Herbert Matter

Herbert Matter

Herbert Matter (1907-1984) was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer known for his pioneering use of photomontage in commercial art. The designer's innovative and experimental work helped shape the vocabulary of 20th-century graphic design.

Herbert Matter studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and at the Académie Moderne in Paris with Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. He worked with Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, Le Corbusier and Deberney & Peignot. In 1932 he returned to Zurich, where he designed posters for the Swiss National Tourist Office and Swiss resorts. The travel posters won instant international acclaim for his pioneering use of photomontage combined with type. He came to the United States in 1936 and was hired by legendary art director Alexey Brodovich. Work for "Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue" and other magazines followed. From 1946 to 1966 he was design consultant with Knoll Associates. He worked closely with Charles and Ray Eames. From 1952 to 1976 he was professor of photography at Yale University and from 1958 to 1968 he served as design consultant to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. He was elected to the New York Art Director's Club Hall of Fame in 1977, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in photography in 1980 and the AIGA medal in 1983.

As a photographer, Matter won acclaim for his purely visual approach. A master technician, he used every method available to achieve his vision of light, form and texture. Manipulation of the negative, retouching, cropping, enlarging and light drawing are some of the techniques he used to achieve the fresh, enignatic form he sought in his still lifes, landscapes, nudes and portraits. As a filmmaker he directed a film on his friend Alexander Calder (with music by John Cage) for the Museum of Modern Art in 1952.

Close friends of Herbert Matter and his wife Mercedes were the painters Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, fellow Swiss photographer Robert Frank and Alberto Giacometti.

"The absence of pomposity was characteristic of this guy," said another designer, Paul Rand, about Matter. While his creative life was devoted to narrowing the gap between so-called fine and applied arts, the deed is often best stated through works rather than through speech. Herbert Matter died on May 8 1984 in Southampton, New York.

A documentary on the life and work of Herbert Matter is scheduled for release in 2009.

Bibliography

* "Herbert Matter: Modernist Photography and Graphic Design" (paperback) by Jeffrey Head. Design and typsetting by John Hill. Exhibition catalog published by Stanford University Libraries 2005.
* "History of Writing Non-Alphabetic Systems of Writing," "Baseline International Typographics Magazine", no. 41, 2003, pp. 33-36 by Jeffrey Head

External links

* [http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1976/?id=279 Art Directors Club biography, portrait, and images of work]
* [http://herbertmatter.net]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Herbert Matter — World War II Plakat von Herbert Matter Herbert Matter (* 25. April 1907 in Engelberg; † 8. Mai 1984 in Southampton (New York)[1]) war ein Schweizer und US amerikanischer Fotograf und …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herbert Matter — Affiche d Herbert Matter réalisée au cours de la seconde guerre mondiale Herbert Matter (né le 25 avril 1907 à Engelberg, Suisse 1984) est un photographe et graphiste américain d origine suisse, connu pour son utilisation novatrice du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Matter — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Bernhard Matter (1821–1854), Schweizer Krimineller, erwähnt in einem Lied von Mani Matter Franz Matter (1931–1999), Schweizer Schauspieler und Regisseur Herbert Matter (1907–1984), Schweizer Fotograf und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herbert Beerbohm Tree — Nombre real Herbert Draper Beerbohm Nacimiento 17 de diciembre de 1852 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Herbert Feith — (1930 2001) was an Australian academic and world leading scholar of Indonesian politics.LifeBorn in Vienna in 1930, Herb came to Australia as a refugee in 1939 with his Austrian Jewish parents who were escaping from the spread of Nazism. After a… …   Wikipedia

  • Herbert Vaughan —     Herbert Vaughan     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Herbert Vaughan     Cardinal, and third Archbishop of Westminster; b. at Gloucester, 15 April, 1832; d. at St. Joseph s College, Mill Hill, Middlesex, 19 June, 1903; he came of a family which had… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Herbert Brean — (* 10. Dezember 1907 in Detroit, Michigan; † 7. Mai 1973) war ein US amerikanischer Journalist und Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 2.1 Romane …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herbert Byng Hall — (* 21. Oktober 1805[1] in Oxford; † 25. April 1883 in Weston bei Bath) war ein britischer Offizier und Autor. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Werke 3 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herbert Bergdorf — (13 de septiembre de 1909, Viena, Austria 5 de noviembre de 1990, New York) fue un actor, director, escritor y eminente maestro de actores austríaco naturalizado estadounidense. Biografía Hijo de Regina y Paul Berghof[1] se graduó en la… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Herbert Ingram — (1811 1860) was the father of pictorial journalism through his founding of the Illustrated London News .Ingram was born in humble surroundings at Swineshead near Boston, Lincolnshire on 27 May 1811. After being educated at Laughton s Charity… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”