OFFICIAL GRAPHIC ART IN SWITZERLAND
Hans Peter Schudi (Preface)
Dr. Werner Kampen (Introduction)
Hans Peter Schudi (Preface) and Dr. Werner Kampen (Introduction): OFFICIAL GRAPHIC ART IN SWITZERLAND [OFFIZIELLE SCHWEIZER GRAFIK / ARTS GRAPHIQUES OFFICIELS EN SUISSE]. Zurich: ABC Verlag, 1964. First edition. Text in German, French, and English. A near-fine hardcover book with glazed pictorial boards issued without a dustjacket: board edges and corners lightly nicked and bumped. Tiny former owner signature blacked out inside front and back covers, otherwise interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print and somewhat uncommon. 10.25 x 10 hardcover book with 184 pages with over 250 examples of Swiss design --including one fold-out. From a program for a presentation on Swiss Graphic Design by Richard Hollis in London (available at januzzi.com): "By the 1950s Switzerland had developed a uniquely clear graphic language which matched the country's reputation for efficiency and precision. Evident not just in posters but in advertisements, brochures and books, Neue Grafik or Swiss Style, as it became known, was respected internationally for its formal discipline: simple methods that could make posters dramatic and give an order and elegance to typographic design. Sharing the disciplines of Swiss Concrete Art, designers organised images and text into geometrical grids. With sans-serif typefaces such as Helvetica and Univers, these were the chief components of the Swiss Style which spread across the world."
The Swiss International Style derived from the idea that "abstract structure is the vehicle for communication," according to alumnus Kenneth Hiebert. "It relies on an analysis that rigorously questions and accounts for all parts of a message. The act of searching for an appropriate structure forces the designer to make the most basic inquiry about a message, to isolate its primary essence from considerations of surface style."
Hiebert wrote "The Swiss school is concerned that design be more than a frivolous cluttering of the environment." Sounds good to me.
Designers include Walter Amrein, Werner Andermatt, Herbert Auchli, Walter Bangerter, Franco Barberis, Kobi Baumgartner, Pascal Besson, Manfred Bingler, Rudolf Bircher, Donald Brun, Robert Buchler, Fritz Buhler, Fritz Butz, Gisela Buomberger, Calame-Affolter, Alois Carigiet, Andreas Cathomas, Werner Christen, Rene Creux, August Diener, Hansruedi Dorig, Hans Erni, Hans Falk, Franz Fassler, Hans Fischer, M. Frey-Surback, Michel Gallay, Richard Gerbig, Roland Gfeller-Corthesy, Rolf Gfeller, Philip Giegel, Rene Gilsi, Edwin Habegger, Walter Hafeli, Peter Hajnoczky, Jorg Hamburger, Hans Hartmann, Edi Hauri, Armin Hofmann, Godi Hofmann, Sita Jucker, Hans Kasser, Hans Knopfli, Alfred Koella, Hans Kuchler, Ruedi Kulling, Eugen and Max Lenz, Herbert Leupin, Margarete Lipps, Michel Martina, Martz + Buhlmann, Fred Mayer, Erhard Meier, Andre Melchior, Pierre Monnerat, Bruno Monnier, Solange Moser, H.P. Muhlemann, Werner Muhlemann, Fred Murer, Neukom + Binschewer, Freres Ongaro, P.A. Perret, Celestino Piatti, Fernand Rausser, Roth + Sauter, Jacques Rouillier, Rey, Alfred O. Sandmeier, Helen Sarasin, Beni Schalcher, Urs Schenker, Ulrich Schierle, Walter Schmid, Rolf Schmidt, Max Schneider, Fritz Schrag, Niklaus Schwabe, Hans Schwarzenbach, Fritz Seigner, Seigner + Kamm, Hugo Siegfried, Walter Sigg, Walter Speich, Heiri Steiner, Heinz Stieger, Hans Thoni, Fred Troller, A. Vetter, Carlo Vivarelli, H.P. Weber, A.B. Weider, Hugo Wetli, Werbeagentur Wild, Kurt Wirth, Beno Zehnder, and Mark Zeugin.
out of stock