collapse in the early 1930s, following a series of disastrous mergers and takeovers, it had developed a reputation for producing attractive sporting and luxury cars, attracting the interest of such coachbuilders as Kellner.

Founded by Alexis Kellner (1880-1953) in 1910, in Berlin, the eponymous Alexis Kellner AG coachbuilding company's stylish automobile bodywork designs were immediately successful. This was demonstrated by the number of orders he received at the International Motor Show, in Berlin, in 1911. Kellner was noted for his inventiveness of small details, such as a concealed handle behind the driver's seat for quickly and easily raising and lowering the car's roof, concealed bonnet hinges, for aesthetic as well as aerodynamic reasons, and a suitcase mounted on the running board.
The company's success reached its zenith in the 1920s, when it was famed for the luxury bodies it designed for such prestigious manufacturers as Audi, Austro-Daimler, Bugatti, Cadillac, Horch, Maybach, Mercedes, and others. This popularity stemmed from both the highly stylish external lines and the sumptuously appointed interiors. This emphasis on sensuous indulgence was even reflected in the company's pioneering use of nude women in its advertising.
But, as with so many manufacturers dependent on wealth and stability in the market, its fortunes crashed in 1929, and Alexis Kellner was declared bankrupt in 1930. The brand name and patents were sold to arch-rival, Drauz in Heilbronn, against whom Kellner had launched a plagiarism suit in 1920 over a particular body design, who shrewdly maintained the Kellner name for its sales company.

The stylishness of Kellner's coachbuilding was perfectly captured and presented to the public by the artistry of Herbert Schultz. Unlike the flamboyant designs he portrayed so skilfully, Schultz was a modest man, despite being a creative all-rounder. In 1818, as a commercial artist and caricaturist working for the Berliner Tageblatt, he gained the admiration of fellow contributor, the artist George Grosz. Schultz had only recently come to Berlin, having graduated from the Royal Academy of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, followed by a spell at the Kunstakademie in Hamburg.
Schultz's skills as a graphic artist lent themselves perfectly to illustrating promotional catalogues to appeal to Alexis Kellner AG's affluent clientele, which had included the royal household. Always signing his work as 'Herschu', he presented these imposing designs against subtle open country landscapes, glamourous night cityscapes, or floating in isolation against a solid ground.
Following the demise of Alexis Kellner AG, Schultz's ongoing artistic career was finally blocked by the Nazi state when he refused to part with his half-Jewish wife. So the Herschu name faded, as did that of Kellner, only for both to be rekindled now in these recently rediscovered, breathtaking, design.


Gouache and watercolour heightened with gum-arabic on cream card, faintly annotated in pencil with body type below, numbered '69', in upper left corner, German copyright stamp on verso, 27 x 42 cm (10½ x 16½ in).