GEBRAUCHSGRAPHIK
Volume 15, Number 6: June 1938
The Herbert Bayer issue

[Commercial/Poster Art] Professor H.K. Frenzel (Editor): GEBRAUCHSGRAPHIK. Berlin: Gebrauchsgraphik, 1938. Original edition (Volume 15, Number 6: June 1938 ). A vintage magazine in near-fine condition: one cover corner creasand very mild spine wear.Uncommon example of Classic Art Deco and Bauhaus advertising art. Cover design by Bottcher.

This issue of Gebrauchsgraphik is noteworthy for its feature article on Herbert Bayer's Advertising work during his Berlin years for the Dorland Agency. This feature is 15 pages with 28 images in color and black and white, and features 6 full-page, full-color plates. The article somehow fails to mention that Bayer was frantically wrapping up his affairs in Berlin and trying to get out of Germany at the time. By the time this issue hit the newstands in June of 1938, Bayer has successfully emigrated to the United States. A very important document in the history of Bauhaus graphic Design and a premium Bayer item.

9.25 x 12.25 vintage magazine with 68 pages of editorial content and around 20 pages of advertising trade ads. Editorial Contents represent the best of European Art Deco Commercial and Advertising Art, Posters, Photography and Packaging circa 1937. The advertising shows the strong Bauhaus influences of Moholy-Nagy and Herbert Bayer, as well as echoes of El Lissitzky, Piet Zwart and Jan Tschichold's neue typografie.

The highlights of this issue are the knockout feature on Herbert Bayer, as well as Champagne posters and Posters for Accident prevention, with many obscure polish examples. my highest recommendation.

Gebrauchsgraphik was the leading voice of the Avant-Garde influence on the European Commercial Art and Advertising industries before World War II. In the thirties, all roads led through Berlin, and Gebrauchsgraphik spotlighted all of the aesthetic trends fermenting in Europe -- Art Deco and Surrealism from Paris, Constructivism from Moscow, Futurist Fascism from Rome, De Stijl and Dutch typography from Amsterdam, and of course the spreading influence of the Dessau Bauhaus. A journal that was truly international in scope , all articles and cutlines are presented in both German and English.

The thirties were the Golden Age for European Poster Art and Gebrauchsgraphik was in the perfect place to showcase all the latest and greatest trends and rising artists for the rest of the world. Gebrauchsgraphik was an incredibly influential journal and agenda setter, most notably to a young man in Brooklyn named Paul Rand. According to his biographical notes, Rand's exposure to Gebrauchsgraphik in the early thirties created his desire to become a Commercial Artist. The rest is history.

Gebrauchsgraphik utilized the latest printing and press technologies and often included custom colors, bound-in samples and advertising fold-outs, foil stamps, die-cuts and other special finishing effects.

out of stock