The Austrian-born Herbert Bayer is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential graphic artists of his time, but his extensive achievements span a spectrum of disciplines. The artistic polymath made his mark as a photographer and master of photomontage, a typography creator, magazine art director, advertising guru, architect and more.
As a student in the early 1920s at the Bauhaus — the revolutionary German art and design school in Weimar that sought to integrate art and design into daily life — Bayer studied under Russian-born Wassily Kandisnsky, who became his mentor, and was greatly influenced by Kandinsky’s book Concerning the Spiritual in Art, heartily embracing its premise that the arts can and should serve society.
Bayer left the Bauhaus in 1923 to tour Italy with a friend, then rejoined two years later, hired to teach advertising, design and typography at the school’s new home, in Dessau. There, he designed catalogues, featuring photography and machine-based printing, that promoted Bauhaus-made “goods for the home,” including handmade furniture, wallpaper and housewares. And he created a new “universal” alphabet: a streamlined sans serif restricted to lower-case letters that became the Bauhaus’s signature font.
Bayer quit teaching at the Bauhaus along with founder Walter Gropius and fellow teachers Marcel Breuer and László Maholy-Nagy when the school’s finances grew strained. He became the art director of German Vogue, moving on, when the magazine closed during the Depression, to the ad agency Dorland International, where he created the advertisements for clothing, textiles, toothpaste and nose drops on view. He also did magazine covers and outdoor billboards and masterminded the design of several important international exhibitions, including the German section of the 1930 Exposition de la Société des artistes décorateurs in Paris.
By 1938, Bayer had become dismayed by the political situation in Germany, and at the invitation of Gropius — who was then chair of the architecture department at Harvard, having fled the Nazi regime in 1934 — he left for the United States. Gropius had been asked to curate an exhibition on the Bauhaus for the Museum of Modern Art, but he didn’t have time and so asked Bayer to help. Bayer ultimately did it all, including gathering material in Germany, creating the exhibition plan and overseeing the catalogue. The show traveled throughout the U.S., and Bayer’s stateside career took off.
In the early 1940s, Bayer served as chief art director at Wanamaker’s and worked in advertising and package design at J. Walter Thompson. In 1945, he began a long stint working full-time at the Container Corporation of America (CCA). He created CCA’s long-running series “Great Ideas of Western Man,” which aimed to enlighten the public through inspiring quotes. Additionally, Bayer designed sculptures, wall murals, furniture, earth art and buildings for the Aspen Institute between 1946 and 1975.
Bayer’s work demonstrates how one man, and one school, changed the evolution of contemporary graphics in America over a 40-year period.
Find original Herbert Bayer prints and paintings on 1stDibs.
$1,416
Original poster made for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bauhaus
By Herbert Bayer
Located in PARIS, FR
A beautiful poster made for the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bauhaus at the National Museum of Modern Art, by Herbert Bayer 🇺🇸 (1900-1985), a designer, painter, architec...
Paper, Lithograph
Free Arrangements of Equal Parts Geometric Abstract Screenprint by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Free Arrangements of Equal Parts by Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: circa 1968 Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 12/75 Size: 29.75 x 29.5 in. (75.57 x 7...
Screen
12. Untitled, Framed Geometric Bauhaus Offset Lithograph by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. 12. Untitled Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1965 Offset Lithograph Image Size: 10.5 x 13.5 i...
Offset
Two Warped Corners, Geometric Abstract Screenprint by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Two Warped Corners Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1973 Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 5/50 Image Size: 29.75 x 29.75 inches Size: 32 in. x 32 in. (8...
Screen
$2,000
Triangulated Squares, Geometric Abstract Bauhaus Screenprint by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Triangulated Squares Year: 1969 Medium: Screenprint, signed in pencil Size: 32 in. x 33 in. (81.28 cm x 83.82 cm) Printed at Kel...
Screen
New Nucleus, Geometric Abstract Screenprint by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
New Nucleus Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1973 Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition of 7/50 Image Size: 29.75 x 29.75 inches Size: 32 in. x 32 in. (81.28 cm...
Screen
Tender Picture E, Bauhaus Offset Lithograph by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. Tender Picture E Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1928 (1965) Offset Lithograph Image Size: 9 ...
Offset
Herbert Bayer 1948 Convolution Abstract Lithograph Bauhaus Modernism
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Denver, CO
A rare and museum-quality original 1948 lithograph by Herbert Bayer, this iconic work titled Convolution is a striking example of Bauhaus-influenced abstract modernism. The composit...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
Monument, Surrealist Photograph by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) - Monument, Year: 1932 (Printed 1969), Medium: Gelatin Silver Print, signed, dated and numbered in pencil, Edition: 6/40, Image Size: 13.75 ...
