Of
all the artists to pass through the Bauhaus, none lived the Bauhaus
ideal of total integration of the arts into life like Herbert Bayer.
He was a graphic designer, typographer, photographer, painter, environmental
designer, sculptor and exhibition designer. He entered the Bauhaus
in 1921 and was greatly influenced by Kandinsky, Moholy-Nagy and
El Lissitzky. He left in 1923, but returned in 1925 to become a
master in the school. During his tenure as a Bauhaus master he produced
many designs that became standards of a Bauhaus “style.” Bayer was
instrumental in moving the Bauhaus to purely sans serif usage in
all its work. In 1928 he left the Bauhaus to work in Berlin. He
primarily worked as a designer and art director for the Dorland
Agency, an international firm. During his years at Dorland a Bayer
style was established. Bayer emigrated to the United States in 1938
and set up practice in New York. His US design included work for
NW Ayers, consultant art director for J. Walter Thompson and design
work for GE. From 1946 on he worked exclusively for Container Corporation
of America (CCA) and the Atlantic Richfield Corporation.
In 1946 he moved to Aspen to become design consultant to CCA. In
1956 he became chairman of the department of design, a position
he held until 1965. He was awarded the AIGA medal in 1970. Bayer’s
late work included work for ARCO and many personal projects including
several environmental designs.
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Issues:
December-January
1939-40
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