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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 (MoMA 1612.2001) and carefully crafted montages (MoMA 1611.2001).
In 1938 Bayer emigrated to the United States with an invitation from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., founding director of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 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.
—Mitra Abbaspour
April 5, 1900 |
Born
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Salzburg |
1917–18 |
Drafted into the Fourteenth Infantry Regiment of the Austrian army
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Austria |
October 1919–September 1920 |
Apprentice to Georg Schmidthammer, who leads an arts and crafts atelier
Familiarizes himself with the Vienna Secession and Deutscher Werkbund
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Linz |
October 1921–spring 1922 |
Studies in the Bauhaus Foundation Courses, which are taught at the time by Johannes Itten
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Weimar |
1923 |
Irene Hecht attends a Bauhaus exhibit for the first time and meets Herbert Bayer
At location: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Weimar |
1923 |
Designs the binding for and contributes drawings to Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar 1919–1923, the catalogue of the exhibition Kunst und Technik - Eine Neue Einheit
Contributor: Herbert Bayer
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Weimar |
1925 |
Irene Hecht and Herbert Bayer are married
At location: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Dessau |
1925–28 |
Irene Bayer-Hecht and Herbert Bayer work together at the Bauhaus. Bayer serves as director of the printing and advertising workshops
Bayer-Hecht would often develop and enlarge Bayer's photographs. During this period Bayer establishes lowercase as the house style.
At location: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Dessau |
Fall 1925 |
Visits Paris, where he shoots straight photography for the first time
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Paris |
1927 |
Meets Alfred Barr, Jr., at the Bauhaus
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Dessau |
April 1927–October 1928 |
Erich Comeriner studies at the Bauhaus, taking courses in the advertising department with Herbert Bayer
At location: Herbert Bayer, Erich Comeriner
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Dessau |
1928 |
Irene Bayer-Hecht and Herbert Bayer separate but remain married
At location: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Dessau |
1928 |
Creates the photomontage cover of Bauhaus Zeitschrift
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Dessau |
January–February 1928 |
Upon leaving the Bauhaus, travels by bike around Marseilles and shoots straight photography
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Marseilles |
May–October 1928 |
Internationale Presse-Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbund, aka "Pressa"
Participant: El Lissitzky, Walter A. Peterhans
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Cologne |
Summer 1928 |
Exhibition of Kurt Schwitters's group the Neue Werbegestalter
Participant: Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy
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Magdeburg |
Fall 1928 |
Becomes art director of German Vogue and design director of the international advertising agency Dorland Studio
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Berlin |
1929 |
Irene Bayer-Hecht writes the catalogue introduction for Herbert Bayer's solo exhibition at Künstlerbund März
Participant: Herbert Bayer
Contributor: Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Linz |
1929 |
Franz Roh publishes Foto-Auge: 76 Fotos der Zeit
Contributor: Herbert Bayer, Max Burchartz, Florence Henri, El Lissitzky, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Walter A. Peterhans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Maurice Tabard, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Edward Weston, Franz Roh, Semyon Fridlyand, Robert Petschow, Sasha Stone, Dziga Vertov, Hans Finsler, Paul Edmund Hahn, J. Jay Hirz
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Stuttgart |
1929 |
Werner Graeff publishes Es kommt der neue Fotograf!
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Berlin |
January 20–February 17, 1929 |
Fotografie der Gegenwart at Museum Folkwang
Kestner Gesellschaft v.V, Königstrasse 8, Hannover Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Lützowstrasse 32, Berlin Whitechapel Art Gallery, London Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt Leipziger Kunstverein, Augustusplatz 6, Leipzig Lichthof des Neuen Rathauses, Dresden Kunstverein, Rostock am Adolf-Mittag-See, Städtisches Ausstellungsamt, Magdeburg Landesgewerbeanstalt, Kaiserslautern Vereinigung Göttinger Kunstfreunde, Göttingen
Participant: Berenice Abbott, Herbert Bayer, Aenne Biermann, Max Burchartz, Florence Henri, Lotte Jacobi, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, El Lissitzky, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Walter A. Peterhans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Hans Richter, August Sander, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Lucia Moholy, Karl Blossfeldt, Erich Comeriner, Eli Lotar, Oskar Nerlinger, Robert Petschow, Frieda Gertrud Riess, Sasha Stone, Hans Finsler, Paul Edmund Hahn, Cami Stone
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Essen |
March 21–April 2, 1929 |
First solo exhibition, at Galerie Povolozky
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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Paris |
April 20–May 20, 1929 |
Neue Typografie at Staatliche Künstlerbibliothek
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Berlin |
May 18–July 7, 1929 |
Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (FiFo) at Städtische Ausstellungshallen
Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich Im Lichthof des Ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums, Prinz-Albrechs-Strasse 7, Berlin Stadtmuseum, Danzig Österreichisches Museum, Vienna Agram, Zagreb Münchner Bund/Verein Ausstellungspark München E.V. (as part of Internationale Ausstellung. Das Lichtbild), Munich Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, Osaka
Participant: Berenice Abbott, Herbert Bayer, Aenne Biermann, Anton Bruehl, Francis Bruguière, Max Burchartz, Florence Henri, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, Helmar Lerski, El Lissitzky, Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), László Moholy-Nagy, Walter A. Peterhans, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Hans Richter, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Charles Sheeler, Edward Steichen, Maurice Tabard, Umbo (Otto Umbehr), Edward Weston, Lucia Moholy, Werner Rohde, George Hoyningen-Huene, Gustav Klutsis, Karl Blossfeldt, Heinz Loew, Erich Comeriner, Semyon Fridlyand, Roman Karmen, Eli Lotar, Oskar Nerlinger, Robert Petschow, Sasha Stone, Dziga Vertov, Yva (Else Simon), Willy Zielke, Irene Bayer-Hecht, Hans Finsler, Cami Stone
Organizer: El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Hans Richter, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Dziga Vertov
Visitor: Alexander Hackenschmied
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Stuttgart |
May 18–June 2, 1929 |
Solo exhibition at Künstlerbund März
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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Linz |
June 11–30, 1930 |
Paris exposition de la Société des Artistes Décorateurs
Herbert Bayer designs the display, exhibition layout, catalogue, and poster for the Section Allemande of the German Werkbund Exhibition.
