THE NEW PENCIL POINTS
July 1943
Herbert Matter [Designer]
Kenneth Reid [Editor]: THE NEW PENCIL POINTS. East Stroudsburg, PA: Reinhold Publishing Company [Volume 24, Number 7] July 1943. Original edition. Slim quarto. Side stitched printed wrappers. 96 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisments. Wrappers lightly rubbed with mild spine wear. Interior unmarked and very clean. Cover design, layout and typography by Bernard Rudofsky. A very good or better copy.
“Herbert Matter, the distinguished photographer and artist was engaged by Messrs. Kocher and Dearstyne to select and compose the special pictorial material used in the presentation of THE ARCHITECTURAL CENTER. “
8.75 x 11.75 original magazine with 96 pages and numerous illustrations. "Pencil Points," the forerunner of "Progressive Architecture" embraced the streamline moderne aesthetic in the arts.
- Views: Letters, pro and con, to the editors
- News: Items from many sources all bearing on the architectural front
- Editorial by Kenneth Reid
- THE ARCHITECTURAL CENTER, a projected institution for investigating human, social, economic and technical aspects of building [Herbert Matter, the distinguished photographer and artist was engaged by Messrs. Kocher and Dearstyne to select and compose the 24 pages of special pictorial material used in this presentation]
- City Planning is Older than the Incas by G. Jones Odriozola, Architect
- Mary Fisher Hall: one of the Goucher College dormitories designed by Moore and Hutchins
- Selected Details: Goucher College drawing room window, dining room doorway and terrace entrance; Social hall entrance at Camp Tamiment
- Discussions of Urbanism: Fifth Installment of Reports of the Columbia University Seminars
- Departments include Manufacturer's Literature and Books and Periodicals
- General Advertising: an excellent assortment of vintage trade advertisments
Herbert Matter (Swiss, 1907 – 1983) studied with Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant at the Académie Moderne in Paris in the late 1920s before returning to Switzerland to design a series of Swiss travel posters which illustrate his signature photomontage technique. When he arrived in the United States in 1936 his first clients were the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the publisher Condé Nast. Other clients included the Guggenheim Museum (1958–1968), Knoll Furniture (1946–1966), and the New Haven Railroad (1954). During this time Matter became a tenured professor at Yale and helped to shape the university’s photography and graphic design program (1952–1976). Matter’s advanced techniques in graphic design and photography became part of a new visual narrative that began in the 1930s, which have since evolved into familiar design idioms such as overprinting—where an image extends beyond the frame—and the bold use of color, size, and placement in typography. Such techniques often characterize both pre-war European Modernism and the post-war expression of that movement in the United States.
"Herbert's background is fascinating and enviable," said Paul Rand. "He was surrounded by good graphics and learned from the best." Therefore, it is no wonder that the famed posters designed for the Swiss Tourist Office soon after his return had the beauty and intensity of Cassandre and the geometric perfection of Corbu, wed to a very distinctive personal vision.
In 1936, Matter was offered roundtrip passage to the United States as payment for his work with a Swiss ballet troupe. He spoke no English, yet traveled across the United States. When the tour was over, he decided to remain in New York. At the urging of a friend who worked at the Museum of Modern Art, Matter went to see Alexey Brodovitch, who had been collecting the Swiss travel posters (two of which were hanging on Brodovitch's studio wall). Matter soon began taking photographs for Harper's Bazaar and Saks Fifth Avenue. Later, he affiliated himself with a photographic studio, "Studio Associates," located near the Condeé Nast offices, where he produced covers and inside spreads for Vogue.
During World War II, Matter made striking posters for Container Corporation of America. In 1944, he became the design consultant at Knoll, molding its graphic identity for over 12 years. As Alvin Eisenman, head of the Design Department at Yale and long-time friend, points out: "Herbert had a strong feeling for minute details, and this was exemplified by the distinguished typography he did for the Knoll catalogues."
In 1952, he was asked by Eisenman to join the Yale faculty as professor of photography and graphic design. "He was a marvelous teacher," says Eisenman. "His roster of students included some of the most important names in the field today." At Yale, he tried his hand at architecture, designing studio space in buildings designed by Louis Kahn and Paul Rudolf. "He was good at everything he tried to do," continues Eisenman. In 1954, he was commissioned to create the corporate identity for the New Haven Railroad. The ubiquitous "NH" logo, with its elongated serifs, was one of the most identifiable symbols in America.