FORM
A BALANCE SHEET OF MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY
TRENDS IN DESIGN
Max Bill
Max Bill: FORM. A BALANCE SHEET OF MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY TRENDS IN DESIGN [Eine Bilanz uber die Formentwicklung um die Mitte des XX Jahrhunderts / Un Bilan de l'evolution de la Forme au Milieu du XXe Siecle]. Basel: Verlag Karl Werner, 1952. First edition. Parallel texts in French, German and English. Square quarto. Blue stamped cloth. Photographically printed dust jacket. 168 pp. Profusely illustrated with black and white photographic plates. Inscribed by author in red ink on title page. Textblock head dust spotted. One tiny closed tear to jacket front and faint spotting to rear panel. Book design and typography by the author. A fine copy in a nearly fine example of the publishers dust jacket. The nicest copy we have handled.
INSCRIBED by Bill: For the Ambassador of the / United States and Mrs. Davis / with best wishes / Max Bill / 17 - 11 -72.
8.5 x 9 hardcover book with 168 pages illustrated with black and white photographs of objects imbued with Die Gute Form [good design] as chosen by Max Bill.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments. List of Photographers
Form and Art
Forms in Nature
Forms and Movement as observed by Man
Forms invented or wrought by Man
Forms of Tools, Utensils, Appliances, and Machines
From Making to Faking
Forms in the Home, including the Kitchen
Forms in Furniture
Forms in Toys
Forms in Gardening, Jewelry, and Travel Accessories
Forms in Building Construction
Planning and Building
Forms in Towns and Villages
Forms in the basic types of Urban Buildings
Forms in Architecture
Forms in the Landscape
Education and Design
Index of Designers whose work is illustrated
Designers include Alvar Aalto, AKZ, William Armbruster, Gunnar Asplund, Lodovico Belgioioso, Hans Bellmann, Harry Bertoia, Max Bill, Umberto Boccioni, Marcel Breuer, Hans Coray, De Vries, Charles Eames, H. E. Edgerton, Hermann Graber, Walter Gropius, Hood & Fouilhoux, Institute of Design, Pierre Jeanneret, Philip Johnson, Gyorgy Kepes, Florence Knoll, Le Corbusier, Raymond Loewy Associates, Robert Maillart, Bruno Mauder, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Pier Luigi Nervi, Ricahrd Neutra, Oscar Niemeyer, Marcello Nizzoli, Isamu Noguchi, Charlotte Perriand, Gio Ponti, James Prestini, Gerrit Rietveld, Jens Risom, Eero Saarinen, Skidmore, Owings, and Merril, Henry Van de Velde, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Eva Zeisel among many others.
FORM was just published before Max Bill, Inge Aicher-Scholl and Otl Aicher founded the Ulm School of Design (German: Hochschule für Gestaltung - HfG Ulm) in Ulm, Germany, a design school initially created in the tradition of the Bauhaus and which later developed a new design education approach integrating art and science. The school is notable for its inclusion of semiotics as a field of study. The school closed in 1968. Faculty and students included: Tomás Maldonado, Otl Aicher, Joseph Albers, Johannes Itten, John Lottes, Walter Zeischegg, and Peter Seitz.
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 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).
FORM remains as a concrete example of Bill's design philosophy: a flawless blend of form and content, a true moment of clarity.