the Programme

Lars Müller Publishers
Image Now Gallery
October - November 2014
17a New Bride St, Dublin 8
During my early development
as a designer, I was highly
influenced by Swiss typography.
In 1958, the first issue of Neue
Grafik was as sent from heaven!
Wim Crouwel, Amsterdam
I lived and worked in Stuttgart
from 1962 to 1976 and used
to buy Neue Grafik at the
Wendelin Niedlich bookstore.
Along with Hans Hilman’s Neue
Film-kunst bulletins, it formed
part of the basic toolkit for
typographers and that still holds
true even today.
Gunter Rambow, Güstrow
I discovered Neue Grafik on
my first day as a student at the
London School of Printing and
Graphic Arts in 1959 and it was
a great influence on my early
design career.
David Hillman, London
Neue Grafik Issue 6
Recent Advertising Design as a Unity of
Idea, Text and Form
Coloured wrappers for the daily newspaper: National Zeitung
Gerstner + Kutter, Basle
Introduction
Lars Müller
Right
Neue Grafik Issue 5
The principles in the
Design of Trade marks
The reprint of Neue Grafik fills a vacuum. The magazine’s
scarce availability has fostered its mythical reputation.
“Logos and mythos” is the motto informing my efforts to
make this monument to an important episode in graphic
design history more widely accessible for archiving,
consultation and discussion.
The vehemence of the statement made by four representatives
of the Swiss graphic design scene of the 1950s and 1960s
had an exponential impact. Designers in many countries in the
western world were searching for an adequate visual language
to express an era determined by extremely rapid technological
and scientific developments and to convey the modern self
image of a society recovering from the injuries inflicted by
World War II. At the same time, designers were also keen to
find responses to the kitsch-laden superficiality that
accompanied growing prosperity. There was certainly no
quibbling with the integrity of the answer that came from
small, staid Switzerland – and from purist Zurich to boot.
1
Adolf Flückigor, Bern
Rotor
2
Pierre Frey, Zurich
Ex
Richard Paul Lohse
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Lohse profoundly influenced the development of
constructive design in the forties and fifties. His political
integrity gave him great authority. A model for many
others, he pursued a symbiosis of art and design, most
visibly in his design of the magazine Bauen+Wohnen.
Lohse thus guaranteed the relevance of the examination
of the movement’s design elements. His incorruptible
verdict on the importance of social and artistic
developments made him an authority, alongside Josef
Müller-Brockmann, on the programmatic objectives of
Neue Grafik, although his positions were much more
ideologically rooted. Altogether, Lohse wrote eleven
articles for Neue Grafik and, drawing on his numerous
contacts, commissioned many others.
Müller-Brockmann conceived of and instigated Neue
Grafik. As a team player, he knew how to inspire his
colleagues for this undertaking. He played an active part
in various fields and was the catalyst for numerous
pieces for Neue Grafik, although he only contributed
three texts himself. His second career as a Constructivist
graphic designer brought Müller-Brockmann virtually
unparalleled international acclaim. He was renowned
throughout the world as a designer, author, teacher and
as the lead figure of the pioneering Swiss graphic
designers. He might also be called the ambassador for
the editorial team.
1
2
3
4
5
6
3
Karl Gerstner, Basel
AG Basel & Zurich
4
Carlo Vivarelli
Rüesch Drill Manufacturer
5
Hans Neuburg
Jean Oertli, Zurich
6
Hans Neuburg
Hyspa Sport & Hygiene
C
The publication represents an attempt to understand the
background to the magazine’s birth and evolution, to examine
why it was discontinued after seven years and to describe the
historical impact that Neue Grafik had in different countries.
The reprint of the original issues invites academics and
designers to carry out more in-depth research and to
recognise the crucial importance of asserting a clear position,
today as much as ever.
