The Austrian-born Herbert Bayer is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential graphic artists of his time, but his extensive achievements span a spectrum of disciplines. The artistic polymath made his mark as a photographer and master of photomontage, a typography creator, magazine art director, advertising guru, architect and more.
As a student in the early 1920s at the Bauhaus — the revolutionary German art and design school in Weimar that sought to integrate art and design into daily life — Bayer studied under Russian-born Wassily Kandisnsky, who became his mentor, and was greatly influenced by Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, heartily embracing its premise that the arts can and should serve society.
Bayer left the Bauhaus in 1923 to tour Italy with a friend, then rejoined two years later, hired to teach advertising, design and typography at the school’s new home, in Dessau. There, he designed catalogues, featuring photography and machine-based printing, that promoted Bauhaus-made “goods for the home,” including handmade furniture, wallpaper and housewares. And he created a new “universal” alphabet: a streamlined sans serif restricted to lower-case letters that became the Bauhaus’s signature font.
Bayer quit teaching at the Bauhaus along with founder Walter Gropius and fellow teachers Marcel Breuer and László Maholy-Nagy when the school’s finances grew strained. He became the art director of German Vogue, moving on, when the magazine closed during the Depression, to the ad agency Dorland International, where he created the advertisements for clothing, textiles, toothpaste and nose drops on view. He also did magazine covers and outdoor billboards and masterminded the design of several important international exhibitions, including the German section of the 1930 Exposition de la Société des artistes décorateurs in Paris.
By 1938, Bayer had become dismayed by the political situation in Germany, and at the invitation of Gropius — who was then chair of the architecture department at Harvard, having fled the Nazi regime in 1934 — he left for the United States. Gropius had been asked to curate an exhibition on the Bauhaus for the Museum of Modern Art, but he didn’t have time and so asked Bayer to help. Bayer ultimately did it all, including gathering material in Germany, creating the exhibition plan and overseeing the catalogue. The show traveled throughout the U.S., and Bayer’s stateside career took off.
In the early 1940s, Bayer served as chief art director at Wanamaker’s and worked in advertising and package design at J. Walter Thompson. In 1945, he began a long stint working full-time at the Container Corporation of America (CCA). He created CCA’s long-running series “Great Ideas of Western Man,” which aimed to enlighten the public through inspiring quotes. Additionally, Bayer designed sculptures, wall murals, furniture, earth art and buildings for the Aspen Institute between 1946 and 1975.
Bayer’s work demonstrates how one man, and one school, changed the evolution of contemporary graphics in America over a 40-year period.
Find original Herbert Bayer prints and paintings on 1stDibs.
Bauhaus 1919-1928 (First Edition with Signature of Paul J. Sachs)
By MOMA Museum New York, Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius
Located in New York, NY
First edition of this foundational monograph published in conjunction with an exhibition held in 1938 at the Museum of Modern Art New York marking the tenth anniversary of the end of...
Paper
Fortune Magazine, June 1942 (Herbert Bayer Cover Design)
By Herbert Bayer
Located in New York, NY
The large-format, June 1942 issue of Fortune Magazine, a publication known for its powerful graphic design elements, especially cover designs, as well as for its reportage and featur...
Paper
Electronics--A New Science for a New World (Herbert Bayer design)
By General Electric, Herbert Bayer
Located in New York, NY
Booklet touting the wonders of the nascent electronic era published in 1942 by the General Electric Company, “leader in radio, television, and electronic research.” Austrian-America...
Paper
English Style, First Edition
By Stafford Cliff, Suzanne Sleisin
Located in valatie, NY
English Style by Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff. NY: Clarkson N. Potter, 1984. Stated first edition hardcover with dust jacket. 288 pp. An intimate l...
Paper
Chinese Good Fortune Hairpin, c. 1900
Located in Chicago, IL
Although eyes were certainly drawn to the high, fan-shaped headdresses that Qing-dynasty women affixed to back of their heads, it was the finishing touch of a hairpin or two that completed the look. This silver hairpin ends in a round floral medallion framing the decorative Fu (?) character for "good...
Silver
$3,500
H 11 in W 28.5 in D 0.13 in
Rare Vintage New York Yankees Cincinnati Reds World Series Baseball Pennant
Located in Dayton, OH
Rare antique 1939 Major League Baseball World Series team roster felt pennant commemorating the MLB championship matchup between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds. It lis...
