Progression of Form by mauresa

PROGRESSION OF FORM

PROGRESSION OF FORM Mauresa Mitchell

CONTENTS 01

Anni Albers

Saul Bass

Wolfgang Weingart

by Dee Roof

by Mauresa Mitchell

by Kehinde Osho

ANNI ALBERS “Courage is an important factor in any creative effort.” — Anni Albers

by Dee Roof

Anni Albers, textile designer and weaver, dedicated 47 years to weaving and elevated weaving from the realm of function to the realm of art. At a young age she had no interest in weaving, but it was what the Bauhaus school had to offer its women students. After leaving the Bauhaus, she continued to weave and to teach weaving. She also designed jewelry, and late in life she traded weaving for printmaking. In 1899, Anni Albers was born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann in Berlin,

Anni Albers | 7

01 Anni Albers

Germany. Her mother’s family was in the publishing business and her father’s family were furniture manufacturers. Anni was interested in art from a young age, and from 1916–1919 she studied with a tutor Martin Brandenburg, an Impressionist painter. In 1920, she had briefly attended Kunstgewerbeschule, a school of applied arts in Hamburg — but found the training there to be unsatisfactory (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999). After WWI, the Weimar Republic was installed as a new democratic German state. The namesake was the city of Weimar, where its constitution was written (Weimar Republic, 2018). This period from 1919–1933 was a new phase for Germany as it transitioned from an empire to a republic. 02 Young Anni

03 School of Applied Arts in Hamburg

Anni Albers | 9

Professional School

Architect Walter Gropius set about to

Next, Gropius gathered the faculty for the

form a new professional school of art in

school. “In 1919 Swiss painter Johannes

Weimar, on the site of what had been the

Itten, German-American painter Lyonel

Grand Ducal Saxon Art School. He named

Feininger, and German sculptor Gerhard

this avant-garde school Bauhaus, meaning

Marcks, along with Gropius, comprised the

‘construction house.’ The goal of the school

faculty of the Bauhaus. By the following

was to unify all of the arts. In 1919, Walter

year their ranks had grown to include

Gropius wrote this call to action:

German painter, sculptor and designer Oskar Schlemmer, who headed the theater

“Architects, sculptors, painters, we all

workshop, and Swiss painter Paul Klee,

must return to the crafts! For art is not

joined in 1922 by Russian painter Wassily

a “profession.” There is no essential

Kandinsky…the Dutch painter Theo van

difference between the artist and the

Doesburg to Weimar to promote De Stijl,

craftsman. The artist is an exalted

and a visit to the Bauhaus by Russian

craftsman. In rare moments of inspiration,

Constructivist artist and architect El

transcending the consciousness of his will,

Lissitzky” (Bauhaus, 2018).

the grace of heaven may cause his work to blossom into art. But proficiency in a craft is essential in every artist. Therein lies the prime source of imagination. Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward heaven from the hands of a million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith” (Wingler, 1986). 04 Walter Gropius

The new Weimar constitution “guaranteed women unrestricted freedom of study” (Droste, 2015). The Bauhaus was eager to comply and the admissions policy at the Bauhaus read: “Any person of good repute, without regard to age or sex, whose previous education is deemed adequate by the Council of Masters, will be admitted, as far as space permits.” (Wingler, 1986) Anni Albers entered the preliminary course at the Bauhaus in 1922. The first term, she studied with George Muche, and the second term with Johannes Itten. She was interested in pursuing painting as her specialization. Instead of gaining admission to the Painting Studio, she was directed to the Weaving Workshop, like so many of the women students. The admissions policy stated an egalitarian practice — Gropius proclaimed that there would be “no difference between the beautiful and the strong sex” (Glancey, 2009). In effect this statement indicates that Gropius’ ideals were not altogether egalitarian, otherwise he simply wouldn’t have needed to make a distinction between the sexes.

05 Family Photo, Saul Bass standing back righ

Anni Albers | 11

06 Members of Weaving Workshop

07 Anni and Josef at Bauhaus Building

The relegation of women students to

in the following years, a form Master. Josef

the Weaving Workshop was, in effect, an

and Anni “were married in Berlin in 1925

extension of ‘traditional’ domestic roles.

— and Annelise Fleischmann became Anni Albers.” (Albers Foundation) In the

The Weaving Workshop did have a well-

same year, the Bauhaus moved to Dessau,

equipped studio due to Helene Börner who

Germany to the ‘futuristic’ facilities

owned most of the looms. She had made

an arrangement with the school to house her looms there, and she was an instructor

In Dessau, the students of the Weaving

in the early years of the workshop. Gunta

Workshop requested that Paul Klee

Stölzl, a student who had been in the

develop a class specifically for them.

workshop since it’s beginning, possessed

Klee’s class for the Weaving workshop

a vigorous talent for weaving, and she

revolved around the theory that the

generously shared knowlwedge from her

process of the weaving proceeds the

weaving studies. Anni Albers certainly

form, therefore the form is a result of the

learned by weaving alongside Gunta.

process. Klee taught this class from 1927 until he resigned from the Bauhaus in 1931

Josef Albers was a student in the Glass Workshop when Anni first arrived at the school. In 1923, Josef became an instructor for the preliminary course and

(Weber and Asbaghi, 1999).

08 Black-White-Gold I, 1950

Early Work Looking at Anni’s early weavings from

designing stained glass pieces in the Glass

the Bauhaus years, one can see that they

Workshop — the process of stained glass

do convey the structure and process of

lends itself to rectilinear forms, line, and

weaving, inherent to the warp threads

precision. For several years, Anni and

which form the structure of the weaving

Josef’s work shared elements of design

and the weft threads which pass under and

as is visible in Black White Yellow, woven

over the warp. Visible in her work is a focus

of silk and rayon, 1926 and in Lauben,

on rectilinear forms, line, balance, clarity &

sandblasted flashed glass with black paint,

precision. It’s interesting to note that Josef

1929. Both pieces are comprised of vertical

was, in his earlier years at the Bauhaus,

panels, a singular panel in Anni’s and a pair

Anni Albers | 13

09 Design for jacquad weaving in the environment of the Bauhaus, where modern architectural design was combined with all forms of art. of panel’s in Josef’s. The color palettes are quite similar — black, white and yellow, plus in Anni’s, an additional natural tan color. In Black White Yellow, the repetition of form and color leads us throughout creating a rhythmic movement. The black horizontal lines are similar to lines of text which give the effect of a hidden message that we need to discover or even decode, as if the weft is a carrier of meaning. In Josef’s Lauben, the two panels are comprised of layered arrangements of rectilinear forms which have an architectural effect. Translated to English, lauben means bowers, for which one definition is a rustic dwelling, or cottage. The effect is clearly one of architectural forms, not surprising

