Herbert Bayer
„der selbstauslöser“
Artist
Herbert Bayer
Provenance
Estate of Kurt Kranz, Berlin;
Grisebach, Berlin 1.6.2012, lot 394;
Private collection, Berlin.
Grisebach, Berlin 1.6.2012, lot 394;
Private collection, Berlin.
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Description
- Created at the Bauhaus in Dessau
- Thematization of the technical development of photography
- From the estate of the artist Kurt Kranz (1910-1997)
The work "der selbstauslöser" by Herbert Bayer dates from 1928, his last year at the Bauhaus Dessau. At this time, he created numerous surreal-looking drawings, photographs and photomontages showing typical motifs such as trees, clouds, birds and eyes. Best known is his photomontage "lonely metropolitan" from 1932, which achieved the record price of 1.25 million US dollars at a Sotheby's auction in New York in December 2012.
In the large-format drawing "der selbstauslöser" (the self-timer), Bayer uses a surrealist, ironic touch to address the modern technology of photography, which was already being used as a popular artistic medium at the time and had opened up completely new possibilities since the introduction of the 35mm camera in the mid-1920s. With a reduced color scheme in black, white and shades of grey, Bayer unifies the different textures of the materials used - gouache, ink and the small mounted photograph - into a harmonious composition. A bellows camera is mounted on a stylized human body as a head, a delicate hand grasps the self-timer wire. A photograph of a female eye is mounted on a small easel to the right of the camera figurine and appears to be looking directly at the viewer. But the question of who is actually looking at whom here, observing, portraying, remains unanswered. Incidentally, the photographic eye is said to be that of Ise Gropius, the wife of Walter Gropius, who was director of the Bauhaus until 1928. According to oral tradition, Ingrid Kranz, wife of Kurt Kranz, a close colleague of Herbert Bayer, from whose estate this drawing originates, recalled this.
Herbert Bayer first completed an apprenticeship in an architectural office, then in 1921 he went to study at the Bauhaus Weimar, where he soon became a young master craftsman and head of the newly established workshop for printing and advertising. In 1928, he founded his own agency "studio dorland" for typography and advertising design in Berlin and became artistic advisor to the magazine "Vogue" Germany. After the National Socialists seized power, Bayer's work was defamed at the "Degenerate Art" exhibition in 1937 and he emigrated to the USA in 1938. There he initially worked as an exhibition designer in New York and took on various teaching assignments. From 1946 to 1975, Bayer worked as a design consultant for the Aspen Cultural Center in Colorado and received private and public advertising and architectural commissions. In 1964, Bayer was invited to documenta III in Kassel, and in 1968 he designed the exhibition "50 Years of Bauhaus" in Stuttgart.
The work "der selbstauslöser" comes from the estate of the artist Kurt Kranz (1910-1997), who studied at the Bauhaus Dessau from 1930-33 under Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, among others. He then worked for several years as a graphic artist with Herbert Bayer at "studio dorland" in Berlin. After the Second World War, he worked at the Landeskunstschule in Hamburg and was appointed professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg in 1955. Guest lectureships took him to the USA, Canada and Japan in the following years.
- Thematization of the technical development of photography
- From the estate of the artist Kurt Kranz (1910-1997)
The work "der selbstauslöser" by Herbert Bayer dates from 1928, his last year at the Bauhaus Dessau. At this time, he created numerous surreal-looking drawings, photographs and photomontages showing typical motifs such as trees, clouds, birds and eyes. Best known is his photomontage "lonely metropolitan" from 1932, which achieved the record price of 1.25 million US dollars at a Sotheby's auction in New York in December 2012.
In the large-format drawing "der selbstauslöser" (the self-timer), Bayer uses a surrealist, ironic touch to address the modern technology of photography, which was already being used as a popular artistic medium at the time and had opened up completely new possibilities since the introduction of the 35mm camera in the mid-1920s. With a reduced color scheme in black, white and shades of grey, Bayer unifies the different textures of the materials used - gouache, ink and the small mounted photograph - into a harmonious composition. A bellows camera is mounted on a stylized human body as a head, a delicate hand grasps the self-timer wire. A photograph of a female eye is mounted on a small easel to the right of the camera figurine and appears to be looking directly at the viewer. But the question of who is actually looking at whom here, observing, portraying, remains unanswered. Incidentally, the photographic eye is said to be that of Ise Gropius, the wife of Walter Gropius, who was director of the Bauhaus until 1928. According to oral tradition, Ingrid Kranz, wife of Kurt Kranz, a close colleague of Herbert Bayer, from whose estate this drawing originates, recalled this.
Herbert Bayer first completed an apprenticeship in an architectural office, then in 1921 he went to study at the Bauhaus Weimar, where he soon became a young master craftsman and head of the newly established workshop for printing and advertising. In 1928, he founded his own agency "studio dorland" for typography and advertising design in Berlin and became artistic advisor to the magazine "Vogue" Germany. After the National Socialists seized power, Bayer's work was defamed at the "Degenerate Art" exhibition in 1937 and he emigrated to the USA in 1938. There he initially worked as an exhibition designer in New York and took on various teaching assignments. From 1946 to 1975, Bayer worked as a design consultant for the Aspen Cultural Center in Colorado and received private and public advertising and architectural commissions. In 1964, Bayer was invited to documenta III in Kassel, and in 1968 he designed the exhibition "50 Years of Bauhaus" in Stuttgart.
The work "der selbstauslöser" comes from the estate of the artist Kurt Kranz (1910-1997), who studied at the Bauhaus Dessau from 1930-33 under Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, among others. He then worked for several years as a graphic artist with Herbert Bayer at "studio dorland" in Berlin. After the Second World War, he worked at the Landeskunstschule in Hamburg and was appointed professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg in 1955. Guest lectureships took him to the USA, Canada and Japan in the following years.