Catégorie : Notes

Hans-Ulrich Allemann

Resources

Teaching at Kansas City Art Institute (1967-1969)

School Days in Basel, Switzerland, late 60’s. Hans Allemann, Chris Zelinsky, Inge Druckrey

Together with my classmate Inge Druckrey I was working as a designer at an agency in Zurich [Halpern]. Armin told me that he had received information from the Kansas City Art Institute. The chairman of the Graphic Design department, Rob Roy Kelly, was interested in hiring somebody who had studied at the Basel School to teach in his program. Unfortunately I had to turn down the offer because I did not know any English. I told Inge about the opportunity. She talked to Armin and decided to move to Kansas City [1966]. A year later she called me and told me that the department was interested in hiring another Basel graduate. This time I accepted. I had enough time to sign up for 12 lessons of conversation English at a Berlitz school before I left for Kansas City in the summer of [1967]. A professor from Oxford taught the Berlitz course. When I landed in the Midwest I couldn’t understand a single word (laughs). This is how I came here the first time. I had a visa, issued under the cultural exchange program between Europe and the United States.

The two years in Kansas City were a life changing experience for me. It was not just the opportunity to teach, which I had never intended to do, but also because of what was happening at the time. This was the late 60s! I came from a completely different world. Compared to Europe, the US is a young country. As big as it is in size, it seemed to be more agile, open and full of possibilities. This is what intrigued me about this country and its people. I was only 23-years old.

Teaching at the Philadelphia University of Arts (1973 – 2009)

In 1973, working in Zurich again, I received a phone call from Ken Hiebert, then chairman at the Philadelphia College of Art. I knew Ken from our school years in Basel. Ken had an open teaching position because Steff Geissbühler (another school mate of ours) had decided to move to NYC, and Inge Druckery, who had moved to Philadelphia in 1971, had accepted an offer from Yale University. I accepted the invitation and I returned to the US. My idea was to stay for 3-5 years. If that would have been the case I should have left around 1978… well, I’m still here (laughs).

Bits and pieces of Basel

The influence of the Basel school on the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI)

An article by Katherine McCoy, published in March/April 2005 in Print Magazine. The PDF was found on an archived website of the Philadelphia University of the Arts Graphic Design Department – uartsgd.com

The PDF:

PrintMag2.05Télécharger

Excerpts from the article

The teachers who had made such a profound impression on the graduates included their program chair, Rob Roy Kelly, and the now legendary Swiss designers Inge Druckrey and Hans Allemann. Arguably, Kansas City Art Institute offered the first comprehensive graphic design curriculum for undergraduates and the first full-time, Swiss-trained faculty in the U.S.

MacCoy explains that the connection was made through Yale, where Kelly studied.

Armin Hofmann was first invited to New Haven by Herbert Matter, Yale’s professor of photography. Then, in 1956, Yale asked Hofmann to fill its annual overseas guest teaching position, beginning the university’s long association with Basel. Kelly recognized the innovation in Hofmann’s educational methods.

Kelly hires several of Hofmann’s former students: Inge Druckrey, in 1966, Hans Allemann in 1967.

Armin Hofmann visited KCAI during those years, inspiring the KCAI students and further cementing the Kansas City-Basel connection. Kathy Stewart Salchow, who graduated in ’67, remembers sitting in the auditorium during Hofmann’s presentation of Basel design; she could hear April Greiman’s audible enthusiasm a few rows behind her.

About the teaching methods of Basel:

Allemann notes that when Hofmann instructed them in the early 1960s, his teaching was still in a formative stage. « Our teachers never explained anything to us, and we learned through the process, » Allemann says. In the U.S., that doesn’t work. Students had questions. I learned how to talk about design, because I had never verbalized before, and there were no books to turn to. We were just experimenting. »

After two years Druckrey and Allemann return to Europe, and Kelly leaved KCAI in 1974. But the influence is spreading to other institutions:

Even as Kelly and his KCAI faculty moved on, several other schools built related, Swiss-influenced programs that remain leaders today: Ken Hiebert, on the of first Americans to attend Basel’s Kunstgewerbeschule, began an even more thightly rationalized program at Philadelphia College of Art in 1966, with faculty that included Basel grad Steff Geissbuhler as well as Allemann and Druckrey. Gordon Salchow’s program at the University of Cincinnati continues to set a national standard. And in 1971, Tom Ockerse, a Yale classmate of Salchow’s began his program at Rhode Island School of Design. Today, Kelly’s influence and Basel methods thrive at the Arizona State University graphic design program he established in his last teaching years before his death in 2004.

