ALLIANZ
Vereinigung Moderner Schweizer Kunstler
Max Bill [Designer/Author]
Max Bill [Designer/Author]: ALLIANZ [Vereinigung Moderner Schweizer Kunstler]. Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 1942. Text in German. Slim 12mo. Stapled thick wrappers. 32 pp. 38 black and white illustrations. Two paper stocks: cream uncoated for text, newsprint for biographies and endpapers. Catalog written and designed by Max Bill. Wrappers toned with faint corner crease, otherwise a nearly fine, fresh copy.
5.75 x 8.25 stapled exhibition catalog [12 mai - 21 juni 1942] with 32 pages and 38 black and white reproductions of work by members of the Allianz Group. Printed by Buchdruckerei Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Zurich.
Allianz was a group of Swiss artists that formed in 1937 to advocate the concrete art theories of Max Bill with more emphasis on color than their Constructivist counterparts. The first Allianz group advocated exhibition, Neue Kunst in der Schweiz was held in Basil, Ksthalle in 1938, and was followed by a second at the Kunsthaus in Zurich in 1942. Further shows were held at the Galerie des Eaux Vives in Zurich, starting with two in 1944. Allianz exhibitions continued into the 1950s. Allianz members included Max Bill, Walter Bodmer, Robert A. Gessner, Camille Graeser, Fritz Glarner, John Konstantin Hansegger, Max Huber, Leo Leuppi, Richard Paul Lohse, Verena Loewensberg.
Max Bill designed this catalog and typeset it all lowercase in Garamond. Bill also wrote the text and mentioned two main tendencies among Swiss modern artists: "surrealist" and "constructive." The back cover features an ad with a drawing by Bill as well.
Includes work by Otto Abt, Alfred Bartoletti, Max Bill, Werner Bischof, Walter Bodmer, Serge Brignoni, Theo Eble, Hans Erni, Lili Erzinger, Hans Fischli, Rob Gessner, Camille Graeser, Marthe Hekimi, Charles Hindenlang, Hans Hinterreiter, Max Huber, Anna Indermaur, Walter Kern, Paul Klee, Walter Klinger, Jean Kohler, Le Corbusier, Leo Leuppi, Richard P. Lohse, Vreni Lowensberg, Ernst Maass, Walter J. Moeschlin, Meret Oppenheim, Petra Petitpierre, Hans Rudolf Schiess, Jean Schmid, Jurg Spiller, Christian Staub, Sophie Tauber-Arp, Otto Tschumi, Max von Moos, Louis Weber and Walter Kurt Wiemken.
The difference between the design problems which have to be solved every day and works of painting and sculpture is merely one of degree, not one of principle. — Max Bill
Max Bill [1908-1994] achieved mastery in many areas: avant-garde architecture, the fine arts, product design, typography, journalism, research and teaching and even politics. He was a true 'uomo universale' who represented the concept of 'concrete art' by creating works 'by means of its intrinsic nature and rules', and a lifelong proponent of Die Gute Form (good design).
In 1949 he conceived the 'gute form' exhibition, which travelled to Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The exhibition was regarded as an important signal in a Europe which had been destroyed by war and in the reconstruction phase was also looking for new directions in design. An economical use of resources, functionality and long useful life were believed to be what was required -- product features which were aimed at durability and contradicted the consumer society and the concept of disposability.
In 1950 Bill, the designer Otl Aicher and Inge Aicher-Scholl decided to found a college of design in Ulm. They regarded the reconstruction period in Germany as an opportunity to revive the ground-breaking philosophy of the interdisciplinary teachings of the Bauhaus in terms of both style and content, but now taking into account new production technology. Bill was appointed architect and rector of the new college. In contrast to the prevalent opinion at other colleges of design he taught that industrial design is closely linked to social and political responsibility and must not be influenced by considerations of profit.
Bill rejected the label 'designer,' regarding himself as a product designer, entirely in the service of the public. Thus, apparently insignificant objects of everyday life were just as important as furniture design. His output ranged from jewellery designs, the Patria typewriter (1944), a shaving brush (1945), a mirror and hairbrush set (1946), a wash stand for the students' rooms in Ulm (1955), the aluminium handle for a piece of kitchen furniture (1956), crockery for Hutschenreuther (1956) right down to the legendary Junghans kitchen clock (1956/57).