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  • Herbert Bayer. Humanly Impossible (Self-Portrait). 1932. Gelatin silver print, 15 5/16 x 11 9/16" (38.9 x 29.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Thomas Walther Collection. Acquired through the generosity of Howard Stein (MoMA 1611.2001). © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

    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

Meeting Points

Artist Chronology

April 5, 1900
Born
At location: Herbert Bayer
Salzburg
1917–18
Drafted into the Fourteenth Infantry Regiment of the Austrian army
At location: Herbert Bayer
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
Linz
October 1921–spring 1922
Studies in the Bauhaus Foundation Courses, which are taught at the time by Johannes Itten
At location: Herbert Bayer
Weimar
1923
Irene Hecht attends a Bauhaus exhibit for the first time and meets Herbert Bayer
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
Weimar
1925
Irene Hecht and Herbert Bayer are married
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.
Dessau
Fall 1925
Visits Paris, where he shoots straight photography for the first time
At location: Herbert Bayer
Paris
1927
Meets Alfred Barr, Jr., at the Bauhaus
At location: Herbert Bayer
Dessau
April 1927–October 1928
Erich Comeriner studies at the Bauhaus, taking courses in the advertising department with Herbert Bayer
Dessau
1928
Irene Bayer-Hecht and Herbert Bayer separate but remain married
Dessau
1928
Creates the photomontage cover of Bauhaus Zeitschrift
At location: Herbert Bayer
Dessau
January–February 1928
Upon leaving the Bauhaus, travels by bike around Marseilles and shoots straight photography
At location: Herbert Bayer
Marseilles
May–October 1928
Internationale Presse-Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbund, aka "Pressa"
Cologne
Summer 1928
Exhibition of Kurt Schwitters's group the Neue Werbegestalter
Magdeburg
Fall 1928
Becomes art director of German Vogue and design director of the international advertising agency Dorland Studio
At location: Herbert Bayer
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
Linz
1929
Franz Roh publishes Foto-Auge: 76 Fotos der Zeit
Stuttgart
1929
Werner Graeff publishes Es kommt der neue Fotograf!
Berlin
January 20–February 17, 1929
Fotografie der Gegenwart at Museum Folkwang

Kestner Gesellschaft v.V, Königstrasse 8, Hannover
March 10–April 7, 1929

Galerie Neumann-Nierendorf, Lützowstrasse 32, Berlin
April 20–May 20, 1929

Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
June 6–29, 1929

Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
July 7–August 8, 1929

Leipziger Kunstverein, Augustusplatz 6, Leipzig
August 18–September 8, 1929

Lichthof des Neuen Rathauses, Dresden
September 15–October 6, 1929

Kunstverein, Rostock
October 20-November 10, 1929

am Adolf-Mittag-See, Städtisches Ausstellungsamt, Magdeburg
November 28–December 19, 1929

Landesgewerbeanstalt, Kaiserslautern
February 23–March 23, 1930

Vereinigung Göttinger Kunstfreunde, Göttingen
May 18–June 8, 1930

Essen
March 21–April 2, 1929
First solo exhibition, at Galerie Povolozky
Participant: Herbert Bayer
Paris
April 20–May 20, 1929
Neue Typografie at Staatliche Künstlerbibliothek
Berlin
May 18–July 7, 1929
Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (FiFo) at Städtische Ausstellungshallen

Kunstgewerbemuseum, Zurich
August 28–September 22, 1929

Im Lichthof des Ehemaligen Kunstgewerbemuseums, Prinz-Albrechs-Strasse 7, Berlin
October 19–November 17, 1929

Stadtmuseum, Danzig
(dates unknown)

Österreichisches Museum, Vienna
February 20–March 31, 1930

Agram, Zagreb
April 5–14, 1930

Münchner Bund/Verein Ausstellungspark München E.V. (as part of Internationale Ausstellung. Das Lichtbild), Munich
June 5–September 7, 1930

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo
April 1931

Asahi Shimbun, Osaka
July 1–7, 1931

Stuttgart
May 18–June 2, 1929
Solo exhibition at Künstlerbund März
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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
Paris
December 1930 and January 1931
Exhibition of Foreign Advertising Photography at the Art Center
New York
1931
Solo exhibition of paintings, drawings, and work in other mediums at the Bauhaus
Participant: Herbert Bayer
Dessau
1931
Wins first prize in the inaugural international exhibition of advertising photography
Participant: Herbert Bayer
Berlin
April 25–May 31, 1931
Fotomontage at Staatliche Kunstbibliothek
Berlin
May 9–August 2, 1931
Baugewerkschafts-Austellung
Berlin
January 9–29, 1932
Surrealism at the Julien Levy Gallery
New York
February 20–March 11, 1932
Modern European Photography at the Julien Levy Gallery
New York
July 27–September 7, 1932
Twenty-seven Photographers at Wertheim Gallery
London
1936
Publishes a portfolio of 10 photoplastics in an edition of five signed and numbered copies
Contributor: Herbert Bayer
Berlin
March 2–April 19, 1936
Cubism and Abstract Art at The Museum of Modern Art
New York
December 7, 1936–January 17, 1937
Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at The Museum of Modern Art
New York
Spring 1937
Solo exhibition of drawings, paintings, and photomontages at the London Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer
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
Chicago
July 19–November 30, 1937
Entartete Kunst at the Institute of Archeology in the Hofgarten
Munich
1938
Bayer-Hecht's and Bayer's negative archives are sent to Vienna
The negatives are destroyed during the war.
Vienna
December 7, 1938–January 30, 1939
Bauhaus: 1919–1928 at The Museum of Modern Art
Designer: Herbert Bayer
New York
1939
Solo exhibition at Black Mountain College
Participant: Herbert Bayer
Asheville
1939
Solo exhibition at PM Gallery
Participant: Herbert Bayer
New York
December 1939
PM devotes a special issue to Bayer
Contributor: Herbert Bayer
New York
June 11–26, 1941
A History of Modern Poster at The Museum of Modern Art
Participant: Herbert Bayer
New York
October 1941
Advance Guard of Advertising Artists at Katherine Kuh Gallery
Organizer: György Kepes
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
New York
1944
Bayer-Hecht and Bayer divorce
Reno
May 24–October 22, 1944
Design for Use at The Museum of Modern Art
New York
July 27, 1944
Becomes an American citizen
At location: Herbert Bayer
New York
October 5–December 4, 1949
Modern Art in Your Life at The Museum of Modern Art
New York
1951
First Conference on Photography, held at the Aspen Institute
Abbott delivers a lecture condemning pictorialism and its adherents
Aspen
September 30, 1985
Dies
At location: Herbert Bayer
Santa Barbara

Walther Photographs

View this artist's works in MoMA's Online Collection
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