View source for Herbert Bayer

{{short description|Austrian-American artist, architect, and designer}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Herbert Bayer
| image            = 
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1900|4|05|mf=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Haag am Hausruck|Haag]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1985|9|30|1900|4|05|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Montecito, California|Montecito]], California, U.S.
| nationality      = [[Austrians|Austrian]], [[United States|American]]
| field            = 
| training         = [[Bauhaus|Weimar Bauhaus]]
| spouse           = [[Irene Bayer-Hecht]] (1925-1944), Joella Synara Haweis (1944-1985)
| movement         = 
| works            = 
| patrons          = 
| awards           = 
}}

'''Herbert Bayer''' (April 5, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an Austrian and American [[graphic design]]er, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental and interior designer, and [[architect]]. He was instrumental in the development of the [[Atlantic Richfield Company]]'s corporate art collection until his death in 1985.

==Biography==

===Training and Bauhaus years===
[[File:ABayer.svg|200px|right|thumb|Herbert Bayer's 1925 experimental [[Bayer Architype|universal typeface]] combined upper and lowercase characters into a single character set.]]
Bayer apprenticed under the artist Georg Schmidthammer in [[Linz]]. Leaving the workshop to study at the [[Darmstadt Artists' Colony]], he became interested in [[Walter Gropius]]'s [[Bauhaus manifesto]]. After Bayer had studied for four years at the [[Bauhaus]]<ref name="AAA2">{{cite web | year=2011 | title=Oral history interview with Herbert Bayer, 1981 Oct. 3 | work=Oral History interview | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-herbert-bayer-11924 | access-date=30 Jun 2011}}</ref> under such teachers as [[Wassily Kandinsky]], [[Paul Klee]]<ref name="AAA">{{cite web | year=2011 | title=Oral history interview with Herbert Bayer, 1981 Nov. 3-1982 Mar. 10 | work=Oral History interview | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-herbert-bayer-11815 | access-date=30 Jun 2011}}</ref> and [[László Moholy-Nagy]], Gropius appointed Bayer director of [[printing]] and [[advertising]].

In the spirit of reductive minimalism, Bayer developed a crisp visual style and adopted use of all-lowercase, [[sans serif]] [[typeface]]s for most Bauhaus publications.<ref name="Berning">{{cite web|last1=Berning|first1=Bianca|title=Language As Design Criteria? Part II|url=http://www.alphabettes.org/language-as-design-criteria-part-ii/|website=Alphabettes|date=9 November 2012 |access-date=15 May 2016}}</ref> Bayer is one of several typographers of the period including [[Kurt Schwitters]] and [[Jan Tschichold]] who experimented with the creation of a simplified more phonetic-based alphabet. From 1925 to 1930, Bayer designed a geometric sans-serif titled ''Proposal for a Universal Typeface'' (Herbert Bayer, universal<ref>{{Cite web |title=Herbert Bayer, universal |url=http://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/teachers/type_lecture/history_bayer.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203192950/http://www.papress.com/thinkingwithtype/teachers/type_lecture/history_bayer.htm |archive-date=2008-12-03 |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.papress.com}}</ref>) that existed only as a design and was never actually cast into real type.<ref name="Towards a Universal Type 1936">{{cite journal|last1=Bayer|first1=Herbert|title=Towards a Universal Type|journal=Industrial Arts|date=1936|pages=238–244|url=http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/IA/1936-10-01/edition/null/page/78|access-date=17 November 2017}}</ref> These designs are now issued in digital form as Bayer Universal (P22 Type Foundry Bauhaus Set<ref>{{Cite web |title=P22 Type Foundry Bauhaus Set |url=http://www.p22.com//products/bauhaus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905182554/http://www.p22.com//products/bauhaus.html |archive-date=2008-09-05 |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.p22.com}}</ref>). The design also inspired ITC Bauhaus and [[Architype Bayer]], which bears comparison with the stylistically related typeface [[Architype Schwitters]].

In 1923 Bayer met the photographer [[Irene Bayer-Hecht]] at the first large Bauhaus exhibit in Weimar. They married in 1925, separated in 1928, had a daughter, Julia Alexandra, in 1929, and divorced in 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bauhaus100.com/the-bauhaus/people/the-bauhaus-entourage/irene-bayer/|title=Irene Bayer|website=www.bauhaus100.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-30|archive-date=2019-03-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330184444/https://www.bauhaus100.com/the-bauhaus/people/the-bauhaus-entourage/irene-bayer/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/artists/24582.html#chronology|title=Irene Bayer-Hecht {{!}} Object:Photo {{!}} MoMA|website=www.moma.org|access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref>

