Swiss, 1908-1994
Max Bill was an artist, architect, industrial designer, graphic designer, and teacher. He attended the Bauhaus where he was taught by Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Oskar Schlemmer. The tenets of the Bauhaus, including a modern, scientific approach to colour and Constructivist form, would inform his interdisciplinary work in art, architecture, and design for the rest of Bill’s life, and he was a key figure in developing and propagating its principles, especially through his role as a founder of the Ulm School of Design. Through his pursuit of a new visual language that could be understood by the senses alone, Bill defined the conventions of Swiss design for decades to come. He would eventually popularize the term Concrete Art (first coined by Theo van Doesburg) to further define his fascination with mathematical and geometric foundations utilized in the creation of objects—whether sculptures, paintings, or functional objects—that he considered the physical manifestations of rationalism. His influence spread even as far as South America, where he was a catalyst for the Concrete Art movement.