Related:

Philadelphia College of Art

Quelques archives sur l’enseignement du design dans cette école, qui depuis 1984 se nomme University of the Arts.

Au Philadelphia College of Art, le programme de design graphique est développé dès 1966 par Kenneth Hiebert, qui a étudié dans la « Fachklasse für Grafik » (classe de graphisme) entre 1959 et 1964, et intègre dans cette formation des principes de l’école de Bâle. D’autres alumni de Bâle qui y enseignent sont Inge Druckrey (de 1971 à 1973), April Greiman, encouragée par Hofmann (de 1971 à 1976), et Christa Zelinski (de 1977 à 2007). Hans-Ulrich Allemann, qui a étudié à Bâle de 1960 à 1965, enseigne au College of Art de 1974 jusqu’en 2009.

Personnalités:

  • Kenneth Hiebert
  • Inge Druckrey
  • April Greiman
  • Christa Zelinski
  • Hans-Ulrich Allemann
  • William Longhauser

Steff Geissbuhler. Born in Switzerland in 1942. Partner and principal at Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. for 30 years and designer of some of the most memorable posters and definitive corporate-identity programs of the latter part of the 20th century.

When Ken Hiebert, one of Geissbuhler’s Basel classmates, was appointed chair of graphic design at Philadelphia College of Art (now The University of the Arts), he asked Geissbuhler for help in developing the program. “We introduced a completely new thing there,” recalls Geissbuhler, who served as chair of the department from 1973 to 1975. Geissbuhler and Hiebert recruited colleagues such as Inge Druckery, Keith Godard and Hans Allemann, and began to move things away from a prevailing advertising bias.

“We imported the whole Swiss design philosophy, ‘less is more,’ and the importance of typography, color and drawing.”

AIGA, https://www.aiga.org/medalist-steffgeissbuhler

Artefacts:

Un descriptif de cours de Hans-Ulrich Allemann, Communication Design, de 1981:

Communication Design 1981Télécharger

Un site web archivé couvrant la période 2000-2012: http://www.uartsgd.com/

Quelques visuels d’affiches trouvées sur ce site:

Poster for a presentation by William Longhauser of his work and experience in Basel. Design: Richard Felton, 1978.
Poster for a lecture by Ken Hiebert. Design: Hans-Ulrich Allemann, 1983
Poster for a lecture by April Greiman. Design: Kenneth Hiebert, 1984
Poster for a lecture by Kenneth Hiebert. Design: Hans-Ulrich Allemann, 1991

Livres et catalogues

Universal Unique, un catalogue d’exposition publié en 1988, rassemble des travaux d’enseignants.

This exhibition presents the work of educators—some who have been influenced directly by being students of the Basel School of Design and others whose work and process is in contrast to the Basel school. Each participant was provided with several components—a grid, an eye, and the word “word.” By furnishing these identical elements, a context was provided to allow these different approaches to become manifest. They were provided as readymades for direct use or for manipulation of any kind deemed appropriate to create a message in the spirit of the overall theme. The presentation format was 30 x 30 inches.

Site de William Longhauser

Ecoles influencées par Bâle

Quelques contributions à l’article Wikipédia sur l’école de Bâle:

Le modèle d’enseignement du design pratiqué à Bâle sous Armin Hofmann et Emil Ruder a exercé une influence sur des écoles à l’étranger, par le biais d’anciens élèves. Le designer Dan Friedman parle d’une « vague d’élèves » retournant aux Etats-Unis après avoir étudié chez Hofmann.

