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book (design) story #166

georg schmidt, jean mussard, berchtold von grünigen:
werkbund und nachkriegszeit

holbein-verlag, basel, 1944
printer: benteli ag., bern-bümpliz
size: 21 x 15 cm
designer: (unknown)

in 1944 – ww2 was in full swing all around switzerland – the swiss werkbund published this interesting booklet with the title werkbund after the war. it contains three speeches which were held at their annual meeting in autumn 1943. optimistically, the authors already discuss the challenges for design and industrial production after ww2 – because "there are signs that this war won't last as long as it already has" (page 14). right they were. about the authors: georg schmidt was a basel museum man and writer (see books 25, 80); jean mussard we have introduced in book stories 35 and 36; and berchtold von grünigen was director of the gewerbeschule and gewerbemuseum basel (see catalogue 133).

in the opening essay georg schmidt (1896-1965) pleads for a revival of the 1920s' modernist culture after the war, and against the neo-conservative "heimatstil" (vernacular style) of the 1930s.

the brochure's designer is not credited. with its sans-serif type and assymetric title it is a typical example of "clean" swiss tyography. details such as the vertical list of names on the cover (aligned with the word "nachkriegszeit") and the table of contents are often seen with jan tschichold and max bill. actually, both bill and tschichold designed several books for the holbein verlag (see stories 25, 121).

generally, i don't like it when previous owners mark a book on the cover – that's what endpapers are for. okay, i don't really mind if it's a name that adds to the special history of a copy, like in this case. the cover is signed in typewriter and ink by a "professor dr. ing. döcker". richard döcker (1894-1968) was a german architect who contributed to the famous werkbund housing estate "weissenhof" in stuttgart (1927).