Subversive Gleam, a: Max Bill and His Time 1908–1939

Max Bill was a master of many trades during his lifetime: he was at once an architect, graphic designer, painter, industrial designer and typeface designer. A student of greats such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Bill developed his own unique practice of integrated design – a more contemporary interpretation of more traditional Bauhaus sensibilities. This title provides readers with an in-depth account of the origins of one of Europe’s most influential designers.In this first volume of a biography, Bill’s widow art historian, Angela Thomas, recounts the formative years of Bill’s life from his childhood in a small Swiss town to his time at the Bauhaus. He went on to become one of the main advocates of the concrete art movement, joining the Allianz group of Swiss artists in 1937.With a lively cadence that speaks to her intimate knowledge of the architect himself, Thomas details Bill’s beginnings in Zurich as a young independent designer and as part of a larger portrait of Europe’s political and artistic world in the decades before World War II. Originally written in German and now translated into English for the first time, this title provides readers with an in-depth account of the origins of one of Europe’s most influential designers.
ISBN 9783906915401. Hauser & Wirth Publishers. pb. 736 pages. 162 colour, 74 b/w ills. 16 x 24 cm.
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