Lucian Bernhard was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1860. Mainly a self-taught artist, in 1905 Bernhard won a competition sponsored for the Berlin Chamber of Commerce. He began producing posters and quickly established himself as one of the most important people working in this field in Germany.

Bernhard was employed by the German government during the First World War to produce propaganda posters. After the war he became Professor of Poster Design at the Berlin Royal Academy.

In 1923 Bernhard moved to the United States where he joined with Rockwell Kent to establish the New York design company, Contempora. Over the next few years he was involved in several projects including the design of 36 different typefaces. Lucian Bernhard died in 1972.