herbertbayer

herbertbayera research paper by alana mandel

The graphic design landscape today is greatly attributed to the experimental work produced by those bohemian, collaborative artists who pioneered the Bauhaus during the 1920’s in Germany. The unity of the Bauhaus drew artist types of a particular breed: energetic visual and spiritual explorers with keen intuition and an incessant curiosity flocked to Weimar at the beginning of the Bauhaus movement. Among these eccentric minds was Herbert Bayer, who studied as one of the first students of the Bauhaus in 1919. It’s only natural that Bayer found himself at the Bauhaus when he did. At the time, the institute operated as a loosely structured center for learning through experiment and self discovery. It was a nucleus of nonconformists all working to unearth their own capabilities as artists. Bayer, growing up in the countryside of Austria near Haag, was inclined to the arts and held an interest in painting as a young boy. His first set of watercolors lent itself to the mountainous backdrop of his early childhood. When his family moved to Linz, Bayer became active in a youth movement that fostered camaraderie through activities in nature and an interest in folk art. The group ventured to Austrian villages and recorded old peasant crafts and songs. It was this “disciplined upbringing rather than riches” that Bayer ascribes his joyful childhood and fond memories of Austria (Bayer 9). During his adolescence,

Bayer channeled his fervor for artistic expression by an endless production of drawings and paintings of nature. After his father’s death, Bayer traded his dreams of studying art at the Academy in Vienna for a short apprenticeship under architect Schmidthammer in Linz. After being exposed to the works of Gustav Klimt and Hans Hoffman, Bayer moved to Darmstadt, Germany in 1919 to work with architect Emanuel Margold of the Viennese School. In Darmstadt, Bayer was put to work in packaging design, an innovative and new practice of its time. While he was able to work in the

“graphics of a decorative expressionist style,” Bayer soon became tired of this station and found the decorative craft to require a sort of “superficial beautifying” (10). Conveniently, at this time Bayer was introduced to Kandinsky’s book, About the Spiritual in Art, and was immediately inspired. His mentor, Margold, had also offered a rumor about the Bauhaus that sparked Bayer’s interest even more:

“during entrance examinations, the applicant is locked up in a dark room. Thunder and lightning are let loose to get him into a state of agitation. His being admitted depends upon how well he expresses this experience by drawing or painting” (10). Despite the falsehood of this allegory, Bayer wasted no time and promptly journeyed to Weimar where he later described his Bauhaus experience as being “the formative experience of my subsequent work” (10). Working alongside like-

project for exhibition pavilion at an industrial fair 1924. toothpaste for sale inside. advertised outside simultaneously by film, rear projection; flashing electric sign; loudspeaker; letters formed by smoke

cover image: lonely metropolitan 1932/13. fotomontage

these posters from the 1920’s showcase

bayer’s practice in type setting, letter-spacing, and understanding of

typographic forms

minded artists, all influenced in some way by romantic expressionism, Dada, Constructivism, and the purity of De Stijl, Bayer writes of his early Bauhaus involvement in a sentimental way.

“For the future the Bauhaus gave us assurance in facing the perplexities of work; it gave us the know-how to work. A foundation in the crafts, an invaluable heritage of timeless principles as applied to the creative process,” Bayer writes of his time as a student (10). Here Bayer served his apprenticeship as a house painter, and upon his departure from the Bauhaus in 1923, he traveled south through Italy and Sicily implementing his skills as a painter freelancing and painting houses. When he returned to Germany, the Bauhaus had moved from Weimar to Dessau, and Bayer worked there as a Master of the Graphic Design Workshop and the Printing Workshop at age 28. His focus was on typography and visual communication. He also experimented with photography as a new medium, and applied its use to typography in more creative than functional ways. For instance, Bayer began bending type’s role, making it more of a dominant image instead of only textual information. After spending three years teaching at the Bauhaus, Bayer left for Berlin. He felt he was too young to be a teacher and lacked the life experience it took to impart knowledge on others. In Berlin he felt free to explore and practice design in an array of different mediums. Bayer further developed his photography skills with an emphasis on photomontage and studied the psychological and philosophical ideas of advertising and visual communication. When he hit a wall with two-dimensional work, he began experimenting in exhibition design. Herbert Bayer’s visual