“And while the Museum für Völkerkunde owned many non-European items, the Department of American Archaeology was, and continues to be for that matter, the largest department in the museum. Of the nearly 45,000 items in the Andean collection, thousands were textiles, including tunics, panels, cloaks, belts, and In Anni’s watercolor and India ink, Design

fragments from various Andean societies

for a Jute Rug, 1927, the influence of Paul

and time periods including the Wari (also

Klee’s work can be noted through the

spelled Huari), Tiwanku (Tiahuanaco)and

articulation of color and line. No doubt the

the Pachacamac groups of the Middle

watercolor media conveyed this influence

Horizon period (500–900 CE), the Ica,

more clearly, due to its transparent nature,

Chimu and Chancay groups from the Late

relating to Klee’s use of transparency in

Intermediate period (900–1400 CE), and

his paintings. In turn, Paul Klee’s work

the Inca society from the Late Horizon

from this period shows an influence from

period (1438–1534 CE)” (Troy, 2002).

the Weaving Workshop. His Ancient Harmonies, 1925, echoes a weaving or

In 1931, the Nazi party gained influence in

quilt in its textile structure, with a complex

the city of Dessau and set about to close

balance of complimentary color and value.

the school. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,

In Rock Chamber of 1929, Klee created

the director of the school at the time, was

a composition of rectilinear forms and

pressured to comply with these actions.

relates it to layers of rock. The simplicity

Paul Klee resigned and took a teaching

of color and value contrast are reminiscent

position at the Akademie in Düsseldorf.

of Anni’s weaving Black White Yellow.

Mies van der Rohe did manage to move the Bauhaus to an old factory building in

During this period, museum collections

Berlin. As a reaction to Modern art, the Nazi

of cultu ra l a r tif a c t s we re p o p ula r

party declared the Bauhaus ‘degenerate,’

throughout Europe. Having grown up

a term used to indicate art that did not

in Berlin, it’s extremely likely that Anni

suit German Nationalism. (Degenerate

Albers would have visited the Museum

Art, 2018). As Hitler came into power,

für Völkerkunde. Paul Klee and Wassily

the continued harassment and the threat

Kandinsky were known to have visited

of violence and vandalism from the Nazi

this museum during their time associated

party led to the closure of the school in

with Der Blau Reiter group.

1933 (Bauhaus, 2018).

Anni Albers | 15

“THE INFLUENCE

OF PAUL KLEE’S WORK CAN BE NOTED THROUGH THE ARTICULATION OF COLOR AND LINE.

”

Move to America

Josef and Anni immigrated to the United States aboard the SS Europa. They arrived in New York in November of 1933, just in time for Thanksgiving. They were hosted for an early Thanksgiving dinner in Brooklyn and then took a train to North Carolina the next day. On November 24, they arrived at Black Mountain College in Asheville, a new, experimental, general studies school. “We arrived…just when the Chancellery in Germany burned and everything was in ruins…and there was a big festival at the college, which had only fifty or sixty students…a great event that was Thanksgiving. And we thought it was really a day to be thankful for and we celebrated it.” Josef taught drawing and design initially and later, painting. Anni taught weaving and was head of the weaving department (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999).

Anni Albers | 17

In 1935, Alberses made their first of more than fourteen trips to Mexico and South America. From the start she combed the markets in Mexico for “old things,” including Andean textiles for her personal textile collection. “During these trips she also assembled a substantial collection of textiles for Black Mountain College, and acquired numerous items for her and Josef’s collection of Mesoamericn and Andean art, which eventually included more than one thousand ceramic, stone, jade, and textile pieces” (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999).

10 Anni driving to Florida

Anni considered Andean textiles and Paul Klee to be the foremost influences and inspirations to her own work. She valued the complex weaving structures of the Andean textiles and also acknowledged the cultural text woven into their form. From her personal collection of Andean textiles, she was able to closely observe their structures. She credits Klee with teaching her about form and its relationship to the grid. Throughout Klee’s career, he looked for inspiration in the abstract forms of many types of art: the art of children, of the insane, of other cultures and of other periods. The technique of ‘borrowing’ from other cultures or contexts is known as ‘primitivism.’ Klee was extremely proficient with blending these inspirations into his work. From these he developed a collection of signs and symbols which he used throughout his work. We can see the

11 Paul Klee, Diagram for weaving.

grid at play within Klee’s paintings as well as the use of these reductive forms.

Anni’s weavings from this period show evidence of assimilating both the influences of Andean textiles and of Klee’s teachings. In Ancient Writing, 1936, Anni evokes the concept of thread as text. The grid is visible in this vertical composition. The black rectangular form seems to overlay a background of a neutral stripe pattern. The black rectangle pushes forward, within it a collection of signs and symbols, leading from the top left down the composition as if a poem. This movement is achieved through the relationships of the forms in perfect asymmetry.

Anni Albers | 19

12 Anni Albers and Alex Reed Jewelry In 1940, Anni collaborated with a student, Alex Reed to make a number of jewelry pieces which combined everyday items such as grommets, washers, corks, hair pins, drain covers and paper clips, combined with cord or ribbon. This practical use of materials resulted in abstract arrangements with the focus on form and repetition. The jewelry was â&#x20AC;&#x153;included in Modern Handmade Jewelry, an exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and shown there and at fifteen other museums across the country beginning in 1946â&#x20AC;? (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999).

13 Anni Albers and Alex Reed Jewelry

Professional Life Anni and Josef continued teaching at Black Mountain College until 1949. They moved briefly to Mexico where Josef taught at the University of Mexico. Later that year they moved to New York. The Museum of Modern Art hosted an exhibition called Anni Albers Textiles, that same year. It was the solo first exhibit the museum had featured of any textile artist. 14 Anni with family in Mexico We can see a new development in Anniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work at this time indicative of an urban environment. Cityscape, 1949 is a horizontal composition of neutral hues: cream, black and beige. The rectilinear forms interchange with value transitions to lead us through an image of a city. We are also aware of the foreground and space of the sky. Josef was offered a position as the head of the Department of Design at Yale University. The Alberses made their home in New Haven, CT in 1950. Walter Gropius who was working on a new building for

Anni Albers | 21

Harvard University, requested Anni produce

spell out a type of articulated message

a woven commission. In subsequent years,

for the viewer to read through the highly

Anni continued with commissioned work

technical weaving processes, much the

for interior spaces.

same as the inherent messages of Andean weavings, a culture which did not have a

Anni also produced numerous textile

written language.

samples for industry production, created for wall coverings, drapery, etc. She pushed

At this point there is shift in color palette.

the innovation of materials throughout her

The saturated red pattern stands out from

career by developing fabric that would

the neutral modulated background in Red

absorb sound for acoustic purposes, as well

Meander, 1954. The graphic rectangular

as fabric woven with specially developed

pattern leads you around the composition

light-reflective fibers.

and fills the entire rectangle except for the finishing of the weave top and bottom. The

In Black-White-Gold I, 1950 and in

line weight of the pattern is the same as the

Development in Rose I, 1952 Anni created a

negative space, creating a push and pull

new level of depth. The basis for each piece

from foreground to background. We can

is a plaid woven of natural hues and black.

clearly see the influences from observing

In Black-White-Gold I, there is a floating

the Pre-Colombian textile fragments from

weft thread wandering in a linear pattern.

Anniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s textile collection.

