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Herbert Bayer Art

Austrian, American, 1900-1985

The Austrian-born Herbert Bayer is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential graphic artists of his time, but his extensive achievements span a spectrum of disciplines. The artistic polymath made his mark as a photographer and master of photomontage, a typography creator, magazine art director, advertising guru, architect and more.

As a student in the early 1920s at the Bauhaus — the revolutionary German art and design school in Weimar that sought to integrate art and design into daily life — Bayer studied under Russian-born Wassily Kandisnsky, who became his mentor, and was greatly influenced by Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, heartily embracing its premise that the arts can and should serve society.

Bayer left the Bauhaus in 1923 to tour Italy with a friend, then rejoined two years later, hired to teach advertising, design and typography at the school’s new home, in Dessau. There, he designed catalogues, featuring photography and machine-based printing, that promoted Bauhaus-made “goods for the home,” including handmade furniture, wallpaper and housewares. And he created a new “universal” alphabet: a streamlined sans serif restricted to lower-case letters that became the Bauhaus’s signature font.

Bayer quit teaching at the Bauhaus along with founder Walter Gropius and fellow teachers Marcel Breuer and László Maholy-Nagy when the school’s finances grew strained. He became the art director of German Vogue, moving on, when the magazine closed during the Depression, to the ad agency Dorland International, where he created the advertisements for clothing, textiles, toothpaste and nose drops on view. He also did magazine covers and outdoor billboards and masterminded the design of several important international exhibitions, including the German section of the 1930 Exposition de la Société des artistes décorateurs in Paris.

By 1938, Bayer had become dismayed by the political situation in Germany, and at the invitation of Gropius — who was then chair of the architecture department at Harvard, having fled the Nazi regime in 1934 — he left for the United States. Gropius had been asked to curate an exhibition on the Bauhaus for the Museum of Modern Art, but he didn’t have time and so asked Bayer to help. Bayer ultimately did it all, including gathering material in Germany, creating the exhibition plan and overseeing the catalogue. The show traveled throughout the U.S., and Bayer’s stateside career took off.

In the early 1940s, Bayer served as chief art director at Wanamaker’s and worked in advertising and package design at J. Walter Thompson. In 1945, he began a long stint working full-time at the Container Corporation of America (CCA). He created CCA’s long-running series “Great Ideas of Western Man,” which aimed to enlighten the public through inspiring quotes. Additionally, Bayer designed sculptures, wall murals, furniture, earth art and buildings for the Aspen Institute between 1946 and 1975.

Bayer’s work demonstrates how one man, and one school, changed the evolution of contemporary graphics in America over a 40-year period.

Find original Herbert Bayer prints and paintings on 1stDibs.

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Artist: Herbert Bayer
Convolution, 1940s Modern Black White Abstract Lithograph of Kinetic Movement
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Denver, CO
"Convolution" is a striking 1948 lithograph on paper by renowned Austrian-American artist Herbert Bayer (1900-1985). This abstract kinetic artwork showcases Bayer’s mastery of form, ...
Category

1940s Abstract Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Lithograph

1950s Abstract Composition: Brown, Orange, Blue, Black Lines, Ink Watercolor Art
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Denver, CO
This captivating watercolor and ink abstract composition by Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) features dynamic shapes in brown, orange, and blue, framed by bold black parallel lines. The wor...
Category

1950s Abstract Geometric Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor

Triangulated Squares, Bauhaus Silkscreen by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Triangulated Squares Year: 1969 Medium: Screenprint, signed in pencil Size: 32 in. x 33 in. (81.28 cm x 83.82 cm) Printed at Kel...
Category

1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Screen

Original poster made for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bauhaus
By Herbert Bayer
Located in PARIS, FR
A beautiful poster made for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bauhaus at the National Museum of Modern Art, by Herbert Bayer 🇺🇸 (1900-1985), a designer, painter, architec...
Category

1960s Abstract Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

Framed Bauhaus Print by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. Untitled Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1964 (1965) Offset Lithograph Frame Size: 16.5 x 22 ...
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1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Offset

Tender Picture E, Bauhaus Print by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. Tender Picture E Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1928 (1965) Offset Lithograph Image Size: 9 ...
Category

