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Max Huber (5 June 1919 – 16 November 1992) was an influential

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

. Max Huber was born in Baar, Switzerland in 1919. He graduated from Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich under the name Hans Williman. In his formative years, he met Werner Bischof,

Josef Müller-Brockmann Josef Müller-Brockmann (9 May 1914 – 30 August 1996) was a Swiss graphic designer, author, and educator, he was a Principal at Muller-Brockmann & Co. design firm. He was a pioneer of the International Typographic Style. Müller-Brockmann is re ...

Carlo Vivarelli Carlo Vivarelli (1919–1986) was a Swiss artist and graphic designer associated with the International Typographic Style. Vivarelli was born on 8 March 1919 in Zürich, Switzerland. Vivarelli began his design education studying in 1934 at the ...

and Hans Falk. His career began in 1935 in Zurich, where he worked for an advertising agency and later with Emil Schultness at Conzett&Huber. He met Max Bill and

Hans Neuburg Hans Neuburg (20 March 1904 – 24 June 1983) was a graphic designer instrumental in the development of the International Typographic Style. Biography Neuburg was born in Králíky, Austria-Hungary and grew up in Zürich where he attended the O ...

. With the beginning of World War II – in order to avoid being drafted in the

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– he moved to Milan to join Studio Boggeri. When Italy entered the war in 1941, Huber was forced to move back to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where he began a collaboration with Werner Bischof and Emil Schultness for the influential art magazine ''Du''. He joined the group ''Allianz'', and in 1942, he exhibited his abstract work at the Kunsthaus Zurich with Max Bill,

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, Richard Lohse and

Camille Graeser Camille Graeser (1892–1980) was a Swiss painter and member of the circle of Zurich Concrete artists. He was born in Switzerland but grew up in Stuttgart, Germany where he became a furniture designer. He took part in major exhibitions by the ...

. With the end of the war, he went back to Milan. The Italian publisher Einaudi appointed him to creative director for the publishing house. The job put him in contact with the post-war Italian intelligentsia:

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, '' Elio Vittorini'',

Franco Fortini Franco Fortini was the pseudonym of Franco Lattes (10 September 1917 – 28 November 1994), an Italian poet, writer, translator, essayist, literary critic and Marxist intellectual. Life Franco Fortini was born in Florence, the son of a Jewish ...

, Ettore Sottsass,

Achille Castiglioni Achille Castiglioni (; 16 February 1918 – 2 December 2002) was an Italian architect and designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. As a professor of design, he advised his students "If you are not curious, forget it. ...

and Albe Steiner. The following years were marked by some of his most iconic and influential designs. With Albe Steiner, he worked for the VIII Triennale di Milano. A keen jazz fan, he designed a series of stunning records covers, music magazines and the set stage for a jazz festival. He met

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. In 1948, he designed the seminal poster for the ''

Autodromo Nazionale di Monza The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...

'' Grand Prix and two years later the corporate identity for the supermarket chain La Rinascente. With Achille Castiglioni, he designed large-scale installations for RAI,

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...

and Montecatini. In 1954, he was awarded the prestigious ''Compasso d’oro''. In 1958, he traveled to the US as a speaker to the First International Seminar on Typography ( New York Art Directors Club). In 1965, the Nippon Design Committee organised an exhibition of his work at Matsuya Design Gallery in Tokyo. This trip was the beginning of the designer's close ties with Japan, that would culminate with him marrying the artist and illustrator Aoi Kono. In his later years, he alternated between commercial commissions, personal visual experimentation and teaching graphic design at Scuola Umanitaria in Milan, at Scuola Politecnica di Design also in Milan and finally at CSIA (Centro Scolastico Industrie Artistiche) in Lugano. He died in Mendrisio in 1992. ''m.a.x.museo'', a museum dedicated to his name and preserving his personal archive, opened in Chiasso in 2005.

References

* ''Max Huber , Progetti Grafici 1936_1981'', Electa, CL 35-0704-1 * ''Lo Studio Boggeri , 1933-1981'', Electa, CL 35-0686-X * ''Max Huber'', Phaidon Press,

External links

* http://www.eyemagazine.com/review.php?id=143&rid=685&set=753 * http://www.maxmuseo.ch/
Biography
on Max Huber at Iconofgraphics.com * Max Huber by Museo Cantonale d’Arte Luganobr>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huber, Max 1919 births 1992 deaths People from Baar, Switzerland Swiss graphic designers