The materials are cotton, jute and, metallic ribbon. In Development in Rose I, weft

Anni created a large installation piece for

threads float periodically, emerging from

a new synagogue in Dallas, Ark Panels,

the plaid and are woven loosely above the

Temple Emanu-El, 1956. It is made of eight

surface of the piece. Each of these pieces

modular pieces 20 feet high mounted on

sliding wood panels. Of the eight, six are the same pattern of gold, green, and navy, but mounted at staggered heights to create another overall pattern. The two panels in the center are variations on the pattern woven in the six others. Altogether, a very pleasing pattern is formed, and when slid open from the center, yet another pattern is created by this arrangement. The gold yarns in this piece contain a metallic thread producing a rich, warm glow. The February 1957 issue of Life magazine featured this stunning, luminous installation. In the following years, Anni created a number of commissioned installation pieces including Six Panels for the Jewish Museum in New York which “had begun in 1964 to acquire art memorializing the Jews who died in the

the rectilinear forms interchange with value

Holocaust.” In this piece, Anni employed

transitions to lead us through the image.

“the graphic qualities of written languages

The delightful green hue is modulated with

and the mystery of their abstraction.” to

floating wefts and warps of orange, cream,

create a visual prayer to honor the lives lost

and black. Highly articulated overall, there

(Weber and Asbaghi, 1999).

is a space created in the center where the weave is simpler. Our gaze rests there as if

Pasture, 1958 is the first piece with a

on a quiet plane.

saturated overall color. This square composition is similar to Cityscape in that

“We use materials to satisfy our practical needs and our spiritual ones as well. We have useful things and beautiful things — equipment and works of art. In earlier civilizations there was no clear separation of this sort. The useful thing could be made beautiful in the hands of the artisan, who was also the manufacturer” (Albers, 1959). In 1959, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology curated an exhibition titled Anni Albers, Pictorial Weavings. This

Anni Albers | 23

15 Cityscape, 1949

exhibit also traveled to the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Baltimore Museum of Art, Yale University, New Haven, and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999). “My great breakaway came when my husband … was asked to work at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles where I, as a useless wife was hanging around, until June Wayne, head of the workshop asked me to try lithography myself. I found that in this medium the image of thread could project a freedom I never suspected” (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999). Anni produced a portfolio titled Line Involvements at Tamarind Lithography Workshop, 1964 (Baro, 1977) Echoed in this portfolio are explorations which recall Paul

16 Line Involvement V, 1964

Klee’s statement ‘take a line for a walk.’ It’s

of the triangles are all the same, as she

as if Anni has finally made an observation

explores the relationships of the forms and

of yarns, much as a weaver sees them in the

the processes of intaglio. Delightfully, these

process of weaving, sometimes the lengths

patterns push forward and back in space,

of them meandering on the floor.

each with contrasts and variation.

Anni created a series of Meander prints, the compositions based on the Red Meander, weaving. Screen print, Orange Meander, 1970 is a square composition layering two rectilinear patterns. The transparencies of the two patterns create depth and movement as the eye is engaged in distinguishing the lines and spaces. T h e A l b e r s e s m ove d t o O r a n g e Connecticut in 1970, and Anni stopped weaving altogether. “I could not stand the idea anymore of all the yarns and looms. It took too long and it always produced just one piece…I just outgrew it. It annoyed me and I can’t do it anymore…And then I gave away all of the looms and all of the yarns (Weber and Asbaghi, 1999). I n 1 976 , A n n i c re ate d t h e s e r i e s , Triangulated Intaglios. For the first time, we see triangular forms in her work. These etchings and aquatints are both greyscale and also colorful explorations of a repeated triangle patterns. The scale and shape 17 Fox II, 1973

Anni Albers | 25

Creative Legacies

Anni died in Orange, Connecticut, in 1994, eighteen years after Josef died. Today their creative legacies are carefully archived by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. “How do we choose our specific material, our means of communication? ‘Accidentally.’ Something speaks to us, a sound, touch, hardness or softness, it catches us and asks us to be formed. We are finding our language, and as we learn to obey their rules and their limits… Students worry about choosing their way, I always tell them, ‘You can go anywhere from here.’ ” — Anni Albers

SAUL BASS by Mauresa Mitchell

Designer, filmmaker, director. Saul Bass was a one of a kind; empowered by his underlying passion for design. The traditional sense of design was not appealing to Bass, so he challenged the traditional ideals in order to create new and inventive ways to design. He let his life lead him on a journey of experiences to develop and inspire the design industry as we know it today. Saul Bassâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; impact on the approach to identity system design, title sequence design and filmmaking made him an exceptionally important and influential figure in the design industry.

Saul Bass | 27

01 Saul Bass in office

02 Family Photo, Saul Bass standing back right

Early Life Saul Bass was born May 8, 1920 in America.

crafted with paper, and played with letters

He was the second child and only son to

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011). He also liked to visit

immigrant parents, Adam and Pauline

museums and admire their collections. In

Bass. His parents migrated to New York

1934, Bass had the chance to see the

from Russia, in 1907, in attempt to escape

Century of Progress World’s Fair. Young

harsh conditions the Jews were facing

Bass was watching the future happen right

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011; Forbes, Lauer,

before his eyes. The Century of Progress

Koonz &Sweeney, n.d.). Bass called New

Exposition was held in Chicago, Illinois to

York home for most of his early life. He

highlight and showcase the technology

lived there with his parents and older

and machines that could help shed light

sister, Sylvia.

on the other side of the Great Depression (Newberry Staff, 2017). This exposition was

In his youth Bass shared similar interests

a great inspiration to Saul Bass.

with other children of his time. He enjoyed sports, pop culture, and art. The latter was a

Saul attended and graduated from James

part of Bass’ life for as far back as he could

Monroe High School in the Bronx, New

remember. He has shared a story about the

York. During his time in high school, he

first time his father gave him a box of

gained a lot of attention for his talents

Crayola crayons. In the Crayola box,

in art. His school had a literary and arts

“there were forty-nine different colors”

publication known as The Monroe Doctrine

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011). He spent

– where Bass served as art editor (Bass

hours working on and trying to get

& Kirkham, 2011). He received a couple

things just the way he felt they

of awards while in high school from “the

should be; spending his time to

School of Art League of New York City –

make things look beautiful.

the Art in Trades Club medal for excellence

When one box of crayons would run out his

in design and the Saint-Gaudens medal

father would get him another. His

for excellence in draftsmanship” (Bass

family was always encouraging his

& Kirkham, 2011). While in school, Bass

talents and ambitions. Throughout

worked to help support his family.

his childhood he drew images,

Saul Bass | 29

Saul Bass held several jobs such as a

known commercial artist highly skilled

delivery boy and a sign painter. Even

in illustration, lettering, and typography

through his work he was recognized for

whose work was influenced by the

his talents. Once again, the School of Art

European Modernismâ&#x20AC;? (Bass & Kirkham,

League saw work he had done in a store-

2011). For the next three and a half years,

front window and offered him a scholarship

Bass worked closely with Trafton to help

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011). The more Bass

improve his skills and design thinking

accomplished from his art, the more he

for his later career.

