Herbert Bayer was one of the leading figures in the Bauhaus movement in Germany and throughout his career was a highly influential graphic designer and artist. Bayer produced some straight photographs, highlighting the abstract structures and sculptural qualities of things, but was never interested in the technical side of photography and so his exploration of straight photography was limited. He left the Bauhaus in 1928 and established himself as a leading designer. It was at this stage that he took and interest in photomontage. He was partly responsible for establishing photomontage as a key commercial visual style in the 1930s.
Physical description
Black and white photo montage of a man looking into the mirror, one hand on his head, the other hand holding a chunk of arm.
Place of Origin
Berlin, Germany (made)
Date
1932 (made)
Artist/maker
Bayer, Herbert, born 1900 - died 1985 (photographer)
Materials and Techniques
Gelatin-silver print and photomontage
Marks and inscriptions
12/40 Bayer [signature] 32
Dimensions
Height: 354 mm sheet, Width: 281 mm sheet, Height: 341 mm print, Width: 241 mm print
Historical context note
Herbert Bayer was one of the leading figures in the Bauhaus movement in Germany and throughout his career was a highly influential graphic designer and artist. Bayer began to experiment with photography while he was teaching advertising, typography and layout at the Bauhaus school in Dessau. He produced some straight photographs, highlighting the abstract structures and sculptural qualities of things, but was never interested in the technical side of photography and so his exploration of straight photography was limited. He left the Bauhaus in 1928 and established himself as a leading designer. It was at this stage that he took and interest in photomontage. He used the technique for his own artistic work but also in advertising work, where he was partly responsible for establishing photomontage as a key commercial visual style in the 1930s. His main body of photographic work was produced in the late 1920s and the 1930s, after which he continued to develop other areas of visual design.
Descriptive line
20thC; Bayer Herbert, Auto Portrait, 1932
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Wood, Ghislaine, ed. Surreal Things. Surrealism and Design London : V&A Publications, 2007. 362 p. : col. Ill. ISBN: 978 1 85177 500 2 (HBK) 978 1 85177 501 9 (PBK)
Exhibition catalogue
Exhibition History
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design (Art Gallery of Ontario 09/05/2009-30/08/2009)
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design (Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 03/03/2008-07/09/2008)
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design (Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam 29/09/2007-13/01/2008)
Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design (Victoria and Albert Museum 29/03/2007-22/07/2007)
Production Note
Attribution note: ‘Montage…is the combination of diverse photographic images to produce a new work. The combination is often achieved by re-photographing the mounted elements or by multiple darkroom exposures. In the finished work the actual physical edges become inconspicuous. The artistic result often tends towards the surreal rather than the abstract.’
Gordon Baldwin, Looking at Photographs, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1991
Subjects depicted
Hands; Arm (body part)
Categories
Photographs
Collection code
PDP
