Max Bill
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Max Bill (December 22, 1908 – December 8, 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, typeface designer, graphic designer and indirectly involved in creating the International movement for an imaginist Bauhaus.
Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmith during 1924-1927, Bill took up studies at the Bauhaus in Dessau under many teachers including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer in 1927-1929. He later taught at the Bauhaus.
Among Bill's most famous designs is the "Ulmer Hocker" of 1954, a stool that can also be used as a shelf element or a side table. Although the stool was a creation of Bill and Ulm school designer Hans Gugelot, it is often called "Bill Hocker" because the first sketch on a cocktail napkin was Bill's work.
Bill sought to create forms which visually represent the mathematical complexity of the New Physics of the early 20th century. He sought to create objects so that this new science of form could be understood by the senses. A prime example is his work with the Möbius strip form.
A large granite sculpture by Max Bill was installed adjacent to the Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich in 1983. As is often the case with modern art in public places, the installation generated some controversy.
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