1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Offset

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Previously Available Items
Things to Come tray
By Herbert Bayer
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Herbert Bayer Things to Come tray, 2018 Porcelain dish with metallic gold edge and silkscreened image Limited edition of an unknown quantity, originally distributed by the Museum of Modern Art, before it sold out. Measurements: Box: 5.5 x 5.5 inches Tray: 5 x 5 inches Provenance: Originally distributed by the Museum of Modern Art, before it sold out Manufacturer: Galison Publishing LLC and The Museum of Modern Art Herbert Bayer biography: Artistic polymath Herbert Bayer was one of the Bauhaus’s most influential students, teachers, and proponents, advocating the integration of all arts throughout his career. Bayer began his studies as an architect in 1919 in Darmstadt. From 1921 to 1923 he attended the Bauhaus in Weimar, studying mural painting with Vasily Kandinsky and typography, creating the Universal alphabet, a typeface consisting of only lowercase letters that would become the signature font of the Bauhaus. Bayer returned to the Bauhaus from 1925 to 1928 (moving in 1926 to Dessau, its second location), working as a teacher of advertising, design, and typography, integrating photographs into graphic compositions. He began making his own photographs in 1928, after leaving the Bauhaus; however, in his years as a teacher the school was a fertile ground for the New Vision photography passionately promoted by his close colleague László Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy’s students, and his Bauhaus publication Malerei, Photographie, Film (Painting, photography, film). Most of Bayer’s photographs come from the decade 1928–38, when he was based in Berlin working as a commercial artist. They represent his broad approach to art, including graphic views of architecture and carefully crafted montages. In 1938 Bayer emigrated to the United States with an invitation from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., founding director of The Museum of Modern Art, to apply his theories of display to the installation of the exhibition Bauhaus: 1919–28 (1938) at MoMA. Bayer developed this role through close collaboration with Edward Steichen, head of the young Department of Photography, designing the show Road to Victory (1942), which would set the course for Steichen’s influential approach to photography exhibition. Bayer remained in America working as a graphic designer for the remainder of his career. -Courtesy of MOMA More about Herbert Bayer: Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was born in Austria, where he entered into an apprenticeship under the architect and designer, Georg Smidthammer, with whom Bayer learned drawing, painting, and architectural drafting, inspired by nature and without formal knowledge of art history. In 1920, Bayer discovered the theoretical writings of the artist Vassily Kandinsky, as well as Walter Gropius’ 1919 Bauhaus manifesto, in which Gropius declared the necessity for a return to crafts, in which were found true creativity and inspiration. Bayer traveled to Weimar to meet Gropius in October of 1921 and was immediately accepted into the Bauhaus. There, he was deeply influenced by the instruction of Kandinsky, Johannes Itten and Paul Klee. In 1928 Bayer moved to Berlin together with several members of the Bauhaus staff including Gropius, Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer. He found work as a freelance graphic designer, particularly with German Vogue, under its art director Agha. When the latter returned to Paris, Bayer joined the staff full time, and also worked increasingly with Dorland, the magazine's principle advertising agency. It was in the period from 1928 to his emigration to America in 1938 that he developed his unique vision as an artist, combining a strongly modernist aesthetic sense with a rare ability to convey meaning clearly and directly. This seamless combination of art, craft and design mark Bayer as true prophet of Bauhaus theories. Bayer followed Gropius to America in 1938, and set his breadth of skills to work later that year in designing the landmark Bauhaus 1918-1928 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Bayer flourished in New York as a designer and architect, but it was his meeting with the industrialist Walter Paepcke in 1946 that allowed him to harness his concepts of 'total design' to the postwar boom. Paepcke was developing Aspen as a cultural and intellectual destination, and found in Bayer the perfect collaborator. Bayer was designer, educator and indeed architect for Paepcke's Aspen Institute...
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2010s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

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Herbert Bayer, 50 Jahre Bauhaus - Original Exhibition Poster from 1968
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Located in Long Island City, NY
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Herbert Bayer
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Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
H 16.5 in W 22 in D 0.1 in
Herbert Bayer "Structure and Moon on Green" Lithograph c.1965
By Herbert Bayer
Located in San Francisco, CA
Superb mid-century 1965 offset lithograph by Herbert Bayer (Austrian, 1900 - 1985) Title: "Structure and Moon on Green". Approximate dimensions 16.5 inches wide x 22 inches high. ...
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Mid-20th Century Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

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Four Scales, Bauhaus Silkscreen by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Four Scales Year: 1968 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 28/70 Size: 35 x 35 inches Sheet: 37 x 36 inch...
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1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

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Grid, Bauhaus Silkscreen by Herbert Bayer 1967
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Grid Year: 1967 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 93/100 Size: 20 x 20 inches
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1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

Screen

"From Light to Dark, " Screenprint, 1968
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
This screenprint was created by Austrian artist Herbert Bayer. Bayer, an architect, sculptor, and graphic artist, was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus movement. His experience range...
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1960s Op Art Herbert Bayer Art

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Abstract Screenprint, 1969
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
This screenprint was created by Austrian artist Herbert Bayer. Bayer, an architect, sculptor, and graphic artist, was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus movement. His experience range...
Category

1960s Abstract Geometric Herbert Bayer Art

Materials

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Abstract in Brown and Yellow
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Abstract in Brown and Yellow Year: circa 1965 Medium: Serigraph, signed and numbered in pencil Ed...
Category

1960s Abstract Geometric Herbert Bayer Art

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Bauhaus
By Herbert Bayer
Located in New York, NY
Poster( Before Lettering) for 50 Jahre Bauhaus Ausstellung held at the Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 1968. A bold composition utilizing the basic Bauhaus elements of ...
Category

1960s Bauhaus Herbert Bayer Art

Herbert Bayer art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Herbert Bayer art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of red and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Herbert Bayer in screen print, paper, lithograph and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Herbert Bayer art, so small editions measuring 15 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jean Deyrolle, Max Bill, and Ilya Bolotowsky. Herbert Bayer art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $650 and tops out at $14,500, while the average work can sell for $1,200.

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