Quick Facts About
Herbert Bayer
A symbol for the Kraus stained glass workshop, 1923.
A harmony of proportional and balance achieved
by minimal means influenced by De Stijl.
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In 1921 Bayer worked as an assistant to architect Josef Margold and enrolled at the Weimar Bauhaus.
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He began to study under Johannes Itten and Kandinsky at the Weimar Bauhaus.
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1925, Bayer completed his training with a final exam.
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Bayer was appointed to be a professor of the typography and graphic design workshop at the Dessau Bauhaus where they produced their own printworks.
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In his workshop they were very innovative in typographic design using functional and constructivist lines.
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Sans serif fonts were used exclusively and Bayer developed a universal
type that reduced the alphabet to clear and simple constructed forms.
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Dynamic composition with strong horizontals and verticals characterize
Bayer’s Bauhaus period.
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Bayer’s design of a universal typeface eventually inspired the creation of Architype
Bayer and ITC Bauhaus typefaces.
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Bayer omitted capital letters and argued that capital and lowercase are
incompatible in design.
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He used bars, rules, points, and squares to subdivide the space, unify diverse
elements and lead the viewers eyes across a page. As see in an exhibition poster for European Arts and Crafts, 1927
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In 1938 Bayer moved to the United States where he arranged the exhibition “Bauhaus 1919-1928” at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
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Bayer received many awards “an honorary doctorate of the “Technische Hochschule Graz”, the “Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst”, the “Ambassador’s Award for Excellence” in London and the “Kulturpreis für Fotografie” in Cologne.
Sources
Meggs, Phillip B. and Alston Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. Hoboken NJ. 2012
http://www.herbert-bayer.com/