knew what career he had in mind. If he could be paid to do something he loved why would he choose anything else. The Bass family wanted him to go to college like his older sister had, however the depression had a huge impact on his finances, as it did for most Americans. Also, Saulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father, Aaron Bass became terminally ill with leukemia and his family needed his financial support. Saul Bass did not let these hurdles stop him from advancing. In 1936, he cashed in on his scholarship with the School of Art League, by taking a class in the evenings after working at Brooklyn College (Bass & Kirkham, 2011). It was during his time in these night classes where he studied form, color, perspective and composition from a fine art stand point that he learned how these could translate into commercial art. He was â&#x20AC;&#x153;taught by Howard Trafton, a well-

03 Saul Sketch: School of Art League

“SUB

SCH

Start of Career After Bass had finished high school, he

hurtles, although he never let them

set out into the world like many others

slow him down or hold him back.

to find a job. However, the effects for the Great Depression made it hard for young

This first advertising art job allowed

people to find jobs. Saul was lucky and

Bass to get his foot in the door. He

found a couple of jobs somewhat related

was driven and a true information

to his career goals. His first job was a label

collector. He once “described himself

designer where he did not design as much

as a subway scholar”, spending his

as he ran errands for his employers which

commutes reading and educating

led him to find a different job at a photo

himself (Bass & Kirkham, 2011). His

offset plant (Bass & Kirkham, 2011). There, too lacked real design work, but it was money. Bass used this time to build up his portfolio and apply for jobs. Saul Bass meticulously planned his method for covering the most ground while he applied at every advertising agency. He “divided a map of Manhattan into sections and used telephone and trade directories to locate likely firms” (Bass & Kirkham, 2011). His hard work and planning paid off when he received a phone call for a small studio that designed trade ads. This was the start to the career Saul Bass had been destined for. Over the next few years he faced many

04 Saul Bass self-protrait

Saul Bass | 31

BWAY HOLAR” 05 Saul Bass watching instructor Trafton

drive allowed him to meet new people and obtain

in money and position, it opened a new door and insight.

and work towards more skills to build into career. He spent

At Blaine Thompson Company, Bass met

time with a typeface designer

a man named Gyorgy Kepes. Kepes was

who also had a desk in this studio

an artist, designer, and teacher who truly

space, improving rendering of lettering.

brought back the inspiration and drive

In “1938, Warner Brothers offered him a

Bass definitely needed. After reading a

position as a lettering and paste-up man”

book by Kepes, he realized that Kepes who

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011). Now more than

had worked with former Bauhaus teacher,

ever Bass wedged himself into the film

László Moholy-Nagy was now working at

industry he wanted to be a part of. Things

Brooklyn College (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).

continued to stay positive as he was later

Without a thought Saul Bass enrolled in

offered a position with Twentieth Century-

classes. His studies with Kepes focused

Fox. Slowly, Bass begin to lose sight of

on Bauhaus-style graphics and the New

his passion as he was being pushed in a

Typography, however Bass’s hunger for

direction of cramming information over

knowledge led him to investigate other

designing. Saul Bass took a step back and

aspects such as Cubism, Constructivism, De

wanted out of the film industry, landing

Stijl and Surrealism (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).

a low paying job at Blaine Thompson

His work slowly shifted direction. It became

Company where he designed product

more dynamic and abstract. Throughout

and show ads (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).

this shift he began to experiment

Despite the fact this shift was a step back

with montage and the possibility of

06 Tylon Cold Wave, ad design expressive lettering and

most of his time developing and creating

t y p o g r a p h y.

campaigns for upcoming films. One of his

Bass took the lessons

most significant campaigns was for All

learned from his second

About Eve directed by Joseph Mankiewicz.

go around at Brooklyn

This campaign put modern graphics on

College and applied them to

the map, showcasing new conceptions

his professional work. In doing

of graphic art (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).

so Saul Bass received his first

As the jobs continued to change, Bass

professional design award from

found himself creating less and becoming

New York Art Directors Club in 1945

more of a business man. At this time, Pat

for Tylon Cold Wave, a hair product

Kirkham recalls a conversation with Bass

advertisement (Horack, 2014).

where he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is not what I want my professional life to be about. I really just

From there on, Saul Bass bounced around

want to design (2011).â&#x20AC;? From here Saul Bass

from one job to another in search of finding

took yet another job where he could be an

his true passion. As the economy began

art director again. All these encounters

to boom post war, the film industry was

lead him to take one more step towards a

growing faster than ever, so Bass traded

transition to working for himself.

the east coast to make his way to the west coast â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where he began his career in Los Angeles as an art director. Shortly after his move he also worked in the film industry of Hollywood. He focused

“THIS IS NOT

WHAT I WANT MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE TO BE ABOUT. I REALLY JUST WANT TO DESIGN.

”

Saul Bass | 33

07 Early group of Saul Bass & Associates

SAUL BASS & ASSOCIATES

Saul Bass | 35

Saul Bass Office When Saul Bass first started out with his

emotional content, [that] searched less

own office, his staff was small. In 1954, the

for universally applicable formulae and

Bass office consisted on his production

relied more on his own instincts (Bass &

assistant, Joe Youngstown, and his lawyer

Kirkham, 2011).” Through this shift in design

to help with contracts (Bass & Kirkham,

change, Bass found himself designing for

2011). A few years later, in 1956, his future

a variety of mediums. He designed just

wife, Elaine Makatura Bass joined his design

about everything from advertisements,

office as an assistant (Bass & Kirkham,

billboards, illustrations, brand identity

2011). When she began her position, she

systems to screen and even environments

knew little to nothing about him other

and architecture.

than the fact that he was hiring. Their relationship built up over a couple years

The majority of Saul Bass works during

and in 1961, he married Elaine Bass. His

the 1960’s consisted of corporate identity

office continued to grow exponentially

programs. In previous years he had

leading to a renaming of the office to Saul

experience with trademarks, letterheads

Bass & Associates. Saul Bass & Associates

and small identity programs. But now

would produce significant pieces of work

he began working for larger scale

that would impact the design world over

corporations. One of his most memorable

the next forty years.

identity programs was the revisualization of the Bell System identity for the

In the beginning, Bass fell into a comfort

American Bell Telephone Company. Bass

zone – producing works similar to earlier

created more than just a trademark. He

influences of his youth and education. As

knew they needed something that fit into

he grew as a designer, he “place[d] an

contemporary times and that would help

increasing emphasis on bolder and more

unclutter the visual environment.

symbolic forms, as well as narrative and

AT&T – IDENTITY SYSTEM

08 AT&T Van Design

Saul Bass first

be a marketing campaign to get people

began the redesign

to recognize and associate the abstract

with market research.

letterform with a particular brand. Then

He spent time identifying the

there is the logotype – the name is the

essential components of what types

focus of the mark even if stylization causes

of trademarks existed and what style

a loss in legibility for the reader. Finally,

would be best suited for the Bell System.

there is the symbol logo type. This mark

In the 1969 pitch to AT&T (American

provides a visual with a symbol that is then

Telephone and Telegraph), Bass stated

supported by a logo. It is clear, unique and

there were three types of trademarks,

stands out.

each with their own pros and cons – there is the monochromatic form, logotype

The American Bell Company had a

form, and symbol logo type form (Bass S.

working symbol-logo type; however, it

, 1969). A monochromatic form is a mark

was extremely complex. A bell was the

consisting of just letterforms. These marks

visual focus, yet it was filled with text.