===Post-Bauhaus years in Germany===
[[File:Herbert Bayer Stadelwand 1936.jpg|thumb|left|250px|''Stadelwand'', 1936, [[M.T. Abraham Foundation]]]]
In 1928, Bayer left the Bauhaus to become [[art director]] of [[Vogue magazine]]'s [[Berlin]] office.<ref name="AAA2"/> He remained in Germany far later than most other progressives. In 1936 he designed a brochure for the ''Deutschland Ausstellung'', an exhibition for tourists in Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Games{{snd}}the brochure celebrated life in [[Nazi Germany]], and the authority of Hitler. However, in 1937, works of Bayer's were included in the Nazi propaganda [[Degenerate art#Entartete Kunst exhibit|exhibition "Degenerate Art"]], upon which he left Germany. Upon fleeing Germany, he traveled in [[Italy]].<ref name="AAA"/>

===Time in the United States===

In 1938, Bayer came to The United States where he remained until his death in 1985.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Inglis |first=Theo |title=Mid-century modern graphic design |date=2019 |publisher=Batsford |isbn=978-1-84994-482-3 |location=London, United Kingdom |pages=165}}</ref> In 1944 he married Joella Synara Haweis, the daughter of poet and [[Dada]] artist [[Mina Loy]]. The same year, he became a U.S. citizen.<ref name=NYCnat>{{cite web|title=Herbert Bayer|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=try&db=nysoundexpet&h=2554546|work=Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989|publisher=Ancestry.com|access-date=May 28, 2011}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

In 1946 the Bayers relocated. Hired by industrialist and visionary [[Walter Paepcke]], Bayer moved to [[Aspen, Colorado]] as Paepcke promoted skiing as a popular sport. Bayer's architectural work in the town included co-designing the [[Aspen Institute]] and restoring the [[Wheeler Opera House]], but his production of promotional posters identified skiing with wit, excitement, and glamour.

In 1959, he designed his "fonetik alfabet", a [[Phonemic orthography|phonetic alphabet]], for English. It was sans-serif and without capital letters. He had special symbols for the endings ''-ed'', ''-ory'', ''-ing'', and ''-ion'', as well as the [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s "ch", "sh", and "ng". An underline indicated the doubling of a consonant in traditional orthography.

While living in Aspen, Bayer had a chance meeting with the eccentric oilman, outdoorsman and visionary ecologist, [[Robert O. Anderson]]. When Anderson saw the ultra-modern, Bauhaus-inspired home that Bayer had designed and built in Aspen, he walked up to the front door and introduced himself{{Citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=The story of this meeting completely contradicts the version in "The Aspen Idea" by Sidney Hyman - where did this version come from?}}. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two men and instigated Anderson's insatiable passion for enthusiastically collecting contemporary art.

With Anderson's eventual formation of the [[Atlantic Richfield Company]], and as his personal art collection quickly overflowed out of his New Mexico ranch and other homes, [[ARCO]] soon held the unique distinction of possessing the world's largest corporate art collection, under the critical eye and sharp direction of Bayer as ARCO's Art and Design Consultant.

Overseeing acquisitions for [[City National Plaza|ARCO Plaza]], the newly built (1972) twin 51-story office towers in Los Angeles that served as the new company's corporate headquarters, Bayer was also responsible for the ARCO logo and designing all corporate branding related to the company. Prior to the completion of ARCO Plaza, Anderson commissioned Bayer to design a monumental sculpture-fountain to be installed between the dark green granite towers. Originally titled "Stairway to Nowhere" Anderson laughed{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}, but felt the Shareholders wouldn't see the irony; thus he suggested it be named ''[[Double Ascension]]'' and it still stands between the twin skyscrapers today.

{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2020}}

Under Bayer's direction, ARCO's art collection grew to nearly 30,000 works nationwide, managed by Atlantic Richfield Company Art Collection staff. ARCO's collection was eclectic, and consisted of an extremely wide range of media and styles; ranging from contemporary and earlier paintings, sculpture, works on paper (including drawings, watercolors and signed original lithographs, etchings and serigraphs) and signed photographs to tribal and ethnic art from many cultures, as well as historic prints and artifacts, all displayed throughout ARCO's buildings in Los Angeles and several other cities. Three years after ARCO was taken over by [[BP]] in 2000, that company's then-chairman, Lord Brown, personally ordered ARCO's art collection liquidated. It was sold through Christie's and LA Modern Auctions. Bayer made provisions to donate, after his death, a collection of his works which had been housed in ARCO's conference center in Santa Barbara to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The works have been loaned previously to the [[Denver Art Museum]]. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1979.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=May 28, 2011}}</ref>

==Legacy and influence==
Bayer's works appear in prominent public and private collections including the [[MIT List Visual Arts Center]]. Bayer designed the [[Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks]], an environmental sculpture located in [[Kent, Washington]].

