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Herbert Bayer (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
. He was instrumental in the development of the
Atlantic Richfield Company ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...
's corporate art collection until his death in 1985.


Biography


Training and Bauhaus years

Bayer apprenticed under the artist Georg Schmidthammer in
Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
. Leaving the workshop to study at the
Darmstadt Artists' Colony The Darmstadt Artists’ Colony refers both to a group of Jugendstil artists as well as to the buildings in Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt in which these artists lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists were largely fi ...
, he became interested in
Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...
's
Bauhaus manifesto The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2009 ...
. After Bayer had studied for four years at the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...
under such teachers as
Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj;  – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...
,
Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...
and
László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the ...
, Gropius appointed Bayer director of
printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
and
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
. In the spirit of reductive minimalism, Bayer developed a crisp visual style and adopted use of all-lowercase,
sans serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif, gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ser ...
typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...
s for most Bauhaus publications. Bayer is one of several typographers of the period including
Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist who was born in Hanover, Germany. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including dadaism, Constructivism (art), constructivism, surrealism ...
and
Jan Tschichold Jan Tschichold (born Johannes Tzschichhold, also known as Iwan Tschichold, or Ivan Tschichold; 2 April 1902 – 11 August 1974) was a German calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of gra ...
who experimented with the creation of a simplified more phonetic-based alphabet. From 1925 to 1930 Bayer designed a geometric sans-serif ''Proposal for a Universal Typeface

that existed only as a design and was never actually cast into real type. These designs are now issued in digital form as Bayer Universa

The design also inspired ITC Bauhaus and
Architype Bayer Architype Bayer is a geometric sans-serif typeface based upon the 1927 experimentation of Herbert Bayer. Bayer reacted to the Germanic use of capitalization for all nouns by abandoning uppercase. His new case combined characters based on the Carol ...
, which bears comparison with the stylistically related typeface
Architype Schwitters Architype Schwitters is a geometric sans-serif typeface based upon a 1927 phonetic alphabet designed by Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948). The digital revival, shown at right, was produced by Freda Sack and David Quay of The Foundry. Like many new ex ...
. In 1923 Bayer met the photographer
Irene Bayer-Hecht Irene Bayer-Hecht (1898-1991) was an American born photographer involved in the Bauhaus movement. Her photographs "feature experimental approaches and candid views of life at the Bauhaus." Biography Irene Hecht was born in Chicago in 1898. From ...
at the first large Bauhaus exhibit in Weimar. They married in 1925, separated in 1928, had a daughter, Julia Alexandra, in 1929, and divorced in 1944.


Post-Bauhaus years in Germany

In 1928, Bayer left the Bauhaus to become art director of
Vogue magazine ''Vogue'' is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers many topics, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. Based at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, ''Vogu ...
's
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
office. He remained in Germany far later than most other progressives. In 1936 he designed a brochure for the ''Deutschland Ausstellung'', an exhibition for tourists in Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Gamesthe brochure celebrated life in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, and the authority of Hitler. However, in 1937, works of Bayer's were included in the Nazi propaganda exhibition "Degenerate Art", upon which he left Germany. Upon fleeing Germany, he traveled in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.


Time in the United States

In 1944 Bayer married Joella Synara Haweis, the daughter of poet and
Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
artist
Mina Loy Mina Loy (born Mina Gertrude Löwy; 27 December 1882 – 25 September 1966) was a British-born artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to ...
. The same year, he became a U.S. citizen. In 1946 the Bayers relocated. Hired by industrialist and visionary
Walter Paepcke Walter Paepcke (June 29, 1896 – April 13, 1960) was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the mid-20th century. A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of ...
, Bayer moved to
Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Moun ...
as Paepcke promoted skiing as a popular sport. Bayer's architectural work in the town included co-designing the Aspen Institute and restoring the
Wheeler Opera House The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends ele ...
, but his production of promotional posters identified skiing with wit, excitement, and glamour. In 1959, he designed his "fonetik alfabet", a phonetic alphabet, for English. It was sans-serif and without capital letters. He had special symbols for the endings ''-ed'', ''-ory'', ''-ing'', and ''-ion'', as well as the digraphs "ch", "sh", and "ng". An underline indicated the doubling of a consonant in traditional orthography. While living in Aspen, Bayer had a chance meeting with the eccentric oilman, outdoorsman and visionary ecologist,
Robert O. Anderson Robert Orville Anderson (April 12, 1917 – December 2, 2007) was an American businessman, art collector, and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). Anderson also supported several cultural organizations, from the Los Angele ...
. When Anderson saw the ultra-modern, Bauhaus-inspired home that Bayer had designed & built in Aspen, he walked up to the front door and introduced himself. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two men and instigated Anderson's insatiable passion for enthusiastically collecting contemporary art. With Anderson's eventual formation of the
Atlantic Richfield Company ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...
, and as his personal art collection quickly overflowed out of his New Mexico ranch and other homes, ARCO soon held the unique distinction of possessing the world's largest corporate art collection, under the critical eye and sharp direction of Bayer as ARCO's Art and Design Consultant. Overseeing acquisitions for
ARCO Plaza City National Plaza is a twin tower skyscraper complex on South Flower Street in western Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It was originally named ARCO Plaza upon opening in 1972. History Richfield Tower The present complex is ...
, the newly built (1972) twin 51-story office towers in Los Angeles that served as the new company's corporate headquarters, Bayer was also responsible for the ARCO logo and designing all corporate branding related to the company. Prior to the completion of ARCO Plaza, Anderson commissioned Bayer to design a monumental sculpture-fountain to be installed between the dark green granite towers. Originally titled "Stairway to Nowhere" Anderson laughed, but felt the Shareholders wouldn't see the irony; thus he suggested it be named ''
Double Ascension ''Double Ascension'' is an abstract 14-1/2' high x 33' long public sculpture. The individual steps measure: 2'11" x 11' x 9". The sculpture is fabricated in painted steel public art sculpture by Herbert Bayer mounted within a 60-foot diameter poo ...
'' and it still stands between the twin skyscrapers today. Under Bayer's direction, ARCO's art collection grew to nearly 30,000 works nationwide, managed by Atlantic Richfield Company Art Collection staff. ARCO's collection was eclectic, and consisted of an extremely wide range of media & styles; ranging from contemporary and earlier paintings, sculpture, works on paper (including drawings, watercolors and signed original lithographs, etchings and serigraphs) and signed photographs to tribal and ethnic art from many cultures, as well as historic prints and artifacts, all displayed throughout ARCO's buildings in Los Angeles and several other cities. Three years after ARCO was taken over by BP in 2000, that company's then-chairman, Lord Brown, personally ordered ARCO's art collection liquidated. It was sold through Christie's and LA Modern Auctions. Bayer made provisions to donate, after his death, a collection of his works which had been housed in ARCO's conference center in Santa Barbara to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The works have been loaned previously to the
Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between ...
. He was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1979.


