HERBERT MATTER
HERBERT MATTER MODERNIST PHOTOGRAPHY AND GRAPHIC DESIGN
TEXT BY JEFFREY HEAD STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Herbert Matter is best known for his international contributions in photography, photomontage and graphic design. He is regarded as the first to use the modern photographic poster in Switzerland. His advanced techniques became part of the new visual narrative that began in the 1930s, which have evolved into familiar design idioms such as overprinting—where an image extends beyond the frame, and the bold use of typography, color, size, and placement. These design elements often characterize both pre-war European Modernism and the post-war expression of that movement in the United States. Born in Engelberg, Switzerland, in 1907, Herbert Matter studied painting from 1925 until 1927 at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva. He later studied with Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant at the Académie Moderne in Paris before returning to Switzerland in 1932 to design a series of Swiss travel posters illustrating his signature photomontage technique. When he arrived in the United States in 1936 his first clients were the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and the publisher Condé Naste. His more notable commercial clients were Knoll Furniture (1946-1966), the New Haven Railroad (1954), and the Guggenheim Museum (1958-1968). During this time Matter became a tenured professor at Yale and helped to shape the university's Photography and Graphic Design Program (1952-1976). Matter's most intense work was his personal photography. This exhibition, focusing on the photographs and commercial work during his years in Paris and Zürich, is the first exhibition of Matter's photography in more than twenty-five years and features many previously unseen works. The collection represents the largest group of visual material by a single artist in the library archive and includes a combination of thousands of fine art and commercial prints and photographs, negatives including glass plates, design process materials such as sketches and paste-up layout work, collages, exhibition materials, business correspondence, and 16mm film.
Collage Paris 1931
Airport Flughafen Amsterdam 1935
Flies to Switzerland Fliegt in die Schweiz Color gravure Z端rich 1935
Double Locomotive Doppelschnellzugslokomotive Z端rich 1934
Driving to Switzerland Für Schöne Autofahrten die Schweiz Doldenhorn
Color gravure
Bernese, Oberland
Zürich
1935
1935
Group of Skiers Skifahrer Gruppe Z端rich 1933
Swiss Promotional Brochure Werbebrosch端re f端r Schweizer Z端rich 1933
Trudi Hess in the shower Trudi Hess unter der Dusche Z端rich 1933
Trudi Hess, Portrait Trudi Hess, Portr채t Z체rich 1933
Experimental Composition Experimentaelle Komposition Paris 1931
Draft for Corso Poster Entwurf f端r Corso-Plakat Z端rich 1934
Winter Holiday Vacation Winterfarien Dual-color gravure
Experimental Portrait Experimentelles Portr채t
Z체rich
Paris
1934
1931
Hans with Plaster Head Hans mit Gipskopf Paris 1932
Published by the Stanford University Libraries © 2005 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University ISBN 0-911221-35-2 Cover: Silhouette Zürich 1933 Front cover: Grimsel Dam Grimsel Staumauer Grimsel Pass, Andermatt (Swizterland) 1934 Trübsee/Engelberg Color gravure Zürich 1935 Frontispiece: Multiple Exposure Mehrfachbelichtung Zürich 1933 Published in conjunction with the exhibition Herbert Matter: Modernist Photography and Graphic Design, Peterson Gallery, Cecil H. Green Library, Standford University, October 20, 2005 through February 11, 2006. Book Designer: Rachel Kim Editor: Jeffrey head All images in this catalog are from the Herbert Matter Archive at the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, and are reproduced with permission from the Estate of Herbert Matter.