Herbert Bayer

Herbert Bayer was born in Austria in 1900 and died in the United States in 1985; his practice encompassed typography, photography, design, painting, architecture and sculpture. This diversity was evident from his training: at seventeen, he began an apprenticeship with an architect and designer in Linz, then continued his career in the office of Emmanuel Josef Margold. In October 1921, he joined the Bauhaus in Weimar. From 1925, he became its first full-time teacher in advertising graphics and typography, two fields in which he combined reflection on communication with work on the letterform.

The cover of the album Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar 1919-1923 is among his early significant typographic works: four lines of blue and red letters fill the surface against a black background. The example demonstrates a page layout in which the letter also serves as a visual element. Bayer assigned advertising both an economic and a social function. To serve this purpose, he favoured the so-called “grotesque” or “sans-serif” typeface. In 1928, he moved to Berlin and became art director of Vogue Germany. Before his year-long stay in Italy, he also designed projects for kiosks, exhibition pavilions and small advertising buildings.

Bayer left Germany for the United States in 1938 and acquired American citizenship in 1944. There he worked as an artistic adviser and developed interior design projects. In 1977, a retrospective of his work was presented at the ARCO Center for Visual Art in Los Angeles. Among the documented works is Squares and their Triangles, dated 1976: the sales listing describes it as an acrylic painting on paper, 31 × 31 cm, signed Bayer.

Works recorded at auction

Schuler · Lot 3183

Fragment

Gouache

Original catalogue wording

Fragment
gouache

Catalogue period : 2024-09-18

Published result : 1900 CHF

Fees not specified in the available data

Estimate : CHF 1500–2000

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Germann · Lot 212

Squares and their Triangles, 1976

Acrylic on paper.

Original catalogue wording

Squares and their Triangles, 1976
Acryl auf Papier.

Catalogue period : 2018-06-04

Published result : 900 CHF

Hammer price, excluding fees

Estimate : CHF 1000–1500

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Ketterer · Lot 521

Tritex

Acryl auf Hartfaserplatte

Auction date : 2010-10-23

Published result : 4880 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 5000

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Ketterer · Lot 201

Cyklopeninseln (the rocks that missed Ulysses)

Tuschfederzeichnung in Schwarz und farbige Kreide auf glattem Velin, 1954

Auction date : 2003-03-28

Published result : 690 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 700

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Germann

Cluster of Butterflies over Mountain, 1947

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Cluster of Butterflies over Mountain, 1947
Öl auf Leinwand.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Germann

Segmentation, 1972

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Segmentation, 1972
Öl auf Leinwand.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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