Max Bill

Biography

Architecture, sculpture, painting, exhibitions. Swiss. Born 22 December 1908 in Winterthur. 1924-7: trained as a silversmith at the Zurich Kunstgewerbeschule. 1927-9: studied at the Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany: teachers included Josef Albers, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy. 1929-50: lived and worked in Switzerland. From 1930: worked as architect, painter, sculptor; graphic design (i.e. Wohnbedarf Store, Zurich). c1931: exhibited with ring ‘neue Werbegestalter’. 1936: designed Swiss Pavilion, Milan Triennale; Bill awarded Prix d’honneur. 1944: organized the first international exhibition of ‘concrete art’ at the Kunsthalle, Basle. 1949: architect of ‘die gute form’ exhibition, pavilion at the Swiss Industrial Fair, Basel. 1951: designed Swiss Pavilion, Milan Triennale; Bill awarded Grand Prix. 1951-6: co-founded and taught at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (School of Creative Design), Ulm, Germany. 1952-6: head of the department of architecture and product form. 1956-67: worked in Switzerland. 1960: organized retrospective exhibition ‘Concrete Art: 50 years of development’, Zurich. 1967: Chairman of jury for Interdesign 2000. 1967-74: taught environmental design at the Hamburg Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste. 1972: member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. 1986: president of the Vereins ‘Bauhaus Archiv’, Berlin. Died 9 December 1994 in Berlin. Bill was awarded numerous prizes and honors during his lifetime.

No attempt has been made to list all Max Bill’s extensive writings and the literature about him. A comprehensive reference is Hüttinger, 1987 (see below), which contains texts by MB, full lists of exhibitions, catalogues, writings about, dissertations about, and films about MB; other references are du, June 1976, which is devoted to MB’s life and work; AKL, 1995; Annely Juda exh. cat., 1996.

Writings by

  • ‘Der Geist kehrt zurück’ (reviews of U.S. art books), Graphis 11/12, 1945, pp. 432-3, 436
  • ‘Graphic art in the atom world’, Graphis 21, 1948, pp. 80-85
  • Moderne Schweizer Architektur 1925-45, Basle: Werner, 1949
  • ‘Die mathematische Denkweise in der Kunst unserer Zeit’ (1949?), in Antoine Pevsner, Georges Vantongerloo, Max Bill (exh. cat.), Zurich: Kunsthaus, 1949
  • introduction in Moderne Kunst aus der Sammlung Peggy Guggenheim (exh. cat.), Zurich: Kunsthaus, 1951
  • Form, Basle: Werner, 1953
  • ‘Beauty from function and as function’, idea 53, pp. X-XII, Stuttgart: Hatje, 1953 (tr. Joyce Wittenborn)
  • ‘Typography today’, Typographica, 1953, 5
  • Die gute Form, Winterthur: Buchdruckerei, 1957
  • ‘The unknown present’ (on MB’s exhibition at Globus, Zurich), New Graphic Design, Sept. 1958, pp. 67-72
  • ‘Catalogues of art exhibitions 1936-58’, New Graphic Design, July 1959, pp. 13-20
  • ‘Exhibition design’, New Graphic Design, Dec. 1959, pp. 2-14
  • Margit Staber, Max Bill, London: Methuen, 1964 (includes selected writings 1938-62)
  • brief autobiography, du, June 1976, 2 prelim pages (in English
  • tr. D. Simons).

