Twelve Swiss Designers: Josef Müller-Brockmann

Musica Viva, Tonhalle. Poster 1957.
The exhibition procures an insight into the working habits of several Swiss commercial artists who distinguish themselves through their objectivity and the austerity of their creative media. What they are striving for is a matter-of-fact tackling of the problem to be solved, the comprehension of which is to determine the creative media, rather than leaving its course to chances and whims.
The high standing of this graphic art is not only due to the open-minded attitude of the clients toward the advertising problems, it is above all the almost logical result of the intellectual sobriety, both in the understanding of the problem and in the correct use of the shaping media leading to its solution. Seldom does an intelligent client blind himself to this type of graphic art which actually makes his product the centre of the scheme. The fact that this scheme is modern in appearance is appraised positively and taken for granted accordingly, much in the same way that we avail ourselves of modern inventions in the technological and scientific fields for our own daily convenience.
Difficulties may arise with the client wherever and whenever the commercial artist, out of his own intellectual failure, is willing to resort to senseless and incoherent "modern" forms which are not apt to solve the problem and are likely to be rejected by the client out of sheer instinct and common sense.
This pseudo-modern graphic art indulging in “abstract” forms, scurrilous pictorial stunts and jokes which are in no topical coherence whatsoever with the advertising theme, unfortunately has subjected the commercial art trade to the criticism of certain circles which admonish it for lack of honesty and thoroughness. Trying to be artists in the first place, these commercial artists end up by achieving neither art nor commercial art. Mixing up the graphic art trade with fine arts merely bears evidence of a lack of intelligence and understanding of the essence of commercial art. Graphic art must not be self-intentional, it has to be the expedient of intentions. The advertising idea is to reveal itself clearly and prominently through the graphic media.
It is the job of the commercial artist to put these media to work as correctly as possible, according to his own intellectual and artistic judgement. If we succeed in doing so, that genuine “modernity’’ that is the only convincing one will emanate from our solution. And this solution will also be expressive from the artistic point of view. For the correct use of lettering, photography, design, color and form requires a good deal of artistic sensibility and executive ability.
A commercial artist, who by experience and intuition has acquired a personal affinity for the peculiarities of lettering types, the expressive possibilities of photography, the symbolizing effectiveness of a good design, the value and psychological expressiveness of color, the dependence of forms on space, will be anxious to avoid any non-sensical use of media in order to secure the full effect of his media. The modern commercial artist, as the architect, is in imperative need of intelligence, quick perceptivity, imagination, technical know-how and artistic sensibility in order to cope masterfully with the manifold requirements of his profession.
The commercial artist in Switzerland is not a specialist. He is quite naturally expected to design a signet, a letter head, a package, an advertisement, a poster today, and to compose the blueprint of an exhibition with all technical details tomorrow; to draw outdoor lettering, to paint murals, to assemble books and select photographs. Thus it is not surprising that the diversity of commitments has made the commercial artist's job one of the most highly demanded professions. Competition in this field has increased enormously in the last ten years In Zurich (population 450,000), for example, there are nowadays more than 400 independent commercial artists in addition to countless advertising agents.
At first glance this objectivity-conscious commercial art may appear to lack imagination because it refuses to endorse eccentric ideas as well as scurrilous, surrealistic and grotesque pictorial stunts. This leads us back to the problem of the commercial artist's attitude toward the basic principles of advertising. Is advertising to be the playground of the craziest sort of pictorial gags and superlative claims? Or should commercial art on the contrary restrict itself to the straight-forward and clean communication, to the information on some object or idea? It should be a type of information in which the object becomes self-explanatory, apart from additions in words and pictures, with the graphic forms merely fulfilling functions of completion and explication. Information instead of sensation! These reflections fundamentally refer to the school of Swiss graphic art shown in this exhibition. They do not hint at any restraint of formal possibilities; on the contrary, they show the very source of freedom in the use of media.
This idea of graphic art, which is based on the necessity to let the consumer know all about an object, a product or a scheme, compels the designer to examine and appraise his commitment very thoroughly. In dealing with it in this manner he will be able to direct his creative thoughts firmly and in accordance with the objective to be achieved. Where such clarity of thought predominates it will also express itself in the creative solution. The best graphic examples, therefore, will reveal outspoken discipline, a carefully established balance between typography and picture, between printed and blank spaces. The color is applied economically in order to give it a maximum of expressive power. Where the product is at the focal point of the design additional means of coloring and forming are used in a supporting or emotionally attractive capacity, mostly, however, as factors of secondary and anonymous partnership.
Typography as an essential element is dealt with in accordance with the laws governing it: few sizes of type, yet distinctly differing from each other by their dimensions. Most in use are the classical type faces which distinguish themselves through their clarity of forms and legibility: Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, Bucher-Grotesk, Gill, Bodoni, Garamond, Caslon.
The asymmetrical array of type reflects the tensions of modern times, with the blank, unprinted space put in deliberate contrast to the grey surface of the text. If feasible, photography is used to replace the sketch, for photography means real-life likeness and, therefore, has a greater persuasive value. It complies to a large extent with today's requirements of reliable information. The sketch is invaluable in those instances where it is apt to sever emphatically the essential from the unessential through a simplified and stylized design, and where inferior printing paper requires a black and white image.
Geometrical figures such as lines, circles, squares and triangles play a major part as anonymous factors of ordinance. It is with their help that panels can be dissected and encircled, gravity centers can be determined, hints and directions can be given and, through their accumulation, rhythm and fluency can be achieved.
Another important creative element which we come across again and again in the prototypes of this Swiss graphic art, is the blank space, the unprinted surface, which is brought into dramatic contrast with the printed space, with the typography and the pictorial design. Several exhibitors have tried to establish a mutual dependency of proportions between all applied creative media and thus, through a perspicacious array of the sections, to enhance their effect and expressive power.
Although most of these commercial artists are only in loose human contact with each other, their works are similar in their impressive effects. in some instances originality is renounced for the sake of an almost prudish and parched creation born out of the conviction that a matter-of-fact argumentation is all that counts. This is why the humorous and witty type of design is hardly represented, which does not mean that it is frowned at. Its possibilities are too small.
The opinion on the task of commercial art as expressed in these lines has become more and more popular in Switzerland, with commercial artists and their clients as well. If it is true that purposiveness in the idea, purposiveness in the use of creative media and modern artistic form-consciousness emanate from the commercial artist’s work, it is also true that his work will prove a substantial cultural contribution to these modern times of ours.
Published in Print Vol. 11, No. 2, 1957.
Notes
Introductory text written by Müller-Brockmann for a travelling exhibition designed by Noel Martin. The exhibition conceived by The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum, and was administered and circulated by The Institute of Contemporary Art of Boston. It was exhibited at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Mass.; the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; the American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York City; the Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio; The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; the Milwaukee Art institute, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Art Center in La Jolla, La Jolla, California; and the San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco California.The participating designers were:
Adolf Flückiger
Karl Gerstner
Armin Hofmann
Gottfried Honegger
Richard P. Lohse
Josef Müller-Brockmann
Hans Neuburg
Siegfried Odermatt
Emil Ruder
Nelly Rudin
Max Schmid
Carlo Vivarelli