can be simple, however there needs to

The text was hard to read when changing

Saul Bass | 37

09 Saul Bass working on AT&T identity

scale. Solution? Remove the text. Next

way finding, signage, flags, jewelry, forms,

the shape of the bell. Many explorations

directories and more (Bass S. , 1969). The

of shapes where created to identify which

mark was not just slapped on elements

would provide “strength and impact”

but rather thought out and explained.

as well as create a “visual form that will

For example, in the pitch he explains the

remain contemporary (Bass S. , 1969).”

vehicle. When “all the elements combined

Also, there was attention to the supporting

movement” is achieved. A vehicle with

logo type. Bass kept it clean and legible

stripes, signals an organization on the

for the viewer. The two main elements

move. These vehicles also become moving

were ready to go but Saul pitched another

billboards. The bell symbolized youth and

idea – a way of connecting everything

spirit on the white (a highly visual color)

together. This was stripes. Stripes provide

vehicle enhancing the trademark, while

the edge that was said to represent the

keeping the vehicle cool. Below the stripes,

idea of being “competitive, competent

grey paint to conceal dirt. Each element

and dedicated (Bass S. , 1969).” With all

meticulously thought out. Bass did this for

these components Bass explained how

each piece to showcase the effective use

together they would create a national

of an identify system.

visual communication system everyone would know and understand. Saul Bass’s design did not stop at the mark, he included how each piece was just “one piece of a mosaic” or visual system (Bass S. , 1969). Bass discussed the application of the system and how it would translate to all aspects of company. It included things like, vehicles, uniforms, product application,

“TRADITIONALLY, THER WAS LITTLE TO NO

THOUGHT PUT INTO T CREATION OF MOVIE

”

OR SEQUENCES.

10 Saul Bass explaining ideas

Saul Bass | 39

THE TITLES

Saul Bass’s true calling was really

1954 and 1979, [Otto] Preminger hired

showcased when he began rethinking

Saul to create thirteen title sequences

the idea of movie titles. Although he

and numerous adverting campaigns,

bounced back and forth in design, from

… (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).” There was an

static imagery to moving pictures, Saul

assumption “that Saul’s role in creating

always found himself working with film.

title sequences was limited to storyboards

Traditionally, there was little to no thought

and typography. Instead, in most cases,

put into the creation of movie titles or

Bass was taking on the roles that normally

sequences. They were just there “only of

would be divided among the film’s director,

interest to the producers because of legal

producer and editor (Bass & Kirkham,

and copyright information (Anatomy of a

2011).” Bass wanted to design and control

Murder, 2012).” Saul was one of the first

all the aspects that related to the piece he

designers who recognized the potential of

was working on.

a well-designed title sequence. “Between

ANATOMY OF A MURDER – TITLE SEQUENCE

11 Anatomy of a Murder, logo art

The design of a title sequence could set

The screen opens with a red background

the tone and mood for the upcoming film,

f o l l owe d by t h e p o s i t i o n i n g a n d

as well as present vital information in a

visualization of the director’s name in

unique and interesting way. The design of

black. There was a distinct and bold

Anatomy of a Murder title sequence in 1959,

contrast between the elements that was

really put Saul Bass on the map as a leader

perfect for the subject matter of the

in title sequence design. Kirkham quotes

film. Slowly, and cued to the music, black

Charlie Watts, designer and drummer

abstract paper cut outs of body parts

for the Rolling Stones, that “Saul Bass

begin to appear. The pieces never touch,

was the person everyone in the agency

they are segmented into seven pieces.

admired… We all aspired to that beautiful

This was to emphasis that the “film is

simplification. Then came Anatomy of a

all about moral ambiguity and different

Murder. After that he was like God (2011).”

points of view that never converge (Bass &

As always for Bass, every element and

Kirkham, 2011).” Bass aligns the dissection

piece was thought out and put together in

of the human body with the dissection of

a meaningful and purposeful way.

a body of evidence in a court of law. He

Saul Bass | 41

12 Anatomy of a Murder still frames

also chose to use hand lettering in a variety

however, he also was

of sizes and forms to signify inconsistency,

inspired by film in

highlighting the story line about how every

general. This lead

version of events told by the witnesses

him into the idea

were different when talking to the lawyer

of filmmaking.

(Bass & Kirkham, 2011). This famous body illustration and hand lettered typography appeared and was presented on a variety of materials showcasing Bassâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to create subtle variations. He designed an array of posters, billboards, programs, invitations, newspaper ads, trade ads, academy mailer, and soundtrack album cover. As Saul Bass enjoyed making and designing for screen,

13 Saul Bass directing film

TO MAKE “...WANT FILMS WITH BEGINNINGS, MIDDLES AND ENDS.

”

Saul Bass | 43

In 1993, Bass said “After creating

ideas or feelings (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).

prologues, epilogues and internal scenes

The choice of medium used was to help

for film, I began to want to make films with

better convey the message that was to be

beginnings, middles and ends. That was

expressed.

the impulse for the short films I made with Elaine (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).” He began his exploration of short filmmaking in the early 1960s when Elaine and Saul Bass had their first child. Saul Bass’s background as a graphic designer gave him the visual awareness and understanding about a particular problem from a content point of view. They liked to use a variety of “cinematic techniques including animation, live action, fast cutting, split screen, wide screen, zoom photography and underwater photography” to help visualize their

WHY MAN CREATES â&#x20AC;&#x201C; SHORT FILM

14 Saul and Elaine Bass sketching 15 Saul Bass receiving award

The film, Why Man Creates by Saul Bass, was a creative film about creativity itself. It was commissioned by Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Company, to create a film that would focus on the ideas and imagination within in the company (Bass & Kirkham, 2011). The film was broken down into eight sections. Each section was designed and presented in a particular manner to display the subject. Each section was introduced by the clip of Bass writing the title in pencil

Saul Bass | 45

16 Why Man Creates still frames

on paper. “The Edifice”, was an animation

and video to explore the question, why

that provides the viewer a summary

does a man create? (Bass S. , Why Man

of ideas in relation to man and history.

Creates, 1968).

“Fooling Around”, uses video to focuses on how creativity can be both playful

Throughout the variety of mediums Saul

and random. “The Process”, again uses

Bass remained constant to the theme

video to showcase a man struggling to

of the film—ideas and imagination. He

build, but through trial and error he finds

approached each section as he normally

success. “The Judgement”, uses video,

would in any other design situation. Design

but found video or older frames. To show

differs from one solution to the next, but

how society has an opinion about being

Bass had a unique way of thinking that

creative. “A Parable” uses video and a

both he and his wife were known for. Ideas

ping pong ball to describe that creatives

tend to come “from looking at one thing

may think differently but what make them

and seeing another (Bass & Kirkham, 2011).”

different is what gets them noticed. In “A

For many, this concept could be seen as

Digression”, Bass returns to animation

confusing, yet for him this was just another

for a short conversation about ideas

day. In 2002, this film, Why Man Creates,

and their connection to intuitions.

was selected for preservation as part of the

“The Search”, is a video interview

United States National Film Registry of the

discussing the notion that ideas

Library of Congress, because it was said to

take time to develop and some

be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically

ideas never develop. “The Mark”, uses combination of animation

significant (Why Man Creates, 2018)”.