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Extract from Neue Grafik 1958-1965
Hans Neuburg
Carlo Vivarelli
Neuburg was the most prolific member of the editorial
team. Equipped with a journalist’s curiosity and writing
skills he assumed the role of reporter, exploring a broad
spectrum of different topics. In total he contributed
thirty-six pieces to the journal and was instrumental in
shaping its style. As a professional writer and a skilled
graphic designer, he was the only member of the team
who could earn a living from the fees he received for his
work for Neue Grafik. Beginning with the second issue
he was also responsible for the journal’s layout. His conciliatory personality kept the group together.
Vivarelli was the youngest of the four editors. He most
neatly fit the archetype of the freelance graphic
designer, with a small studio and clients in select
industries. Entering logo and poster competitions was
part of the studio’s bread and butter. His grounding in
this real-world context gave Vivarelli a keen eye when it
came to evaluating the commercial impact of the work
submitted to Neue Grafik for review and publication.
He set a high standard with his cover design and layout
for the journal’s first issue. Vivarelli contributed just two
articles to Neue Grafik.
Neue Grafik Issue 7
A training system for the graphic designer
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Neue Grafik
Issue 19
In 2004 Image Now Gallery hosted its first design exhibition:
forty-eight posters, josef müller-brockmann. Over the course of its curation
I got to know Josef’s work intimately and became intrigued by the magazine
Neue Grafik, arguably the most important design journal of its day —
or any day, for that matter. Although I rarely saw between its covers (these
were identical apart from the issue number), I dearly wanted to know more,
to pore over the issues myself. But this was impossible: published in Zürich
between 1958-65, the magazine ran for eighteen issues only, the last of
which, was produced nearly fifty years ago.
In September 2013, I was in London to attend the AGI Open conference at
the Barbican Centre, eager for insight and inspiration from the world’s
greatest graphic designers. Lars Müller gave the President’s address, warmly
welcoming members and delegates alike before coolly announcing that his
publishing house, Lars Müller Publishers, would be reproducing in facsimile
the complete set of Neue Grafik magazines. There, on screen in the
Barbican, was an image of the full set itself, a monumental tome emblazoned
with its unmistakable masthead. I was ecstatic, a state that entirely eclipsed
the rest of the conference.
C
M
The work that featured in the pages of Neue Grafik signalled something of a
‘year zero’ for graphic design. This was more than just logical progression,
this was a forceful reaction to what the editors perceived to be poor
standards of quality. Through their own tenacity and deftness, they
demonstrated that this new attitude had endless possibilities and universal
applications. The attitudes that united the magazine’s four editors (Richard
Lohse, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Hans Neuburg and Carlo Vivarelli) back in
the Fifties have been apparent in every era since: a striving for products and
communications that are pure in form and void of all decoration.
MY
CY
CMY
K
Christopher Murphy
Fehler, Belfast, N. Ireland
_______________________________
October 2014
Conor Clarke
Design Factory, Dublin, Ireland
_______________________________
October 2014
Contents
Contents
Contents
alorenz, Vienna
BarberOsgerby
Cartlidge Levene
Experimental Jetset
Nicholas Felton
MuirMcNeil
Dieter Rams
raster-noton | archiv für ton und nichtton
Universal Everything
Educational Institution:
Werkplaats Typografie
Dennis Bailey
Mason Wells & colleagues at
Bibliothèque Design
Tony Brook of ‘Spin’
and ‘Unit Editions’
Richard Hollis
Peter Wildbur
Ben Bos
Karl Gerstner
John Massey
Malcolm (Jack) Frost
Apple - Steve Jobs
Helmut Schmid
Osaka, Japan
(Typography from the inside)
_______________________________
Ausgabe Oktober 2014
Inhalt
Y
CM
Ian McLaren
Kent, UK
Ich bin ein ‘Ulmer’ / I am ‘an Ulmer’
/ Je suis ‘ein Ulmer’
_______________________________
October 2014
The ‘mathematical clarity’ Hans Neuburg claimed characterised their work
could be used to describe so much good design today, not in a retro way, but
in a vital, progressive way. This is just one form of design, however, and a
reaction against this form was inevitable, given that new forms will always
emerge. But what the editors of Neue Grafik believed in was more than a
movement: it was, and is, a valid form of design. And one that I expect, will
endure for centuries to come.
