Max Burchartz

Biography

Typography, books, posters, photomontage. Born 28 July 1887 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal). 1904-6: first trained in his father’s textile factory, then studied at the Elberfeld Kunstgewerbeschule. 1906-8: trained at the Düsseldorf Kunstakademie, with further studies in Munich (1909) and Berlin (1910). 1912-14: studied painting in Paris. 1914-18: military service. After World War I he was in Weimar, Bochum and Hannover, and had contacts with Kurt Schwitters, Käte Steinitz and El Lissitzky; his work showed the influence of Constructivism and that of De Stijl. 1920: joined the Hannover Sezession. 1922: left Hannover for Weimar. 1923: stopped illustrating; became interested in industrial and interior design as well as advertising design. 1924: founded Werbebau studio with Johannes Canis in Bochum. His early book designs influenced by the work of Jan Tschichold. 1926-33: taught advertising design, typography, photography at the Essen Folkwangschule until dismissed by the NS, but by May 1933 he was a member of several NS organisations (according to a biography in Burchartz, 1993). 1927: with Kurt Schwitters, one of the founders of the ring neue werbegestalter (modern advertising designers). 1929: participant in the ‘Film und Foto’ (‘Fifo’) exh., Stuttgart, organised by Deutscher Werkbund. 1933-9: founded his own advertising studio; designed for publishers, then industrial design. July 1937: one work (a 1921 still life) in ‘Entartete Kunst’ (Degenerate art) exhibition, Munich. 1939-45: military service. 1945: after brief period as prisoner-of-war, he lived in Wolfertshof, Westfalen, before returning to design. 1949-61: taught again at the Folkwangschule, Essen. 1957: awarded Heydt Prize, Wuppertal. Died 31 January 1961 in Essen.

Writings by

  • ‘handschrift – type [– ] zeichnung – foto, Gg, Jhrg. 3 (1927?), v. 8, pp. 37-44
  • Gleichnis der Harmonie, Munich: Prestel, 1949
  • Gestaltungslehre (or Gestaltung lehre), Munich: Prestel, 1953
  • Schwarze, rote und Menschen wie wir, Munich: Prestel, 1958
  • ‘Commercial graphic artists as designers’ (printed fabrics for Pausa), Gg, Aug. 1959, pp. 36-41
  • Schule des Schauens, Munich: Prestel, 1962
  • for a selection of MB’s writings, 1923-58, see Max Burchartz, 1993, below.

Writings about

  • Jan Tschichold, ‘Fotografie und Typografie’, Die Form, 1928, v. 5, pp. 140-50
  • ‘Die neue Umschlag unserer Zeitschrift’, Die Form, 1928, v. 13, pp. 368-72
  • Otto Galley, ‘Der Industrie-Westen’, Das Kunstblatt, Oct. 1929, pp. 288-90 (industrial graphs)
  • Heinz and Bodo Rasch, Gefesselter Blick, Stuttgart: Zaugg, 1930, pp. 26-34 (repr. Baden, Switzerland: Müller, 1996)
  • R. Hausmann, ‘Visual reading the aim of future book typography’ (new designs for type), Gg, June 1930, pp. 50-55
  • Jan Tschichold, ‘New life in print’, Commercial Art, 1930, IX, pp. 1-20 (‘The New Typography’ explained)
  • Kurt Wilhelm-Kästner, ‘Max Burchartz-Essen als Typograph und Buchgestalter’, Imprimatur, 1931, pp. 44-51 plus 4-p. inset
  • Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke, ‘Lob der Grafik’, Die Form, 1931, v. 10, pp. 361-6 (work of MB, F.H. Ehmcke, Kurt Schwitters)
  • Otto Bettmann, ‘Max Burchartz’, AfB, July 1932, pp. 288-94
  • note on Gestaltungslehre, in Graphis 52, 1954, p. 165
  • note on Schwarze, rote…, in Graphis 77, 1958, p. 274
  • obituary, Gg, May 1961, p. 56
  • note on Schule des Schauens, in Graphis 108, 1963, p. 346
  • GKS, 1963, p. 230
  • Inka Graeve, ‘Die “Fifo”’ (Film und Foto exh., 1929), Bildende Kunst, 1989, 10, pp. 23-5
  • SB, 1991, esp. p. 212
  • Typografische Arbeiten 1924-31. Max ist endlich auf dem richtigen Weg: Max Burchartz, 1887-1961 (exh. cat.), Frankfurt a.M.: Deutsche Werkbund, and Müller, 1993 (reprints of MB’s work of 1924-31, and writings of that period
  • includes biographical details)
  • 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
  • DBE, 1995
  • AKL, 1997
  • FOS, 1998
  • JA, 2000, esp. pp. 156-62, 172-5
  • Richard Hollis, Swiss Graphic Design, London: King, 2006
  • Christopher Wilk (ed.), Modernism, London: V&A, 2006 (h/b, p/b).

Exhibitions

  • 1st International Exhibition of Art, Düsseldorf, 1922
  • Weimar, 1922 (with Walter Dexel and others)
  • Stadttheater, Jena, 1923
  • Ring neue Werbegestalter, Cologne, 1928
  • Folkwang, Essen, 1962 (memorial exh.)
  • Landesmuseum, Wiesbaden, 1990 (ring ‘neue Werbegestalter’
  • then to Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich)
  • Deutscher Werkbund, Frankfurt a.M., 1993.