Legacy and influence

Bayer's works appear in prominent public and private collections including the
MIT List Visual Arts Center Established in 1950, the List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is the contemporary art museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for temporary exhibitions in its galleries located in the MIT Media Lab building, as well as its admini ...
. Bayer designed the Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks, an environmental sculpture located in Kent, Washington. In 2019, the philanthropists and entrepreneurs
Lynda Lynda is a spelling variation of the feminine given name Linda. Notable people with the name include: People Arts and entertainment * Lynda Adams, later Hunt (1920–1997), Canadian diver * Lynda Baron (1939–2022), British television actress * L ...
and Stewart Resnick donated $10 million to the nonprofit Aspen Institute for a center dedicated to Bayer that will be located on the Institute's Aspen Meadows campus, which Bayer designed. The facility, the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies, is to have galleries, educational programs, and an overall aim to provide tools for the preservation and study of Bayer's work. Herbert Bayer was the architect for the
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...
, in Fort Worth, Texas. The institution moved to its new location designed by architect Tadao Ando in 2002. The building, owned by the City of Fort Worth, is now th
Fort Worth Community Arts Center
which features seven galleries highlighting regional and national artists.


Fonts designed

* ''Proposal for a Universal Type'' (1925–1930), this face existed only as designs. * ''Bayer Type'' (
Berthold Type Foundry H. Berthold AG was one of the largest and most successful type foundries in the world for most of the modern typographic era, making the transition from foundry type to cold type successfully and only coming to dissolution in the digital type era. ...
, 1933)


Decorations and awards

* Culture Prize of the
German Society for Photography German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
(Cologne, 1969) * Inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Art Directors Club (1975) * Architecture Forum Upper Austria in
Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
* Honorary doctorate from the
Technical University of Graz Graz University of Technology (german: link=no, Technische Universität Graz, short ''TU Graz'') is one of five universities in Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria and is the oldest science and technology researc ...
(1977) *
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian ...
(1977) * Ambassador's Award for Excellence (London)


See also

*
List of Austrian artists and architects This is a list of notable Austrian artists and architects. __NOTOC__ A * Josef Abel (1768–1818) painter * Erika Abels d'Albert (1896–1975), painter and graphic designer * Raimund Abraham (1933–2010) architect * Soshana Afroyim (1 ...


References


General references

* * * *
Herbert_Bayer:_Kunst_Universell._Vienna,_Austria:_Edition_Suppan_Fine_Arts
,_1997.html" ;"title="Suppan Fine Arts">Herbert Bayer: Kunst Universell. Vienna, Austria: Edition Suppan Fine Arts
, 1997">Suppan Fine Arts">Herbert Bayer: Kunst Universell. Vienna, Austria: Edition Suppan Fine Arts
, 1997


External links


herbert bayer
*
Art Directors Club bio and portrait of Herbert BayerHerbert Bayer: Bauhaus and Beyond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Herbert 1900 births 1985 deaths AIGA medalists American graphic designers ARCO Austrian graphic designers Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Austrian emigrants to the United States Bauhaus alumni Bauhaus teachers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Grieskirchen District American typographers and type designers Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art Austrian typographers and type designers 20th-century American architects Federal Art Project artists