Writings about

  • 1930-50: Heinz and Bodo Rasch, Gefesselter Blick, Stuttgart: Zaugg, 1930, pp. 23-5 (repr. Baden, Switzerland: Müller, 1996)
  • ‘Max Bill’, Bauhaus 1919-28, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1938 (p/b, 1975), pp. 286-95
  • Antoine Pevsner, Georges Vantongerloo, Max Bill (exh. cat.), Zurich: Kunsthaus, 1949
  • H.R., ‘The return of the Penrose annual’, Art and Industry, 1949, pp. 216-18 (typographic layout by MB)
  • business card, SGM, April. 1949, p. 160
  • Will Grohmann, Max Bill (monograph), Stuttgart: KG, 1950
  • Hans Hildebrandt, review of MB’s Moderne Schweizer Architektur, in Das Kunstwerk, 1950, VIII/IX, p. 120
  • ‘Die Eröffnung der Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm’, Graphik, 1950, p. 611
  • 1951-60: review of Form, in Das Kunstwerk, 1953, H. 2, p. 57
  • review of Form, in Graphis 48, 1953, p. 338
  • Margit Staber, ‘Hochschule für Gestaltung, Ulm’, idea 55, Stuttgart: Hatje, 1955
  • M. Staber, ‘Design school in the Bauhaus tradition’, Design, July 1956, pp. 43-4
  • note on retirement from Hochschule für Gestaltung, Design, Oct. 1957, p. 57
  • Georgine Oeri, ‘Great ideas of western man’ (advertising series by Container Corporation of America), Graphis 74, 1957, pp. 504-13, 559
  • Margit Staber, ‘Max Bill: 50 Jahre’, Das Kunstwerk, Nov./Dec. 1958, p. 57
  • Richard P. Lohse, ‘The influence of modern art on contemporary graphic design’, New Graphic Design, Sept. 1958
  • Ernst Scheidegger, ‘The Ulm experiment and the training of the graphic designer’, New Graphic Design, Sept. 1958, pp. 64-6
  • ‘Arbeiten von Max Bill, Zurich [and others]’,TM/SGM, June/July 1959, pp. 372-5
  • ‘Eine Publikation über Max Bill’ (including brief biography), New Graphic Design, Oct. 1959, p. 62
  • ‘Exhibition “Swiss Design”’ (London), New Graphic Design, Sept. 1960, pp. 38-43
  • 1961-90: M. Staber, Max Bill, London: Methuen, 1964 (includes selected bibliography, exhibitions, selected writings)
  • M. Staber, ‘Icograda’ (first Congress, Zurich), Graphis 116, 1964, pp. 518-19
  • Max Bill, Malerei und Plastik, 1928-68 (exh. cat.), Bern: Kunsthalle, 1968
  • M. Staber, Max Bill, St Gall: Erker, 1971
  • Max Bill: System incorporating five four-colour centres, St Gall: Erker, 1972
  • Eduard Hüttinger, Max Bill, Zurich: ABC, 1976
  • du (journal), June 1976
  • Lexikon der zeitgenössischen Schweizer Künstler, Frauenfeld/Stuttgart: Huber, 1981
  • TM/SGM, Nov./Dec. 1982, pp. 16-17
  • Gerd Fleischmann (ed.), bauhaus. drucksachen/typografie/reklame, Düsseldorf: Marzona, 1984, esp. pp. 286-9
  • E. Hüttinger, Max Bill, Zurich: ABC Verlag, 1987
  • Bernd Grönwald, ‘Max Bill in Weimar’, Bildende Kunst, Aug. 1987, pp. 349-51
  • Volker Rattemeyer, Dietrich Helms and others, Ring ‘neue werbegestalter’. Amsterdamer Ausstellung von 1931 (additional on title page: ‘“Typographie kann unter Umständen Kunst sein”’) (exh. cat.), Wiesbaden: Museum Wiesbaden, 1990
  • Michael Erlhoff (ed.), Designed in Germany, Munich: Prestel, 1990 (pp. 15, 21-2)
  • 1991-present: Paul Rand, ‘Typography: Style is not substance’, Jan Tschichold, Reflections and reappraisals (Paul Barnes, ed.), New York: Typoscope, 1995, pp. 47-51 (MB and Tschichold controversy)
  • François Rappo, ‘Confrontation entre Max Bill et Jan Tschichold’, TM, 1, 1995, Sommaire pp. 1(-16: includes biography of MB, Bill’s ‘sur la typographie’, biography of JT, Tschichold’s ‘Foi et réalité’ [Glaube und Wirklichkeit], first published in TM/SGM, 1946, 6)
  • Max Bill/Georges Vantongerloo. A working relationship (exh. cat.), London: Annely Juda Fine Art, 1996
  • TM, 1997, 4 (special number ‘Pioneers of Typography’: MB), includes biography, ‘über typographie’ and Tschichold’s response
  • 100 + 3 Swiss posters selected by Siegfried Odermatt, Zurich: Waser, 1998
  • Meggs, 1998
  • Hans Peter Willberg, ‘Schrift und Typographie im 20. Jahrhundert’, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 2000, pp. 257-87
  • Friedrich Friedl, ‘Zwischen Tradition und Experiment’, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 2000, pp. 288-301
  • Gerd Fleischmann, ‘A poster by Max Bill or the love of geometry’, Design Issues, MIT Press, Spring 2001, pp. 53-63
  • RK, 2004
  • T. Buchsteiner, O. Letze, Max Bill, Ostfildern: Cantz, 2005
  • Richard Hollis, Swiss Graphic Design, London: King, 2006
  • Christopher Wilk (ed.), Modernism, London: V&A, 2006 (h/b, p/b).

Collections

  • Max Bill/Georges Vantongerloo Foundation, Zurich
  • haus bill, Zumikon, Switzerland.

Exhibitions

  • Bauhaus, Dessau, 1928
  • Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1949
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1953 (represented Switzerland in ‘Four Poster Artists’)
  • documenta, Kassel, 1955 (4 items)
  • Weimar, 1987
  • Landesmuseum, Wiesbaden, 1990 (ring ‘neue Werbegestalter’
  • then to Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich)
  • Annely Juda Gallery, London, 1996 (with Georges Vantongerloo)
  • Kunsthalle, Bielefeld, 1998.