With all the challenges Saul Bass faced from his early childhood, from odd jobs to the creation of his business, he never lost the drive and passion to design. He stuck to one of his famous quotes, “I want everything we do to be beautiful. I don’t give a damn whether the client understands that that’s worth anything, or that the client thinks it’s worth anything, or whether it is worth anything. It’s worth it to me,” and it served as a life motto. He 17 Saul Bass with props

pushed the boundaries of the known to create new perspectives for the graphic design industry. Saul Bass allowed people to see the capabilities of designers as a whole package. His biggest contribution to graphic designers was the idea of artistic movie titles as a method for creating the mood or atmosphere before the start of the movie.

Saul Bass | 47

18 Saul Bass editing film

w E I WOLFGA WEINGA N Paul Rand described him “as a man with ideas”.

01 Saul Ba

T R ANG A ART G

Wolfgang Weingart | 49

ass watching Instructor Trafton

Wolfgang Weingart was most influential as a teacher and a design philosopher. He is regarded as the “enfant terrible” of modern Swiss typography. Very early in his career, he broke the established rules in typography, he freed letters from the shackles of the design grid, spaced, underlined or reshaped them and

by Kehinde Osho

reorganized type-setting. “He is original, his work demonstrates the richness, variety and originality of his designs. Always interesting, always the result of a meaningful idea, without which form is mere decoration. His form is always functional and full of meaning and rich possibilities” (Paul Rand, 1995).

Early Years Wolfgang Weingart was born in February 1941 near Lake Constance, the Salem Valley, in the southernmost part of Germany. He was raised by his mother who was the village Doctor. His earliest memories from his childhood were that of the world war II, where he recounted the events of early spring 1944 eleven months before the end of the Second World War. He said â&#x20AC;&#x153;at the onset of the air raid my mother and I headed in a frenzy for the deep, dark vaulted cellar to hide once again among familiar cupboards, crates and other curious contraptions. One of the most memorable ones was a wooden construction that was always in the same spot. It was the machine with which my mother made ice creamâ&#x20AC;? (Weingart, 2000) (Wolfgang Weingart, 2018). Even as a child he already had the capacity to describe the things he saw in a very visual manner. Growing up during Second World War, Weingart often followed his mother on her rounds as the village Doctor. During this period his interests in machines and other gadgets started to deliver. He explained how wood was used as a substitute for gasoline during the war because gasoline

02 Weingart riding bike

Wolfgang Weingart | 51

03 Weingart making rounds with mother

04 Castle of Salem

was stringently rationed. He said “Wood was abundant and five pounds of it would yield one quart of gas. Essentially a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methanol, the liquid fuel was produced by burning logs in a large, cumbersome, cast-iron cylinder mounted directly onto the back of the car. A common sight at the time, these cars were nicknamed Woodburners” (Weingart, 2000). In the spring of 1948 at the age of 7, Weingart and his mother moved into the Castle of Salem. Centuries ago the castle

FASCINATION FOR ABSTRACTION was the abbey of the Cistercian Order.

Subjects like French, German, arithmetic,

While living in the castle, his mother was

physics and algebra were beyond me, and

the resident physician attending to the

the lessons in chemistry incomprehensible.”

aristocracy, their staff employees, and

(Weingart, 2000) He found some of the

the teachers and students who lived on

school regulations too tedious, he did not

the premises. He and his mother lived in

like the fact that he had to stand up when

two rooms given to them as a result of her

the teacher entered the class or that he

employment with the royal family.

was forced to pray at the at the beginning of every class and felt terrorized by the

Weingart started primary school late

threat of corporal discipline. The torment

in 1947, he found school challenging,

he associated with going to school and

he said “rarely have I felt happy in any

the fact that he did not fit in with the rural

school. Report cards, examinations and

community are some of the circumstances

being called on by the teacher to recite

that roused his independence. This he said,

or answer questions was demeaning.

“explains why I resorted to the challenge of

Wolfgang Weingart | 53

competing with myself” (Weingart, 2000).

He was most happy when he was tinkering

Weingart discovered the joy of building

with household objects and these kept him

things with his hands at an early age, and

so busy that he had almost no time to do

made many school projects, but his favorite

his homework. His inability to adjust to a

was taking apart an old girl’s bicycle that

school environment reinforced his loathing

he traded for a wagon he had outgrown.

for cramming and his misgivings about

He said, “I learned through my hands and

acquired knowledge. As a child the idea

made an important discovery: the intellect

of being a gourmet chef, a book binder or

can be expressed ad cultivated through

stage designer appealed to him greatly.

hard work” (Weingart, 2000). In 1954, together with his parents, they He made another discovery about himself

moved to Portugal. Because of his earlier

after crashing his motorbike into a wire

unproductive years in primary school, his

fence. “With as much strength I could

parents took pains to provide him with

muster, I twisted the tangled the wire of

an alternative education, “I absorbed

the broken fence until I could disengage

everything, and in the process garnered a

long lengths of it. As I continued to bend

cultural and visual education” (Weingart,

the wire, the rough outlines of a house,

2000). His parents achieved this by taking

a motorbike, and a landscape started

him along with them on their trips to

to take shape” (Weingart, 2000). The

different parts of the country. One of the

material provoked his impulse to make

places they visited was the Archeological

pictures out of the wire material of the

Museum of Cordoba.

fence. Deliberately and spontaneously, the act and the idea became inseparable.

From May 1954 to July 1956 he was

This encounter made him aware of his

enrolled in the German school in Lisbon,

fascination for abstraction.

he was drawn to the vast urban territory

of the beautiful Portuguese capital. He took art classes in German and after a few months the art teacher identified his artistic inclination and decided to give tutor him for two hours every week at home.

05 Weingart watercolor painting

Wolfgang Weingart | 55

Merz Academy In April 1958, when he was seventeen, he started a two-year course in applied art and design. His parents believed that the Merz Academy would give Weingart the push to discover what to do with his art. The depth of his parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; resolve discouraged him from dropping out of the program. His Watercolor paintings were influenced by the works of English and French graphic designers of the 50s, who influenced the way he approached his work. While he was at the Merz Academy, he enrolled in color and drawing class, and other applied courses like typography, graphic design, and printing methods. At Merz, he received minimal instructions from his teacher in the two years that he was enrolled there, he attended classes and produced designs, bought trade magazines, and imitated current trends. He later discovered that the courses were not structured to encourage gradual development. When he had free time, he worked in the school press where he had the opportunity to set type and here he got the first opportunity to work with the twenty-six moveable letters and their affiliated signs. He also had the opportunity to print with the Boston Tiegel press and this helped him to print larger version of his linoleum, woodcuts and to introduce color to his work.

