Max Burchartz - Worker before Machines

Max Burchartz - Worker before Machines

(Modernism in Central Europe - Exhibition at the Washington National Gallery)

The relation between man and machine - a theme of great interest for the avant-garde of the 20's.
Max Burchartz was one of the pioneers of the modern design. It is he who presumably had firstly the idea of applying a color control system for the corridors of a building (each floor being assigned one of the primary colors - Wikipedia).

Here are some examples of his work: a photo named Auge (Eye), a still life named Grafik, an interesting composition named Malerei (Painting) - he was choosing very simple titles, isn't it? - then the Rotes Quadrat (Red Square), where all passions of Burchartz come together: the red square duplicated by a small white one, near a typographic character carefully rendered, and the fittings - Suprematism, typography and industrial aesthetic - Malevich is joined by Teige and by Renger-Patzch.
The last two works, the Door Handles and the Typo speak about the interests of Max Burchartz for industrial design, advertising and modern typography: he received a degree in typography from the Folkwang Hochschule, in 1927 - later he would teach there, at Folkwang, universal art ideas and the ideas of holistic design (Wikipedia).









(Modernism in Central Europe)