Silver Gelatin
$472
H 14.85 in W 10.83 in D 0.04 in
Composition - Original Lithograph by Jean-Paul Riopelle - 1968
By Jean-Paul Riopelle
Located in Roma, IT
Composition is an original lithograph realized by Jean-Paul Riopelle for the Art Magazine Derrière le Miroir, no. 171. The artwork is from the art magazine Derriere Le Miroir. Print...
Paper, Lithograph
$20,000
H 33.25 in W 26.25 in D 2.25 in
"Untitled" screenprint by artist Pierre Soulages from "Kinderstern" portfolio
By Pierre Soulages
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Untitled" abstract screenprint (Encrevé/Miessner Kat. N° 113) by artist Pierre Soulages from the "Kinderstern" portfolio published by Edition Domberger to raise money to house famil...
Screen
$3,000
H 31 in W 28.5 in D 2.25 in
Geometric Abstraction Color field silkscreen signed Artists Proof, Museum Frame
By Ludwig Sander
Located in New York, NY
LUDWIG SANDER Untitled geometric abstraction Artists Proof, aside from the regular edition of 90 Hand signed and annotated AP on the front Elegantly matted and framed in white wood m...
Screen
$2,400
H 36.63 in W 29.88 in
Homage to Barnett Newman /// Gene Davis Abstract Geometric Minimal Screenprint
By Gene Davis
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Gene Davis (American, 1920-1985) Title: "Homage to Barnett Newman" *Signed and dated by Davis in pencil lower right Year: 1979 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded soft-...
Screen
$18,000
H 14.5 in W 18 in D 2 in
Richard Pettibone - The Appropriation Warhol, Stella Lichtenstein, Unique Signed
By Richard Pettibone
Located in New York, NY
Richard Pettibone The Appropriation Print Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, 1970 Silkscreen in colors on masonite board (unique variant on sculpted board) Hand-signed by a...
Masonite, Pencil, Screen
$570
H 40 in W 28 in
Mid-Century Shapes IV, White and Blue Abstract Floating Shapes, Unique Cyanotype
By Kind of Cyan
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted unique cyanotype that takes its inspiration from the mid-century modern shapes. It's made by layering paper cutouts and different exposures using uv-...
Photographic Film, Emulsion, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, Monotype, P...
$11,000
H 79.38 in W 34 in
Yankee Doodle /// Gene Davis Abstract Geometric Huge Screenprint Colorful Modern
By Gene Davis
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Gene Davis (American, 1920-1985) Title: "Yankee Doodle" *Signed and numbered by Davis in pencil lower right Year: 1972 Medium: Original Screenprint on wove paper, laid down t...
Canvas, Screen
Lithograph Optical Pop Art Attrib. Victor Vasarely
By Victor Vasarely
Located in Napoli, IT
Lithograph Optical Pop Art Attrib. Victor Vasarely, 1970s with frame
Paper, Lithograph
Caroni
By Jesús Rafael Soto
Located in Miami Beach, FL
Color screenprint, color pencil on heavy white wove paper, 1971. 840x595 mm; 33 1/4×23 1/2 inches (sheet), full margins. Signed and numbered 47/175 in pencil, lower margin. Publishe...
Color Pencil, Screen
$7,552
H 8.08 in W 6.89 in D 0.04 in
Concetto Spaziale - Lithograph by Lucio Fontana - 1962
By Lucio Fontana
Located in Roma, IT
Concetto Spaziale is a contemporary artwork realized by Lucio Fontana. Aquatint etching on Fabriano paper. Edition of IV/XXV. The complete edition includes also 75 specimen number...
Paper, Lithograph
$2,450
H 17.5 in W 15 in D 1.5 in
Hilaire Hiler 1934 Native American Fox Costume WPA-Era Color Serigraph Print
By Hilaire Hiler
Located in Denver, CO
This dynamic 1934 vintage color serigraph by celebrated American modernist Hilaire Hiler depicts a stylized Native American figure in a fox costume, poised with a bow and adorned with a bold feathered headdress. Executed in striking contrasts of black, red, and white, the print exemplifies Hiler’s semi-abstract approach, merging cultural symbolism with avant-garde color theory. Created during the influential WPA era, this work reflects the intersection of Native American themes with early 20th-century American modernism. Signed in pencil by Hiler in the lower right margin and titled on the verso, this serigraph is an exceptional and rare example of his modernist printmaking. The composition’s vivid palette, geometric stylization, and rhythmic forms make it both visually compelling and historically significant. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hiler studied at the University of Paris and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, immersing himself in the European avant-garde before returning to the U.S. in 1934. He contributed murals to the WPA Aquatic Park...