communication work has had a significant influence on today’s graphic design field. His organized typographic posters of the 1920’s reflect a disciplined study of type setting, letter-spacing, and understanding of typographic forms. Bayer’s posters, postcards, invitations, and advertisements are brilliant examples of the creative and effective use of a grid system. In addition,

“Bayer Type” is an interesting typeface designed in 1933 that successfully renders the alphabet that is purely constructed with geometric lines and arches. Bayer also explored the use of sans-serif typefaces, writing on how its simplified form visually parallels with the new “machine man’s” visual language (26). His “universal type” of 1925, a new machine alphabet, was created as a substitute for the two alphabets of typewriting and handwriting. Bayer believed that printing with one universal typeface would eliminate the awkwardness of a handwriting/typewriting style marriage. “Universal type” is also an all lowercase alphabet that omits uppercase letters on the basis that they are too cumbersome to read in long text and too rarely used in typical punctuation, therefore useless in Bayer’s eyes.

universal type, bold face 1925

booklet, “bayer type”; berthold type foundry 1933. cover and inside pages. all letters of this type face are constructed with geometric lines and arches.

profil en face 1929/1 fotomontage

monument 1932/12 fotomontage

right: poster, exhibition “deutscher werkbund” paris 1930

His photomontages received much attention, that of Bayer’s and also of his admirers. His time in Berlin was spent experimenting more in photomontage, defining this craft and applying it to posters, advertisements, and eventually large-scale exhibition designs. Bayer was influenced by the photographic work of his fellow Bauhaus teacher, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Bayer’s first wife, who studied photography, also encouraged him to explore the utility of photography and its role in media communication. His approach to photomontage

construction was varied. Bayer would arrange physical objects to be photographed, sometimes leaving holes in the background of the sets so he could montage pieces into them later to give the illusion of peering through the image. He also added to pictures with air-brushing and paint, creating false shadows and highlights. Soon Bayer introduced typography into photomontage and began designing advertisements this way. In Berlin, Bayer worked with many clients, even securing a job with Vogue.

exhibition “deutscher werkbund” paris 1930display of architecture and mass produced furniture

Eventually Bayer moved to America with a commission from the Museum of Modern Art to put on a Bauhaus exhibition. This exhibition took place in New York City, 1938. Bayer continued on to design exhibitions such as “Road to Victory” that showcased wartime attitudes in America and “Family Man.” His first design job for industry was in New York at the Container Corporation of America. The designs being produced for CCA focused more on visual concepts rather than text. This intrigued Bayer, and his work for Corporate Container of America merged his photomontage and typography skills with fundamental principles of design. Despite his resistance to social political design, Bayer was an advocate for design as

an expression of industry. He firmly believed not only that art needed to be present in industrial design, but that it was of equal importance to production and trade. Bayer’s care to quality and value of design that shows up in his work for CCA has made a short-lived business an iconic representation of consistent industrial design. Exhausted from living the city life, Bayer moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1948 where he played a prominent role in several notable architectural designs. Bayer strived to mold the identity of Aspen. He later wrote that “the highest aim of the artist is to contribute to the shaping of the community by visually organizing it” (112).

site plan of aspen institute of development

seminar building 1953aspen institute for humanistic studies

Herbert Bayerby Alana Mandel

Works Cited

Bayer, Herbert. Herbert Bayer: Painter, Designer, Architect. New York: Reinhold, 1967. Print.

Hill, Paul, and Thomas Joshua Cooper. Dialogue with Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1979. Print.

self portrait 1932/5 fotomontage