In 2019, the philanthropists and entrepreneurs [[Lynda Resnick|Lynda]] and [[Stewart Resnick]] donated $10 million to the nonprofit [[Aspen Institute]] for a center dedicated to Bayer that is located on the Institute's Aspen Meadows campus, in Aspen, Colorado, which Bayer designed. The Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studiesis an exhibition space and center for the study of art and culture that preserves the art and legacy of Herbert Bayer. The Bayer Center promotes a fuller understanding of Bayer—one of the leading figures to translate the Bauhaus movement into an American context—and his contributions to art, design, and architecture. It anchors the Aspen Institute’s campus-wide visual arts program, which includes over 7,000 square feet of gallery space and multiple site-specific outdoor art installations. The vision is intended to honor Bayer’s interdisciplinary perspective by promoting an understanding of art and design through exhibitions, public programming, and educational initiatives. The Bayer Center is free and open to the public.

Herbert Bayer was the architect for the [[Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth]], in Fort Worth, Texas. The institution moved to its new location designed by architect [[Tadao Ando]] in 2002. The building, owned by the City of Fort Worth was, until 2024,<ref>https://fortworthinc.com/real-estate/fort-worth-community-arts-center/</ref> home to the Fort Worth Community Arts Center,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsfortworth.org/arts-center|title=Arts Fort Worth|website=Arts Council of FW|accessdate=8 May 2023}}</ref> which featured seven galleries highlighting regional and national artists.

==Typefaces and other work==
* ''Proposal for a Universal Type'' (1925–1930), this typeface existed only as designs.
* ''Bayer Type'' ([[Berthold (company)|Berthold Type Foundry]], 1933)<ref name="vishist">{{The Visual History of Type|280–281}}</ref><ref>Jaspert, W. Pincus, W. Turner Berry and A.F. Johnson. ''The Encyclopedia of Type Faces.'' Blandford Press Lts.: 1953, 1983, {{ISBN|0-7137-1347-X}}, p18.</ref>
* ''Works include: German banknotes; die Neue linie magazine; Universal typeface.''

==Awards and honors==
* Culture Prize of the [[German Society for Photography]] (Cologne, 1969)
* Inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Art Directors Club (1975)
* Architecture Forum Upper Austria in [[Linz]]
* Honorary doctorate from the [[Technical University of Graz]] (1977)
* [[Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art]] (1977)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.parlament.gv.at/PAKT/VHG/XXIV/AB/AB_10542/imfname_251156.pdf | title = Reply to a parliamentary question | language = de | page=463 | access-date = 20 December 2012 }}</ref>
* Ambassador's Award for Excellence (London)

==See also==
*[[List of Austrian artists and architects]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===General references===
*{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Arthur A. |location=Cambridge, Mass |title=Herbert Bayer: The Complete Work |date=1984 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-53075-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQf9PAAACAAJ |access-date=23 October 2020 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Chanzit |first1=Gwen Finkel |last2=Libeskind |first2=Daniel |title=From Bauhaus to Aspen: Herbert Bayer and Modernist Design in America |date=2005 |publisher=Johnson Books |location=Denver, Colorado |isbn=978-1-55566-329-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Uv3PAAACAAJ |access-date=23 October 2020 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Lupton |first1=Ellen |title=Herbert Bayer: Inspiration and Process in Design |date=2020 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=978-1-61689-953-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mklUzQEACAAJ |access-date=23 October 2020 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Macmillan |first1=Neil |title=An A-Z of Type Designers |date=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11151-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxV4qEolEo8C |access-date=23 October 2020 }}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.suppanfinearts.com/en/publications/werkverzeichnisse/herbert-bayer |title=Herbert Bayer: Kunst Universell. Vienna, Austria: Edition|website= www.suppanfinearts.com|year= 1997}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|title=Design of the 20th Century|first1=Charlotte|last1=Fiell|first2=Peter|last2=Fiell|publisher=Taschen|location=Köln|edition=25th anniversary|year=2005|pages=94–95|isbn=9783822840788|oclc=809539744}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Official website|https://www.herbertbayer.org }}
* {{MoMA artist|399}}
* [http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1975/?id=281 Art Directors Club bio and portrait of Herbert Bayer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923011342/http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1975/?id=281 |date=2009-09-23 }}
* [http://www.kentfineart.net/publications Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus and Beyond]
* [https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/herbert-bayer-1900-1928-bauhaus-and-pre-bauhaus-years Herbert Bayer 1900 to 1928: The Bauhaus and Pre-Bauhaus Years] 2012-13 exhibit at the Denver Art Museum
* [https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/herbert-bayer-berlin-graphics-1928-1938 Herbert Bayer: Berlin Graphics 1928–1938] 2013-14 exhibit at the Denver Art Museum
* [https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/herbert-bayer-1938-1974-new-york-and-aspen-paintings Herbert Bayer: 1938–1974 New York and Aspen Paintings] 2015-17 exhibit at the Denver Art Museum
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Herbert}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:AIGA medalists]]
[[Category:American graphic designers]]
[[Category:ARCO]]
[[Category:Austrian graphic designers]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Bauhaus alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Bauhaus]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:People from Grieskirchen District]]
[[Category:American typographers and type designers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art]]
[[Category:Austrian typographers and type designers]]
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]
[[Category:Federal Art Project artists]]
[[Category:Artists in the Degenerate Art exhibition]]