Apprenticeship Weingart’s plan was to learn a trade that was related to graphic design, so he began his typesetting apprenticeship in the spring of 1960. He said, “the thoroughness of training during my apprenticeship, technically and aesthetically, the respect and awe that I developed for every letter and for every typeset line was confirmation that my calling had been answered” (Weingart, 2000). This marked the beginning of his career as a typographer. He was influenced greatly by the typography in Switzerland and the works of Karl Gerstner, Emil Ruder, Armin Hoffman, Siegfried Odermatt, Carlo Vivarelli, the Basel school, and the design magazine Neue Grafik. The promising alternative of swiss typography inspired and enlivened him as an apprentice. Six months before his apprenticeship began, he was introduced to Karl-August Hanke. Hanke would later become his mentor and helped him answer questions he had on how design or typography could be defined rationally. Hanke gave him a concise explanation that allowed him to trust his intuition on the subject. He said, “bearing in mind the purpose and form of communication, design means to organize a certain message within a certain context.” (Weingart, 2000) Hanke tried to convince

06 Weingart handset type

Wolfgang Weingart | 57

him to go to Basel and enroll in the design

12/1976, ‘Is typography worth supporting,

program of the Basel school of art and

or do we live on the moon?’

design, but he did not take Hanke’s advice to stop his apprenticeship. What he did

The Federal Trade Union monitored the

was to model his work after the Swiss

apprenticeship program and required the

typography and in his own way aim to

apprentice to keep a journal which included

apply the ideas behind it. He said Hanke

essays, and in one he was asked to describe

opened his eyes and he now understood

why he had decided to be a typesetter.

what typography could be.

He said, “the desire to be a graphic designer motivated him to learn typesetting, he

His training included two classes every

wanted to acquire a solid foundation

week on technique and theory at a trade

in all methods of reproduction from

school for the graphic arts industry. It was

typesetting to printing to book binding”

here he met two typesetting apprentices

(Weingart, 2000). As he learned to master

who would later become is lifelong

the techniques of letterpress printing,

colleagues. They shared his passion

his work with typography became more

and excitement for Swiss typography

experimental. It started with letters and

and bought the latest books published

type elements composed in a circular ring,

in Switzerland, including the trilingual

‘the Round Compositions’. Several projects

magazine Neue Grafik designed by Carlo

he worked on during his free time as an

Vivarelli and edited for distribution by

apprentice resulted in ideas that would

a group of designers from Zurich. Since

evolve into long-term themes.

their first meeting as young apprentices, his relationship with Peter von Kornatzki

Many times, he was torn between the

had always been more than a professional

inherent constraint of typographic design

relationship. He and Peter collaborated

and the spontaneity of making linocuts,

on articles published in two magazines:

woodcuts and rough pencil drawings in his

D r u c k s p i e g e l , N u m b e r 7/ 1 9 63 , a n

visual journals from trips through Lebanon,

essay that described their thoughts on

Syria, Jordan, and Egypt in the early the

typography with visual examples and,

sixties.

designed in German and English for Typographische Monatsblatter, Number

In the spring of 1963, Weingart completed Weingart went to Basel in March 1963 to

his apprenticeship and passed the final

meet with Armin Hofmann, and he applied

state qualification examination. His overall

in person to become a student at the Basel

score was particularly good, but in the

school the following year. After meeting

practical section of the examination he

with Hofmann in his apartment, Hofmann

had the highest score for speed and

suggested that they visit Emil Ruder in his

accuracy. He left Germany within a year

classroom. He presented his portfolio of

and moved to Switzerland to enroll in

works to Ruder and he was surprised by

the Kunstgewerbeschule Basel as an

the enthusiasm shown by Hofmann to his

independent student. While in Ruder’s

work which led him to believe he would be

class he worked on a personal project he

accepted to study at the Basel school but

started in 1962 as a series of woodcuts. He

instead Hofmann asked him if he would

was intrigued by the letter M — the power

like to teach at the Basel school. He felt

of its inner shapes, points and angles, and

honored and astonished.

stubborn symmetry. 07 Letter M exploration

Meanwhile, the application from Swiss and international designers to come and study in Basel was on the upsurge. Hofmann and Ruder were in a tough negotiation with the Swiss Department of Education for political support for to inaugurate and subsidize an official international graduate program. In April 1968 the Basel school started its first international graduate design program with seven new students — and he became a teacher.

Wolfgang Weingart | 59

The Basel Years Weingart started his adventure in Basel in April 1964, at first, he was disappointed because of the projects he had to work on because he thought they were too basic and didn’t challenge his creativity. But gradually he came to appreciate these early

international reputation as a bastion of

projects as they became the foundation of

quality in graphic design. He began to

his time in Basel. He had always wondered

understand the profound implications of

why the school was held in such high

Hofmann’s teachings.

regard, the answer to this became obvious to him when Hofmann’s Graphic

Weingart felt right at home in the typeshop

Design Manual was published in 1965. He

at the school—it served as his laboratory

finally realized that the school earned its

as well as his classroom, and it was in this space that he executed his experiments. The experiments he had begun during his apprenticeship intensified. He used curved metal rules, creating circular compositions embedded in plaster. He experimented with interwoven geometric text composition influenced by ancient stone construction in the Middle East, where he had first travelled in the early 1960s. His classes themselves became workshops to test and expand models for a new typography. He believed that the teaching of typography in Basel was the result of long term development based in traditions advanced over many decades. By the mid-sixties, his irreverence for Swiss Typography had jeopardized his relationship with the Basel school. This was because of his rebellion with a group of students when they invited a group of controversial artists to give lectures. Ruder

THE LETTER M PROJECT

gave him a condition that either he commit

he had about leaving were finally put to

to a year-long project for the duration of

bed. Hofmann gave him permission to

his stay, or he leave the coming semester.

extend his time with the school and Ruder

At this point he remembered a project

extended his privileges in the type shop.

he started working on in 1962, the letter

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The timing was right to push typography

M project. He decided to take it up again

in a new direction. Not only did I

and finish it. Having proved his sincerity

experiment with unusual letterspacing,

and discipline, and because Ruder was

I was also curious about the effect of

curious about the direction the M project

repeating the same word again and again

would take, he was not expelled from the

on the same page. The spontaneous act of

school. By the end of his two-year term as

cutting out linoleum pictures with a knife

an independent student, he had become

led to further letter shape abstractionsâ&#x20AC;?

so involved with his work that the doubts

(Weingart, 2000).

Wolfgang Weingart | 61

“I was motivated to provoke this stodgy

During his 37-year tenure, Weingart’s students included April

profession and to stretch the typeshop’s

Greiman, Jim Faris, Franz Werner, Robert Probst, Jerry Kuyper and

capabilities to the breaking point,”

Emily Murphy. The design process he employed was deceptively

Weingart stated in the retrospective

simple: students were first asked to consider the appropriate size,

(Weingart, 2000). He went on to

weight and style of the letters they wanted to use. They set the

describe the experimental mood of the

type by picking the lead letters individually from the type case

era: “Accelerated by the social unrest

and placing them side-by-side in a composing stick, carefully

of our generation, the force behind

determining the proper letterspacing, end-of-line spacing and

Swiss Typography and its philosophy of

leading. The finished composition was printed in a letterpress

reduction was losing its international hold.

proofing press and dried with baby powder. Students then cut the

My students were inspired, we were on to

composition apart and began to design. To eliminate the shadows

something different, and we knew it.”

of the cut paper and see their compositions as one plane, a piece

08 Weingart student work

of glass was gingerly lowered over the surface. If anything didn’t feel right—type size, weight, style—the whole composing and printing process had to be repeated. “We were learning about order and systems and structure in his class,” recalls Terry Irwin, head of the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University, who studied with Weingart from 1983 to 1986, “but he was not lecturing us about those things. That, I think, was the beauty of a Basel education.” Instead, students were encouraged to engage in a process of investigation. “You’d have

“

CAME

multiple sketches laid out on your table, and you were trying something here, and then you were moving it around here,” she explains. “He would come around and tell you the impression it was giving, so you

BLUR

were trying to figure out what that meant. And you’d move it around a little more— probably still confused—and he’d come around and say, ‘Yes, better.’ And then he’d

RADIC

leave. And you’d be trying to figure out why it was better. But you came to understand ‘why’ yourself through these comments… It was an incredibly impactful way to learn” (Wolfgang Weingart, 2018).

