Bill, Max

Max Bill, (born December 22, 1908, Winterthur, Switzerland—died December 9, 1994, Berlin, Germany), Swiss graphic artist, industrial designer, architect, sculptor, and painter, primarily important for his sophisticated, disciplined advertising designs.

Bill’s early ambition was to become a silversmith, but the work of the architect Le Corbusier influenced him to study architecture at the Bauhaus, Germany’s foremost school of design. While there (1927–29), he also studied metalwork, stage design, and painting. In 1930 he set up his own studio in Zürich and concentrated on sculpture, painting, and architecture while earning his living by designing advertisements. In 1937 he formed the Allianz group of Swiss abstract artists. After 1944 he became increasingly active in industrial design, creating products as diverse as chairs and wall sprockets with the same elegance of line and form that characterized his marble sculpture Construction from a Circle (1942). His use of austere geometric forms echoed his Bauhaus training.

Bill cofounded and was rector (1951–56) of the Ulm School of Design, Germany. He designed the school’s buildings, planned its curriculum, and was director of the department of architecture and product design there. He then served as a professor of environmental design at the State Institute of Fine Arts, Hamburg (1967–74). In 1987 he received the Frank J. Malina Leonardo Award for lifetime achievement, presented by Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology to artists who have “achieved a synthesis of contemporary art, science and technology,” and in 1993 he received the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for sculpture.