« [Ken Hiebert] was one of the first wave of people returning to America after having studied at Basel under Armin Hofmann and others. »

Dan Friedman, Eye Magazine, 1994

Université de Yale

L’université de Yale accueille dès 1956 des interventions d’Armin Hofmann. Sur la recommandation de Hofmann, Dan Friedman, un jeune graphiste américain qui a étudié à Bâle, commence à enseigner à Yale dès 1970. Dès 1970, et pendant 20 ans, Hofmann donne à Yale un workshop annuel de deux semaines. Inge Druckrey, autre alumni de Bâle, enseigne à Yale de 1973 à 1995. Un lien avec Yale persiste pendant de nombreuses années à travers le Yale Summer Program in Graphic Design, académie d’été se déroulant annuellement de 1974 à 1996 à Brissago, supervisée par Philip Burton.

Le designer Christopher Pullman, qui a enseigné à Yale, affirme que le modèle d’apprentissage de Bâle a exercé une influence sur le programme de Yale durant les années 1970 à 1990.

Unlike Rand and Matter and Thompson and the others who would come in one day a week for “crits,” the Basel model was to be present during the making process, to observe and advise and comment as it was happening, not just after the fact. The presence of Hofmann and his proteges provided our students with a complementary model of teaching and learning that definitely shaped the Yale program (and in turn the profession) in the two decades from 1970–1990.

Christopher Pullman, Armin Hofmann at Yale: a Retrospective

Philadelphia College of Art

Au Philadelphia College of Art, le programme de design graphique est développé dès 1966 par Kenneth Hiebert, qui a étudié dans la « Fachklasse für Grafik » (classe de graphisme) entre 1959 et 1964, et intègre dans cette formation des principes de l’école de Bâle. D’autres alumni de Bâle qui y enseignent sont Inge Druckrey (de 1971 à 1973), April Greiman, encouragée par Hofmann (de 1971 à 1976), et Christa Zelinski (de 1977 à 2007).

National Institute of Design

En Inde, le National Institute of Design (NID), une école fraîchement fondée en 1961, invite plusieurs enseignants de Bâle, dont Armin Hofmann et Hans-Christian Pulver, pour contribuer à la mise en place du cursus de graphisme et typographie. Des élèves indiens, dont Mahendra Patel, viennent étudier à Bâle, puis deviennent enseignants au NID.

Kansas City Art Institute

C’est dans cette école que April Greiman, étudiante, fait la connaissance de trois jeunes enseignants ayant étudié à Bâle: Inge Druckrey, Hans Allemann et Christa Zelinsky. Un article de Katherine McCoy publié dans Print Magazine en 2005, Bits and Pieces of Basel, fait la lumière sur cette histoire.

Swiss Graphic Designers 1957

Une exposition marquante qui a voyagé à travers les Etats-Unis en 1957: https://specificobject.com/objects/info.cfm?object_id=12911

Participent à l’exposition: Noel Martin, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Adolf Flückiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hofmann, Gottfried Honegger, Richard P. Lohse, Hans Neuburg, Siegfried Odermatt, Emily Ruder, Nelly Rudin, Max Schmid, Carlo Vivarelli

Publications: Exhibition catalogue published in conjunction with show held at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum.

Traveled to:

  • the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston;
  • the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire;
  • the American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York;
  • the Akron Art Institute;
  • the Milwaukee Art Institute;
  • the Art Center in La Jolla, California;
  • and the San Francisco Museum of Art.Texts by Noel Martin and Josef Müller-Brockmann.

Artists include Josef Müller-Brockmann, Adolf Flückiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hofmann, Gottfried Honegger, Richard P. Lohse, Hans Neuburg, Siegfried Odermatt, Emily Ruder, Nelly Rudin, Max Schmid, and Carlo Vivarelli. Includes a brief biography for each artist. Printed in black-and-white.

Lire aussi: http://wiedler.ch/felix/books/story/620

Et un entretien de Steven Heller avec le curateur, Allon Schoener: https://designobserver.com/feature/the-swiss-grid/40187

Lisa Pomeroy

Lisa Pomeroy, biography in TM-Research-Archive:

(1954) American graphic designer who received a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art, then studied at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel where she also became a teacher.