Fabric
Important Teddy Roosevelt Letter of June, 1911
By Theodore Roosevelt
Located in Dallas, TX
Presenting a very important Teddy Roosevelt Letter of June 1911 . On ‘The Outlook’ letterhead. Typed and personally signed and amended by President Theodore Roosevelt. Dated June 20th 1911. What makes this letter so important is the author, the office and the content. It refers to the beliefs and opinions of the then President and First Lady (Edith) towards the women’s sufferage and empowerment movement that was the ‘hot topic’ of the time. It is addressed to Eliza Calvert Hall/Obenchain who was a well known author at the end of the 19th Century and Early 20th Century. In 1905, Teddy referred to her book “Aunt Jane of Kentucky’ in a speech and recommended that every man in America should read it to understand ‘the plight of their womenfolk’. He regularly corresponded with her and we have a number of those letters in our collection. It appears that both he and Edith became big fans of Mrs Hall/Obenchain who was also heavily involved in the Suffragist movement. The letters also provide a fascinating and historic record of Roosevelt’s personal beliefs and feelings on female empowerment. The Letter Reads: The Outlook 287 Fourth Avenue New York Office of Theodore Roosevelt June 20th, 1911 “My dear Miss Hall: I am touched by your sending me “To Love and To Cherish”. But then, I am one of those included in the dedication, for I well know and dearly love ” Aunt Jane of Kentucky”. Mrs. Roosevelt and I do not feel that the hero ought to have yielded to his wife’s feelings ! Ultimately it was doing an injustice to her and to his children, as well as to the State. It is a good thing to have a Governor’s wife a woman who can be as gracious a hostess, and of as fine a type, as Dolly Madison...
Paper
French Decorative Art 1900-1942 (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
The Société des artistes decorateurs, founded in 1901, was the first professional association of artists, artisans, designers and architects to emerge in France after the abolition o...
Paper
Design Remix A New Spin on Traditional Rooms
By Rizzoli International Publications
Located in New York, NY
Written by Corey Damen Jenkins, Foreword by Jamie Drake The first book from AD100 interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins, known for his colorful, youthful ...
Paper
Christies June 2010 Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design
Located in valatie, NY
Christies June 2010 Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design Auction Catalog. 1st Ed softcover with results. 218 lots, 172 pages, lots are Illustrated in color and fully descri...
Paper
George Krause-1 First Edition
By George Krause
Located in valatie, NY
George Krause-1. Haverford: Toll & Armstron, Publishers, 1972. Stated first edition hardcover with dust jacket. 60 pp. A handsome book on art American phot...
Paper
A Home for Every Plant, Wonders of the Botanical World
Located in New York, NY
Journey across 40 incredible habitats around the world to discover the biggest, boldest, and stinkiest plants Without plants there would be no life on Earth, but most people are b...
Paper
Viktor&Rolf Cover Cover
Located in New York, NY
A celebration of the quirky, surprising, and often spectacular work of Dutch fashion designers Viktor & Rolf Conceived and designed by acclaimed graphic designer Irma Boom...
Paper
Home at Last: Enduring Design for the New American House
Located in New York, NY
Author Gil Schafer III, Photographs by Eric Piasecki Bestselling author and popular American architect Gil Schafer returns with the final installment in h...
Paper
$5,900
H 11.38 in W 15.38 in D 1 in
SCHULZ - Peanuts Jubilee - FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED WITH A DRAWING OF SNOOPY !
Located in Hillsborough, NJ
AUTHOR: SCHULZ, Charles. TITLE: Peanuts Jubilee. My Life and Art With Charlie Brown and Others. PUBLISHER: NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION INSCRIBED WITH A DRAWING. 1 vol., 15-3/8" x 11-3/8", illustrated, inscribed on the half-title "For B. J. with every best wish - Charles M. Schulz" with the addition of a large full body sketch of Snoopy, hardcover, original stamped silver boards. CONDITION: Inner and outer hinges fine, mild general handling to covers, foredge of rear pastedown and endpaper worn, internally clean and bright, overall VERY GOOD. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: "B.J." is B.J. Thomas best...
Paper
Artist's Maquette for the Articulated Wall Sculpture by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Littleton, CO
The original Marquette by Herbert Bayer for his articulated wall outdoor public sculpture in Denver, Colorado. The 85-foot-tall artwork was Bayer’s final completed commission before his death in 1985. An earlier edition is in Mexico City, designed by Bayer for the 1968 Olympics...
Wood