F. GYGI + CO. BERN
INSERATE UND NEUJAHRSKARTEN, 1942 - 1954
Hans Hartmann, Kurth Wirth and Adolf Fluckiger [Designers]
Friedrich Edouard Gygi, Adolf Fluckiger [cover design]: F. GYGI + CO. BERN. INSERATE UND NEUJAHRSKARTEN, 1942 - 1954. [Bern, Switzerland: F. Gygi +Co., 1954.] First edition. Folio. Thick printed wrappers. Unpaginated. 76 full-page plates printed on a variety of paper stocks. Wrappers lightly worn and toned. Upper corner bumped with extension throughout textblock [no artowrk affected]. Last few leaves dog eared to upper corner. Spine heel skinned. Text and artwork very clean and unmarked. A very good copy of an uncoomon title.
9.5 x 13 softcover bound portfolio featuring 76 full-page 2-color plates of graphics and typographic samples for advertising by Fritz Gygi + Co. of Bern, Switzerland covering the years 1942 - 1954. Samples printed on different colour paper stock, grey, brown, blue, yellow and white.
Printed by Stampfli & Cie., Bern and designed by Hans Hartmann, Kurth Wirth and Adolf Fluckiger (Cover). Selected as one of the "Most Beautiful Swiss Books" of 1954. Includes work by Herbert Auchli, Franz Fedier , Adolf Fluckiger, Hans Hartmann, Bernhard Luginbuhl, Dieter Roth, Robert Sessler, Hans Thoni, Otto Tschumi, Kurt Wirth and Ernest Witzig.
F. Gygi + Co. was founded by Friedrich Edouard Gygi (1877-1959) as painters and plasterers in Bern, Switzerland. The company displayed their progressivism by selecting local graphic artists to design their Advertisements and New Years Cards. These ads appeared on the back covers of the Kunst Halle Bern Catalogs in the 1940s and 1950s.
Their good fortune of being located in Bern was reflected by the stellar roster of graphic artists they employed to visually represent their company. Going through this book chronologically provides an exceptional overview of the rapidly formalizing Swiss Style after World War II. Highly recommended.