Negro Art: Prehistoric Rock of Southern Africa (Negerkunst, Prähistorische Felsbilder Sudafrikas) by Max Bill, 1931

WHAT

Max Bill was a Swiss graphic product design and architecture in of them, in other words without designer, architect, sculptor, and the 1950s. He would then go on to undergoing a process of painter who was born on December be apart of the Swiss Parliament from abstraction.” This sentiment would 22, 1908. He was well known for his 1967 to 1971. He had a keen eye for later become a key driving force association with the in typography and geometry, and throughout Bill’s work, especially in Dessau, especially for studying there sought to emphasize those in his his revolutionary poster created in from 1927 to 1929. Ultimately, he creations and work. In addition, he 1931, Negerkunst, Prahistorische ended up becoming one of the most was well-associated with the Felsbilder Sudafrikas, or Negro Art: influential and successful Bauhaus movement of , which he Prehistoric Rock Paintings of designers to emerge from the had once described as “those works Southern Africa. This poster truly school. Later on in his life, he would of art which originate on the basis of shows Bill’s adoration of the become the co-founder of the means and laws of their own, without Concrete Art movement, as well as School of Arts and Crafts where he external reliance on natural his signature usage of geometry and eventually served as director of phenomena or any transformation mathematics within his work.

SIGNIFICANCE

This particular poster of Bill’s is so Bill’s fascination with geometric important because of several factors. shapes and forms. In addition to this, It was intended for an exhibition of the poster is entirely structured on a the prehistoric rock paintings of geometrical basis, with the oval form Southern Africa, and truly embodies comprised of three interlocking Bill’s fascination with the Art circles, complete with a square at the Concrete movement of the 1930s. bottom right. The square contains Since the Art Concrete movement type describing the poster’s subject was based on mathematical and its connection to the other constructions of authentic optic subjects of the exhibition, while the elements, one can immediately whole poster is laid out in a notice that Negerkunst, systematic, proportional grid. There Prahistorische Felsbilder Sudafrikas are only three colors used within the is only comprised of geometric poster: tan-beige, white, and black, Well Relief (Wave Relief), Max Bill, 1932 shapes, and is very reminiscent of suggesting its simplistic quality and Bill’s sculpture Well Relief (Wave how it was made; the poster was Relief), which was produced around created by linocut and letterpress. the same time as Negerkunst. In the end, Negerkunst’s systematic Negerkunst uses the same oval form approach and geometric qualities as Well Relief, only in different became an important symbol of a proportions, and fully encapsulates new era in design.

LEGACY

Ultimately, the poster became a BIBLIOGRAPHY significant example not only of Max Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Bill’s work, but also that of the Art Growth of an International Style by Concrete movement and the Richard Hollis influence of mathmatics/arithmatic Max Bill by Margit Staber and geometry in design. After many years contributing to the art and Geometry of Design: Studies in Proportion design world, Max Bill passed away and Composition by Kimberly Elam on December 9, 1994 in , at Artnet.com, Max Bill entry the age of 85. However, he will be forever remembered as one of the ETHzurich, Professor Max Bill image pioneers of the Art Concrete movement as well as the designer of Negerkunst, Prahistorische Felsbilder Sudafrikas, which eventually served as a gateway to the usage of arithmetic and Caitlin Kwan geometry in design. Max Bill, 1975 NEU 2018