FOR M TONE

09 Poster design

Wolfgang Weingart | 63

ERA TO STRETCH, AND CUT TYPE—A

CAL NEW APPROACH

MARRYING CONTINUOUS-

”

IMAGES AND LETTERS. While teaching, he continued to make a

tools beginning in the mid-1970s. He used

formidable body of experimental work,

the repro camera to stretch, blur and cut

posters as well as cover designs and call-

type—a radical new approach for marrying

for-entry designs for Typographische

continuous-tone images and letters.

Monatsblätter magazine, where he was on

He would boast that his design process

the editorial board from 1970 to 1988. A

relied solely on these film manipulations

1976 poster he designed and printed for

and overlapping colors, seen perhaps

photographer John Glagola includes wide

most strikingly in his work for the Basel

silver bars printed across the artist’s name,

Kunstkredit—black-and-white world-

heralding the decline of foundry type as a

format posters designed between 1976

viable commercial means of printing.

and 1979 and a series of color posters made between 1980 and 1983.

He continuously embraced new ways of creating images, adopting the halftone

Through his experimentations, Weingart

screens and benday films used in

was inventing his own visual language. As

photomechanical processes as his new

former teaching colleague Gregory Vines

10 collage scrap once wrote: “He pursues an idea until he is sure if it works or not. In the manner of Gutenberg, typesetter, printer and inventor Weingart realizes his publications or posters from beginning to end by himself. He chooses to be involved in the entire process, from the concept to preparation of the film montage for the printer. When looking through the copy camera or while developing film, new ideas and possibilities become evident, even mistakes trigger fascinating possibilities.” Lloyd Miller, who studied with Weingart in the early 1980s, notes, “He is a master 11 Poster design with combination of handwriting and type

and pioneer in this field. His working method are very much a precursor to the layering capabilities of software programs [like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop] would eventually offer” (Wolfgang Weingart, 2018). Still, He never forgot his intensive training and experience in the intricacies of h a n d -set tin g t yp e . H e b ro u g ht fascinating clarity and structure to dense, complex information found in the 1974 Creative Jewelry brochure and the 1980 catalog for Art Basel. Through his investigations, he even sought to capture the spontaneity and vigor of his own deliberately distorted handwriting as a form of typography, in posters announcing his 1 9 9 0 retrospec tive exhibition at the Institute for New Technical Form in Darmstadt, Germany.

Wolfgang Weingart | 65

Conclusion As a typography instructor at the Basel School of Design, Weingart molded several generations of designers from 1968 onwards. They came from all over the world and helped him earn international respect. His experimental approach to design and the connection between analog and digital techniques that he called for are topical again today. Developments are important to him. He thinks “it’s very interesting to look back at a body of work, including things that have been made ‘under duress’. I’ve a whole stack of these ‘mementoes’ – s c h o o l n o te b o o k s , e a r l y wo r k s , manuscripts, drawings – even 40-year-old geometry course work.” His contributions and discoveries to the vocabulary of typography cannot be over emphasized He believes that technique is enormously important for a designer and what gives him the most satisfaction is the practice of these techniques and not the theory.

References | 67

REFERENCES 01 Anni Albers. Anni Albers:On Designing. Pellango Press, New Haven, CT. 1959 Anni Albers. Anni Albers:On Weaving. Princeton University Press. Princeton, NJ. 2017 Baro, Gene and Anni Albers. Anni Albers. New York, NY: Brooklyn Museum. 1977 Bauhaus. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus. Accessed 20 January 2018. Bauhaus Design School, Art Movements, Encyclopedia of Art. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/bauhaus-designschool.htm “Bowers.” Dictionary.com. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ bowers. Accessed 4 March, 2018. Degenerate Art. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Degenerate_art. Accessed 28 February, 2018 Droste, Magdalena. Bauhaus. Koln, Germany: TASCHEN. 2015

“Josef & Anni Albers” The Josef & Anni Albers Foundation. 2018. http://www.albersfoundation.org/artists/biographies/. Accessed 9 January 2018. Glancey, Jonathan. “Haus Proud.” The Guardian. Manchester, UK, Nov. 6, 2009. Rawsthorn, Alice. “Female Pioneers of the Bauhaus.” The New York Times. New York, March 23, 2013. Troy, Virginia Gardner and Anni Albers. Anni Albers and Ancient American Textiles. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. 2002 Weber, Nicholas Fox and Pandora Tabatabai Asbaghi. Anni Albers. New York, NY: Guggenheim Museum. 1999 Weimar Republic. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Weimar_Republic. 16 February 2018. Weltge-Wortmann, Sigrid. Women’s Work. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. 1993 Wingler, Hans Maria. The Bauhaus. Cambridge, MA: MIT. 1986.

02 Anatomy of a Murder. (2012). Retrieved from Art of the Title: http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/anatomy-of-a-murder/ Bass, J., & Kirkham, P. (2011). Saul Bass A Life in Film & Design. Laurence King.

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Bass, S. (Director). (1968). Why Man Creates [Motion Picture]. Bass, S. (Director). (1969). AT&T Archives: Saul Bass Pitch Video for Bell System Logo Redesign [Motion Picture]. AT&T Archives. Forbes, E., Lauer, S., Koonz, K., & Sweeney, P. (n.d.). A Resource Guide for Teachers: Russian Jewish Immigration 1880-1920. Retrieved from Fitchburg State: https://www.fitchburgstate.edu/ Horack, J.-C. (2014). Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. Newberry Staff. (2017, September 05). Picturing the Century of Progress: The 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair. Retrieved from The Newberry: http://dcc.newberry.org/collections/picturing-acentury-of-progress-the-1933-34-chicago-world’s-fair Why Man Creates. (2018, January 27). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Man_Creates

03 Reputations: Wolfgang Weingart. (2018, January 30). Retrieved from Eye Magazine: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/ article/reputations-wolfgang-weingart Weingart Typography. (2018, January 30). Retrieved from MUSEUM FÜR GESTALTUNG – SCHAUDEPOT: http://www. museum-gestaltung.ch/en/exhibitions/review/2014/weingarttypography/

Weingart, Wolfgang. (2000). Typography—My Way to Typography. Lars Müller Publishers. Wolfgang Weingart. (2018, January 30). Retrieved from AIGA: the professional association for design: https://www.aiga.org/ medalist-wolfgang-weingart Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis. (2011). History of Graphic Design. Wiley Publishers 5th edition.