Sources:

  • TM Research Archive (Ecal, 2012)
  • ‘Visueller Gestalter HFG. Der Fachbereich Visuelle Kommunikation an der Höheren Schule für Gestaltung in Basel’ in: Typografische Monatsblätter, Schweizer Grafische Mitteilungen, Revue suisse de l’Imprimerie, 1990, issue 3/4, pp. 1–32

In Design Quarterly 130 (1985), in an article about Wolfgang Weingart’s typography instruction at the Basle School of Design, three pages of works by Lisa Pomeroy are shown under the title « Typographic Research into the Computer World »:

Dorothea Hofmann: Die Geburt eines Stils

Quelques notes de lecture autour de livre de Dorothea Hofmann « Die Geburt eines Stils » (Naissance d’un style), qui dessine avec détail les influences de l’école de design de Bâle sur le graphisme suisse.

Le livre est publié en 2016 par la maison d’édition zurichoise Triest (qui a un programme passionnant, et vient p.ex. de publier un ouvrage consacré à Rosmarie Tissi).

Quelques femmes graphistes mentionnées par l’auteure:

Thérèse Moll (1934-1961): étudie le graphisme à Bâle, travaille dans l’atelier de Karl Gerstner, puis à Geigy, puis au MIT. Citation d’Elizabeth Resnick (p. 381): « Thérèse Moll was instrumental in bringing Swiss Design Principles to MIT in 1958, influencing Jacqueline Casey and Muriel Cooper during her short working stint in Boston. »

Nelly Rudin (1928-2013): étudie le graphisme à Bâle, travaille pour Geigy. Prend part à l’exposition Swiss Graphic Designers de 1955.

Elisabeth Dietschi

Heidi Schatzmann

Sigrid Bovensiepen

Inge Druckrey

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon

Akzidenz Grotesk vs Helvetica

Un bel exemple de la transition de la fonte Akzidenz Grotesk vers l’Helvetica, qui s’opère au début des années 1960:

À gauche, l’édition originale de 1961. À droite, une réédition de 2003 composée en Helvetica.

L’Helvetica était déjà employée pour cette réédition publiée en 1983, dont la couverture affiche un coloris nettement plus agressif. On notera aussi que les titres anglais et français diffèrent.

Karl Gerstner : grille pour Capital

En 1962-63, Karl Gerstner développait une grille de mise en page pour Capital, un magazine d’économie lancé en 1962.

Dans son livre “Programme entwerfen”, Gerstner décrit cette grille comme exemple de mise en page programmatique.

Grille de Gerstner pour Capital

Pour mieux comprendre sa structure, j’ai recréé cette grille dans l’application en ligne Figma:

https://www.figma.com/file/blH2e7SAxFjv0YTK44HIydx0/Gerstner-Capital-Grid

En suivant le lien, vous pourrez interagir avec les calques, ce qui permet de comprendre la structure et la superposition des modules.

Reconstitution de la grille de Gerstner dans Figma

On Swiss designers in Paris

Quelques notes de l’interview avec le typographe Hans Rudolf Bosshard, publiée par Louise Paradis (TM Research Archive).

 

Sur la concurrence entre les écoles de Zurich et de Bâle:

The New Wave in typography did certainly start in Zurich, not in Basel. This came in the 1920s and 30s. At that time, Basel had little visibility. But then, from an outside perspective, people started to focus on Ruder and Armin Hofmann and they came to represent Basel. This was so strong for a certain time, and Zurich was not of interest anymore, or not visible. But it’s true that at that time in Zurich, with teachers such as Karl Sternbauer and Willy Riegert, there was not that much happening. In the latest issue of TM I wrote an article on a third teacher, Walter Hächler. In 1945 he went to Paris, as the first graphic designer in the city. This is the topic of my text— designers in Paris—there were many, around that time also. Adrian Frutiger came much later. Hächler was my first teacher in Zurich, before he left for Paris. He also did an extraordinary book on August Herbin.

Sur la grille typographique:

If I am honest, I don’t care so much about typography. If I do typography, I start as an artist. Ruder and Müller-Brockmann, they start as designers, graphic designers.