C110 review

Dublin: Josef Müller-Brockmann at Image Now

Josef MŸller-Brockmann: protégez l'enfant!, 1953, offset lithograph, 128 x 90,5 cm; © Shizuko MŸller-Yoshikawa, courtesy Image Now

The title of this retrospective is one that MŸller-Brockmann himself (1914-96) would have found appropriate. Functional and objective, it evokes the primary qualities that the graphic designer, author and educator sought to promote in his own work as a leading protagonist of the so-called Swiss, or International Typographic Style.

Less a style than a methodology influenced by Constructivism and the Bauhaus, MŸller-Brockmann and his contemporaries created aesthetically reductive, typographic-based designs that concealed a complexity of mathematically inspired grid systems. In the pursuit of this 'architectonic typography' the subjectivity of illustration and the rhetoric of contemporary advertising were rejected, while dramatically cropped photography and sans-serif typo-graphy were embraced for their 'neutrality'.

Josef MŸller-Brockmann: beethoven, 1955, lithography, 90 x 127 cm; © Shizuko MŸller-Yoshikawa, courtesy Image Now

Like many European designers of the immediate post-WW2 period, MŸller-Brockmann was particularly interested in producing work for cultural institutions and public information campaigns, projects interpreted as more socially responsible than those principally aimed at stimulating consumer spending. It was from this body of work that the posters comprising the Dublin exhibition were drawn, lent by the Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich.

The bulk of the exhibits consisted of concert and ballet posters including the iconic beethoven (1955) - where the designer sought to visualise the composer's music through a series of concentric curves ordered through the application of the golden section - while equally influential works, including the exhibition poster der film (1960) and the photomontage protégez l'enfant! (1953), were also shown.

ýhe scale of the posters Ð mostly 90 x 127cm - unfortunately imposed restrictions on the exhibition space, leading to the rotation of twelve posters per week over a four-week period. However, as these were displayed in chronological order (1952-1994), it ensured that both familiar and less recognisable works were profiled side by side.

Josef MŸller-Brockmann: der Film, 1960, lithograph, 90 x 127 cm; © Shizuko MŸller-Yoshikawa, courtesy Image Now

Collectively the exhibition highlighted the designer's use of a variety of traditional printing techniques, including letterpress, silkscreen and lino - cost-effective options for short print runs - emphasising that the designer did not exclusively use offset-lithography as might have been expected by such a staunch modernist. These methods, while adding to the textural qualities of the designs, also revealed a luminosity of colour lost in even the best reproductions.

Although the creative output of MŸller-Brockmann has provided both inspiration and prototypes for graphic designers for more than fifty years, this exhibition still managed to yield several surprises. This unique opportunity to explore the designer's work was thought-provoking and is a reminder of how worthwhile it can be to examine source material first-hand.

Linda King is a lecturer in Design History and Theory at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire, and specialises in the history and theory of graphic design.

Josef Müller-Brockmann: 48 Posters, Image Now Gallery, Dublin, May - June 2004

Article reproduced from CIRCA 110, Winter 2004, pp.66–67
Back to top of page

Do you have an opinion on this article? If so, please click here for our comments form.

No reader feedback so far - awaiting your input!