HERBERT BAYER
COLLECTION AND ARCHIVE AT THE DENVER ART MUSEUM
Gwen F. Chanzit [Curator]
Gwen F. Chanzit [Curator]: HERBERT BAYER: COLLECTION AND ARCHIVE AT THE DENVER ART MUSEUM. Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1988. First edition. Quarto. Thick perfect bound and printed wrappers. 256 pp. 300 illustrations. 20 color plates. In Publishers shrinkwrap. A fine copy.
8.5 x 11 softcover book with 256 pages with 300 illustrations [20 in color] of Bayer's work as artist, architect, exhibition and industrial designer. Exhibition catalog/checklist with a thorough chronological overview of Bayer's diverse career from prior to his time at the Bauhaus through to the end of his life in California.
Exceptional document of Bayer's lifetime output at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, Berlin's Dorland Agency and in the United States after his immigration in 1938. Many unusual and rare examples of graphic design, typography, exhibition design, design for an industry, environmental design, painting and murals and more. Work from the Aspen years are particularly well-represented.
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 (1900 - 1985). 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.