Max Bill  (Swiss, 1908-1994) 

Max Bill (Swiss, 1908–1994) was a leader in the Concrete Art movement. In 1924, he trained as a silversmith at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich, but after seeing the work of Le Corbusier (French/Swiss, 1887–1965), his interests moved to architecture and he became a student at the Bauhaus in Dessau. There he studied under notable artists such as Joseph Albers (American/German, 1888–1976), Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866–1944), and Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879–1940). After moving to Zurich in 1929, Bill began pursuing a career as an architect, sculptor, painter, industrial designer, and graphic artist. Inspired by the ideas of Theo van Doesburg (Dutch, 1883–1931), Bill formulated principles of Concrete Art, applying mathematics and geometry in his work. In 1944, Bill founded the journal Abstrakt Konkret, and in the 1950s, started writing monographs, catalogues, and journal entries exploring his theories of Abstract Constructivism. Together with Otl Aicher (German, 1922–1991) and activist Inge Scholl, Bill founded the Ulm Hochschule für Gestaltung (College of Design), where he became the head of the architecture and industrial design departments. Between 1967 and 1974, he taught environmental design at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (College of Fine Arts) in Hamburg. After joining Allianz (Union of Modern Swiss Artists) in 1941, he founded a publishing company of the same name, and was a member of Abstraction-Création artist association, CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d''Architecture Moderne), Academy for the Arts in Berlin, Bauhaus Archival Association of Berlin, I.C.P. (Institut Für Progressive Kultur), U.A.M. (Union des Artistes Modernes), and other various associations and councils of German and Swiss workers. Throughout his career, Bill was awarded the Grand Prix in both Brazil and Italy. His achievements go on to include the Award for Art in Zurich and two honorary degrees.