Designer: Herbert Bayer
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Paris |
December 1930 and January 1931 |
Exhibition of Foreign Advertising Photography at the Art Center
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New York |
1931 |
Solo exhibition of paintings, drawings, and work in other mediums at the Bauhaus
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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Dessau |
1931 |
Wins first prize in the inaugural international exhibition of advertising photography
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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Berlin |
April 25–May 31, 1931 |
Fotomontage at Staatliche Kunstbibliothek
Organizer: César Domela-Nieuwenhuis
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Berlin |
May 9–August 2, 1931 |
Baugewerkschafts-Austellung
Designer: Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy
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Berlin |
January 9–29, 1932 |
Surrealism at the Julien Levy Gallery
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New York |
February 20–March 11, 1932 |
Modern European Photography at the Julien Levy Gallery
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New York |
July 27–September 7, 1932 |
Twenty-seven Photographers at Wertheim Gallery
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London |
1936 |
Publishes a portfolio of 10 photoplastics in an edition of five signed and numbered copies
Contributor: Herbert Bayer
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Berlin |
March 2–April 19, 1936 |
Cubism and Abstract Art at The Museum of Modern Art
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New York |
December 7, 1936–January 17, 1937 |
Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at The Museum of Modern Art
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New York |
Spring 1937 |
Solo exhibition of drawings, paintings, and photomontages at the London Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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London |
June 1937 |
László Moholy-Nagy invites Herbert Bayer to teach graphic design at the New Bauhaus, but Bayer declines
Affiliated: Herbert Bayer
At location: László Moholy-Nagy
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Chicago |
July 19–November 30, 1937 |
Entartete Kunst at the Institute of Archeology in the Hofgarten
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Munich |
1938 |
Bayer-Hecht's and Bayer's negative archives are sent to Vienna
The negatives are destroyed during the war.
Affiliated: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Vienna |
December 7, 1938–January 30, 1939 |
Bauhaus: 1919–1928 at The Museum of Modern Art
Designer: Herbert Bayer
Participant: Florence Henri, László Moholy-Nagy
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New York |
1939 |
Solo exhibition at Black Mountain College
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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Asheville |
1939 |
Solo exhibition at PM Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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New York |
December 1939 |
PM devotes a special issue to Bayer
Contributor: Herbert Bayer
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New York |
June 11–26, 1941 |
A History of Modern Poster at The Museum of Modern Art
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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New York |
October 1941 |
Advance Guard of Advertising Artists at Katherine Kuh Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy
Organizer: György Kepes
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Chicago |
July 2–October 31, 1943 |
Road to Victory, curated by Edward Steichen, at The Museum of Modern Art
Designer: Herbert Bayer
Organizer: Edward Steichen
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New York |
1944 |
Bayer-Hecht and Bayer divorce
At location: Herbert Bayer, Irene Bayer-Hecht
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Reno |
May 24–October 22, 1944 |
Design for Use at The Museum of Modern Art
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New York |
July 27, 1944 |
Becomes an American citizen
At location: Herbert Bayer
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New York |
October 5–December 4, 1949 |
Modern Art in Your Life at The Museum of Modern Art
Participant: Herbert Bayer, László Moholy-Nagy
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New York |
1951 |
First Conference on Photography, held at the Aspen Institute
Abbott delivers a lecture condemning pictorialism and its adherents
At location: Berenice Abbott, Herbert Bayer
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Aspen |
September 30, 1985 |
Dies
At location: Herbert Bayer
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Santa Barbara |