book (design) story #434
ignazio silone:
information
genossenschaft für literarische publikationen / dr. oprecht & helbling, zürich, 1932
size: 21 x 15 cm
designer: max bill
here a few issues of "information – zeitschrift für wirtschaft, wissenschaft, erziehung, technik und kunst", a leftist, intellectual, antifascist monthly published in zurich during 1932-1934.
... the last 6 issues had a simpler, cheaper cover design with slanted headlines on grey wrappers.
chief editor was italian writer ignazio silone (1900-1978) who had emigrated to switzerland (see stories 74, 75). regular contributors were sigfried giedion and georg schmidt. some of the authors' names are obviously pseudonyms.
max bill (1908-1994) was responsible for the graphic design. bill also contributed cover illustrations, photomontages, caricatures, ...
... and designed the modernist ads for wohnbedarf, zetthaus, tip-top-garage, etc.
in an article by zürich-based architect rudolf steiger (1900-1982) the "masquerading" architecture of the palace of nations building in geneva (today headquarters of the uno) is critisised: ...
... the photos explain how the modern ferroconcrete structure was finally masked by a pseudo-classicist facade – a sin in the eyes of modernists!
note max bill's "functional" typography: thin rules connect the end of captions with the beginning of the next – to guide the reader's eyes!
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