SCHWEIZER GRAFIKER
Handbuch herausgegeben vom Verband Schweizerischer Grafiker VSG
Kurt Wirth [introduction], Siegfried Odermatt [Designer]
Kurt Wirth [introduction], Siegfried Odermatt [Designer]: SCHWEIZER GRAFIKER [Handbuch herausgegeben vom Verband Schweizerischer Grafiker VSG] . Zürich: Verlag Käser Presse, 1960. First edition [alternate title: Graphistes suisses : Manuel : édité par I'Association des graphistes suisses: VSG]. Text in German and French. Quarto. Glazed paper covered boards. 274 pp. Illustrated directory of the 137 members of the Union of Swiss Graphic Artists (V.S.G. - Verband Schweizerischer Graphiker) in 1959. Cover photograph by Fred Waldvogel. All pages present, with binding errors resulting in a pair of 8-page signatures improperly collated early and late. Lower tips worn. Binding fragile, with front panel starting to split at lower spine juncture. Interior unmarked and clean. Out-of-print. A nearly very good copy. Scarce.
8.5 x 10 hardcover book with 274 pages devoted to the 137 Graphic Artist members of the Union of Swiss Graphic Artists (V.S.G. - Verband Schweizerischer Graphiker). Each artist represented with work samples, contact information, and areas of specialization.
This elegant edition reviews the achievements of the members of the Swiss Union of Graphic Artists to which with very few exceptions the serious commercial artists in the country all belong.
Illustrated profiles of these 137 Graphic Designers: René Althaus, Jean Ammon, Robert André, Albert Appenzeller, Herbert Auchli, Heiner Bauer, Walter Ballmer, Heiner Bauer, Klaus Berger, Arthur Beyer, Igildo G. Biesele, Franco Barberis, Peter Bataillard, Heinrich Binder, Rudolf Bircher, Bocchetti Ernst, Emanuel (Mani) Bosshart, René Brotbeck, Etienne Bucher, Otto Buchmann, Walo Burkhardt, Fritz Butz, Georges Calame, Alexander M. Cay, Werner Christen, Walter Diethelm, Elisabeth Dietschi, Hans Falk, Franz Fässler, Adolf Flückiger, Michael Freisager, Pierre Fray, Leo Gantenbein, Roger-Virgile Geiser, Robert Geiser, Karl Gerstner, Robert S. Gessner, René Gilsi, Josef P. Grabner, Carl B. Graf, Paul Gusset, Walter Häfeli, Jörg Hamburger, Kurt Hauert, Hermann Hauser-Baertschi, Lilly Hauser-Baertschi, Fritz Hellinger, Walter Herdeg, Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch, Andreas His, Armin Hofmann, Gottfried Honegger, Warja Honegger-Lavater, Emil Hotz, Eugen Hotz, Hans Hurter, Paul Jacopin, Rose-Marie Joray-Muchenberger, Eugen Jordi, Sita Jucker, Max B. Kämpf, Hans Kasser, Moritz Kennel, Harriet L. Klaiber, Alwin Kneubühler, Alfred Koella, Otto Krämer, Peter Kräuchi, Heinrich Kümpel, Helmuth Kurtz, Hugo Laubi, Hans Rudolf Lauterburg, Paul Leber, Albert Leeman, Godi Leiser, Eugen Lenz, Max Lenz, Libis ( H. B. Libiszewski), Richard P. Lohse, Hans Looser, René Martinelli, Joe Mathis, Emil E. Maurer, F. Meier-Ruff, Fritz Meyer-Brülhart, Gérard Miedinger, Fritz Moeschlin, Therese Moll, Pierre Monnerat, Rudolf Moser, Solange Moser, Werner Mühlemann, Fridolin Müller, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Hans Neuburg, Siegfried Odermatt, Beny Olonetzky-Baltensperger, Paul André Perret, Eric Poncy, Frédéric Riz à Porta, Enzo Rösli, André Rosselet, Maurice Ruche, Nelly Rudin, Romain Sager (Romain), Hans P. Schaad, Hermann Schelbert, Schmid Charlotte, Max Schmid, Fritz Seigner, Robert Sessler, Fredy Sigg, Walter Sigg, Paul Sollberger, Walter Speich, Rudolf Stauffer, Heinrich (Henri) Steiner, Heinz Stieger, Fred Stolle, Hans Thöni, Karl Toggweiler, Hans (To Tomamichel, Franz Oliver Trog, Fred Troller, Georg Vetter, Carlo L. Vivarelli, Hans Peter Weber, Werner Weiskönig, Alfred Weiss, Hugo Wetli, Wicky Georges, Kurt Wirth, Ernest Witzig, Hans Wydler, Marcel Wyss, Werner Zryd, Walter Zulauf, and Theo Zwicky.
The Union of Swiss Graphic Artists (V.S.G. - Verband Schweizerischer Graphiker) was founded in 1938. In 1943 members exhibited their work in the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich. Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and 30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the countrys graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books.
This VSG member roster is an invaluable source for anyone interested in Swiss Graphic Design of the 1950s.