Two quotes come to mind that fully encapsulate the spirit of Neue Grafik:
"Quality is largely an attitude. If we insist on it every small thing, it will
permeate everything we do" Josef Müller-Brockmann.
"Design is attitude" Helmut Schmid.
As an exercise I thought it would be interesting to ask a number of the finest
designers and educators today this question:
Q: If Neue Grafik was to be re-launched today and you were guest
editor of issue 19, who’s work would grace the pages? Would any
colleges or institutions be featured? What artists, architects, musicians
or writers still fly the flag for modernism, for constructive design?
The responses have been varied, which was a surprise. I received plenty
of enthusiastic replies recommending fascinating work by characters I'd
never heard of before. But also some reactions that were dismissive of the
work as being irrelevant today, saying it should be left in the history vaults.
The design work featured in Neue Grafik, like the lessons it taught,
were both of their time and timeless.
Typography from the inside
Kohei Sugiura
Kirti Trivedi
Lee Kyeongsoo
Taro Yamamoto
Kiyonori Muroga
Fjodor Gejko
Hilary Kenna
Mason Wells
Bibliotheque, London, UK)
_______________________________
October 2014
Toko
Sydney, Austrlia
_______________________________
October 2014
Contents
Posters by Almir da Silva Mavignier
François Morellet
AG Fronzoni, the Italian minimalist
Otto Piene
Mevis and van Deursen
Jacqueline Casey
Pierre “down under” Neumann
Design Studio:
Cartlidge Levene
Record Company
ECM Records - Manfred Eicher
Jocelyn Clarke
Dublin
_______________________________
October 2014
Contents
Neue Grafik Era John Cage
Morton Feldman
Krzysztof Penderecki
Steve Reich
Philip Glass
Musician
Nils Petter Molvaer
Architects
Herzog & de Meuron
David Smith
Atelier, Dublin, Ireland
_______________________________
October 2014
Contents
Contemporary/Classical Alfred Schnittke
John Adams
Gavin Bryars
Tan Dun
David Lang
Contemporary/Popular David Bowie
Brian Eno
Radiohead/Jonny Greenwood
Mica Levi
Bjork
Contents
Maarten Van Severen
Vitsœ – Mark Adams & Dieter Rams
Theseus Chan – Werk Magazine
Veronica Ditting – The GentleWoman
ECAL – École cantonale d’art de Lausanne
Muji – Kenya Hara & Naoto Fukasawa
SANAA – Kazuyo Sejima & RyueNishizawa
Georg Stæhelin
John Morgan Studio
Norm
Gigon & Guyer
Designer:
Karel Martens
Aiden Grennelle
Image Now, Dublin, Ireland
_______________________________
October 2014
Contents
William Pars Graatsma
John Pawson
North - Sean Perkins
Iran do Espírito Santo
Joachim Sauter/ART+COM
Henrik Nygren
Keller Maurer
bulthaup
Plus Minus Zero
William Hall
Design
NORM
Ludovic Balland
Bernd Kuchenbeiser
Dan Friedman
Architecture
Tado Ando
Peter Zumthor
Art & Criticism
Florian Pumhösl
Donald Judd
Liam Gillick
Education
PaTi. Paju Typography Institute
I found the second issue of Neue Grafik in a secondhand bookstore
in Osaka in 1970. It is the issue that is shown in Typography Today.
I had known of Neue Grafik since my time in Basle, but the only
publication the influenced my work was Typografische Monatsblätter.
Neue Grafik was cleverly arranged publicity for the Zurich graphic
design artists. With its consistent content and design, somewhat stiff,
with texts downgraded to a gray tone, Neue Grafik breathed new life
into the design scene around the world. Rather than the Wassily chair
Åke Nilsson had earmarked for me, I opted after his death to take
the eighteen issues of Neue Grafik. They just fit into my luggage.
