The Hans Sipma main photo for the TZ poster.

Vincent Van Gogh: “For the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together.”
October 22, 1882, letter to his brother Theo.

Story by James Lanoway

During the time when Fritz Duernberger’s TZ 105 was away for ten months for its restoration by Ed Arnold in 1981, Hans Sipma had been envisaging doing something photographically with Fritz’s Vancouver garage floor, painted like the Italian flag.

Fritz’s blue TZ and Hans’ white Giulietta Sprint, along with Mel Kaminski’s red Sprint, on the way to Portland. Photo by Hans Sipma.

Story by James Lanoway

Read Part 1

Fritz and Theresa Duernberger came to Vancouver, B.C., in 1966 after five years in Houston, Texas, where Fritz’s parents lived after emigrating from Salzburg, Austria in 1961. Fritz’s fascination with Alfas began at age 14 in Salzburg when he saw a two-tone light green Giulietta Sprint with a darker green roof outside the machine shop where he was an apprentice.

The TZ Poster. Photos of and for the poster by Hans Sipma.

Story by James Lanoway

If ever there was a paragon of poster art that speaks to the fascination with fine Italian automobiles, it would have to be this one. Its visual effect is arresting, the harmony of design sublime, drawing the eye back to it repetitively, to drink up its offerings. It predates the digital era and yet persists as suitably contemporary. How was it conceived and brought forth, and who was involved in its creation? Here is its story, and that of its creators.