Max Bill (22 December 1908 - 9 December 1994) Was A

Max Bill was a Swiss architect, artist, designer and educator born in 1908. He studied at the Bauhaus from 1927-1929 under teachers including Kandinsky, Klee and Schlemmer. In 1953, Bill co-founded the Ulm School of Design in Germany, which developed a new approach integrating art and science. As an industrial designer, Bill's work was characterized by clarity of design and precise proportions, as seen in his clocks and watches designed for Junghans. Bill sought to create forms representing the new physics mathematics of the early 20th century through his sculptural works using forms like the Möbius strip.

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Max Bill (22 December 1908 - 9 December 1994) Was A

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Max Bill

Max Bill (22 December 1908 9 December 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface
designer, industrial designer and graphic designer.
Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmith during 1924-1927, Bill took
up studies at the Bauhaus in Dessau under many teachers including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul
Klee and Oskar Schlemmer from 1927 to 1929, after which he moved to Zurich.
From 1937 onwards he was a prime mover behind the Allianz group of Swiss artists [1] and in
1944, he became a professor at the school of arts in Zurich.
In 1953, Max Bill, Inge Aicher-Scholl and Otl Aicher founded the Ulm School of Design
(German: Hochschule fr Gestaltung - HfG Ulm) in Ulm, Germany, a design school initially
created in the tradition of the Bauhaus and which later developed a new design education
approach integrating art and science. The school is notable for its inclusion of semiotics as a field
of study. The school closed in 1968. Faculty and students included: Toms Maldonado, Otl
Aicher, Joseph Albers, Johannes Itten, John Lottes, Walter Zeischegg, and Peter Seitz.

Junghans clock, design by Max Bill

Bill was the single most decisive influence on Swiss graphic design beginning in the 1950s with
his theoretical writing and progressive work. [2] His connection to the days of the Modern
Movement gave him special authority. As an industrial designer, his work is characterized by a
clarity of design and precise proportions.[3] Examples are the elegant clocks and watches
designed for Junghans, a long-term client. Among Bill's most notable product designs is the
"Ulmer Hocker" of 1954, a stool that can also be used as a shelf element or a side table. Although
the stool was a creation of Bill and Ulm school designer Hans Gugelot, it is often called "Bill
Hocker" because the first sketch on a cocktail napkin was Bill's work.
As a designer and artist, Bill sought to create forms which visually represent the New Physics
mathematics of the early 20th century. He sought to create objects so that the new science of

form could be experienced by the senses. [3] A prime example is his sculptural work using the
Mbius strip form. [4]
From 1967 to 1971 he became a member of the Swiss National Council, then became a professor
at the Staatliche Hochschule fr Bildende Knste in Hamburg and chair of Environmental
Design from 1967 to 1974.

Pavillon-Skulptur (1983), Zrich, by Max Bill

In 1973 he became an associate member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Science, Literature
and Fine Art in Brussels. In 1976 he became a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts.
A large granite sculpture by Max Bill was installed adjacent to the Bahnhofstrasse, Zrich in
1983. As is often the case with modern art in public places, the installation generated some
controversy.