Helmut Schmid, Osaka
I still have some precious issues of Neue Grafik in my library,
after more than fifty years and moving from place to place.
Those issues are more than a bible for me.
I remeber the emotional intensity that each magazine issue evoked.
Details like the comparison between Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica –
what a good magazine it was! There is nothing comparable today, and
that fact alone tells you everything about the state of graphic design.
From a position of in-depth research in the 1960s to the shallowness
of today’s pluralism- no directions, no ideals, no models to follow.
This is the inheritance of modernism.
Massimo Vignelli, New York
I discovered Neue Grafik while studying at St. Martin’s school of Art in
London in 1960. I stopped worrying about objectivity versus subjectivity
and began to look for the most appropriate, most relevant solution.
Objective typography and functional typograhy were no longer
necessarily synonymous for me. I discovered the works of Milanese
Sudio Boggeri, a design office run by a musician. Meeting him
changed my life.
Bruno Monguzzi, Meride/Ticino
Firty years after publication, the influence of Neue Grafik on our visual
environment is so pervasive that it is startling to see the originals.
So fresh. so uncompromising, so innovative, those few issues of Neue
Grafik had the same impact on contemporary graphic design that the
original recordings of Robert Johnson had on contemporary music.
In a world filled with echoes, this is the real thing.
Michael Bierut, New York
Below left and right
Neue Grafik Issue 8
A student magazine Ulm 2 & 3
Middle left and right
Neue Grafik Issue 14
Hotel stationery design
Herbert Lindinger, Ulm
Neue Grafik Issue 16
Swiss posters of the past 5 years
Robert Büchler, Basle 1960
Neue Grafik Issue 1
The Best Recently Designed Swiss Posters 1931 - 1957
G. Soland, Grammo Grafik
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
Neue Grafik Issue 1
The Best Recently Designed
Swiss Posters 1931 - 1957
Top & middle
Neue Grafik Issue 5
Record sleeve designs
Above
Neue Grafik Issue 6
Recent New Years greetings cards
Beethoven 1955
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Karl Gerstner
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Top
Karl B Graf, Zurich
Bottom
Neue Grafik Issue 18
10 recent posters
Marcel Wyss
Middle & Bottom
Siegfried Odermatt, Zurich
7. april bis 6. mai 1962
im gewerbemuseum bern
ausstellung, vorträge und filme über
fragen der formgebung
veranstaltet von der ortsgruppe bern
des schweizerischen werkbundes swb
öffnungszeiten
10– 12 und 14–17 uhr
werktags 10–12
sonntags 10–12 uhr
montags geschlossen
LMNV
The art of the present generation, both fine and applied, is dominated by the desire to find new forms and ideas. This is not the
result of experiment: it expresses a reaction against tradition
and established conventions. A revolution can be said to have
taken place in both method and approach. Applied art, as it has
been practised during the past half century, has undergone a
decisive change, a change which is clearly reflected in these
pages where modern designs appear side by side with purely
decorative work. The present publication is exclusively concerned with designs which are not in the first place dictated by
considerations of industrial psychology, or intended to be
clever, but which are undeniably contemporary in their content.
What is new in this art is its almost mathematical clarity.
The modern designer is no longer the servant of industry, no
longer an advertising draughtsman or an original poster artist:
he acts entirely independently, planning and creating the whole
work, informing it with the full weight of his personality so that
very often his design determines the actual form of the product
with which he has been dealing. He has learned from experience and continual practice how to select and treat those attributes which are most sympahetic to him and which also serve
the purpose of industry. He is fully responsible for his work; he
identifies himself with it and endows it will all the force of which
his creative imagination is capable.
An extract from the introduction
Neue Grafik Issue 1, 1958
Editors and Managing editors
Richard P. Lohse, Zurich
Josef Müller-Brockmann, Zurich
Hans Neuberg, Zurich
Carlo L. Vivarelli, Zurich
Buy Neue Grafik
the complete volumes here:
www.newgraphicdesign-reprint.com
Image Now Gallery
www.ingallery.ie
[email protected]