wiedler.ch

book (design) story #219

giulio carlo argan:
marcel breuer

görlich editore, milano, 1957
printer: g. colombi s.p.a., milano
size: ?? x ?? cm
designer: max huber

hungarian-born architect and designer marcel breuer (1902-1981) had studied at the bauhaus and worked with walter gropius after they emigrated to the states in the 1930s. this monograph was published after breuer won the compasso d'oro " (golden compass) design award given out at the milan triennale since 1954, sponsered by the milan department store "la rinascente".

the book was designed by the man who was also responsible for the catchy new visual identity of la rinacente introduced in the early 1950s: max huber (1919-1992). huber was among the winners of the compasso d'oro in 1954.

the jacket design reminds of other books on modern architecture of the time, e.g. by lohse (see story 52).

however the typeface is not akzidenz-grotesk (preferred by most swiss graphic designers in those years) but paul renner's futura.

square page format, two-column layout with grid-based photo placement, no paragraph indents, and asymmetrically arranged page numbers are typical design elements.

the english version of the text is in a smaller type than the italian.

above at the right the stairs in the zürich wohnbedarf shop marcel breuer designed in 1933. below the doldertal houses in zürich (left) and the sea lane house at angmering-on-sea, sussex. the typeface of the captions is tiny – a "feature" often seen in swiss-style books of the 1950s (see book stories 3, 205): it looks neat, but is rather hard on the eyes.