Screen
$1,500
H 28 in W 20 in
Torqued Spirals, Toruses and Spheres poster 2001, Hand Signed by Richard Serra
By Richard Serra
Located in New York, NY
Richard Serra Torqued Spirals, Toruses and Spheres, 2001 Offset lithograph poster (Hand signed by Richard Serra) Boldly signed in black marker on the front 28 × 20 inches Unframed This poster was published on the occasion of Serra's October 2001 exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery - one month after 9/11; The posters were sold for the benefit of the Twin Towers Fund and a certain quantity were hand signed by the artist. Richard Serra Biography Richard Serra was born in 1938 in San Francisco and lives and works in New York and the North Fork of Long Island. His first significant solo exhibition was held at the Leo Castelli Warehouse, New York, in 1969. His first solo museum exhibition took place at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1970. Serra has since participated in numerous international exhibitions, including documenta (1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987) in Kassel, Germany; the Venice Biennales of 1980, 1984, 2001, and 2013; and the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Annual and Biennial exhibitions of 1968, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1995, and 2006. Solo exhibitions of Serra’s sculptural work have been held at numerous public institutions worldwide, including, among others, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1980; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, 1984; Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, 1985; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1986; Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, 1987; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, 1987; Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1988; Kunsthaus Zürich, 1990; CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, 1990; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1992; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 1992; Dia Center for the Arts, New York, 1997; Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro, 1997–1998; Trajan’s Market, Rome, 2000; Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, 2003; and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, 2004. In 2005, The Matter of Time, a series of eight large-scale works by Serra from 1994 to 2005, was installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and in 2007, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, presented the retrospective Richard Serra Sculpture...
Permanent Marker, Lithograph, Offset
Exfoliation, Minimalist Offset Lithograph by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) - Exfoliation, Year: 1965, Medium: Offset Lithograph, Edition:, Image Size: 11 x 13 inches, Size: 16.5 x 22 in. (41.91 x 55.88 cm), Frame Si...
Lithograph, Offset
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H 27.5 in W 22.5 in
Building a House, Abstract Geometric Screenprint by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) - Building a House, Year: 1969, Medium: Screenprint on T. H. Saunders paper, signed, numbered and dated in pencil, Edition: 63/70, Image Size...
Screen
Things to Come tray
By Herbert Bayer
Located in New York, NY
Herbert Bayer Things to Come tray, 2018 Porcelain dish with metallic gold edge and silkscreened image Limited edition of an unknown quantity, originally distributed by the Museum of Modern Art, before it sold out. Measurements: Box: 5.5 x 5.5 inches Tray: 5 x 5 inches Provenance: Originally distributed by the Museum of Modern Art, before it sold out Manufacturer: Galison Publishing LLC and The Museum of Modern Art Herbert Bayer biography: Artistic polymath Herbert Bayer was one of the Bauhaus’s most influential students, teachers, and proponents, advocating the integration of all arts throughout his career. Bayer began his studies as an architect in 1919 in Darmstadt. From 1921 to 1923 he attended the Bauhaus in Weimar, studying mural painting with Vasily Kandinsky and typography, creating the Universal alphabet, a typeface consisting of only lowercase letters that would become the signature font of the Bauhaus. Bayer returned to the Bauhaus from 1925 to 1928 (moving in 1926 to Dessau, its second location), working as a teacher of advertising, design, and typography, integrating photographs into graphic compositions. He began making his own photographs in 1928, after leaving the Bauhaus; however, in his years as a teacher the school was a fertile ground for the New Vision photography passionately promoted by his close colleague László Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy’s students, and his Bauhaus publication Malerei, Photographie, Film (Painting, photography, film). Most of Bayer’s photographs come from the decade 1928–38, when he was based in Berlin working as a commercial artist. They represent his broad approach to art, including graphic views of architecture and carefully crafted montages. In 1938 Bayer emigrated to the United States with an invitation from Alfred H. Barr, Jr., founding director of The Museum of Modern Art, to apply his theories of display to the installation of the exhibition Bauhaus: 1919–28 (1938) at MoMA. Bayer developed this role through close collaboration with Edward Steichen, head of the young Department of Photography, designing the show Road to Victory (1942), which would set the course for Steichen’s influential approach to photography exhibition. Bayer remained in America working as a graphic designer for the remainder of his career. -Courtesy of MOMA More about Herbert Bayer: Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was born in Austria, where he entered into an apprenticeship under the architect and designer, Georg Smidthammer, with whom Bayer learned drawing, painting, and architectural drafting, inspired by nature and without formal knowledge of art history. In 1920, Bayer discovered the theoretical writings of the artist Vassily Kandinsky, as well as Walter Gropius’ 1919 Bauhaus manifesto, in which Gropius declared the necessity for a return to crafts, in which were found true creativity and inspiration. Bayer traveled to Weimar to meet Gropius in October of 1921 and was immediately accepted into the Bauhaus. There, he was deeply influenced by the instruction of Kandinsky, Johannes Itten and Paul Klee. In 1928 Bayer moved to Berlin together with several members of the Bauhaus staff including Gropius, Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer. He found work as a freelance graphic designer, particularly with German Vogue, under its art director Agha. When the latter returned to Paris, Bayer joined the staff full time, and also worked increasingly with Dorland, the magazine's principle advertising agency. It was in the period from 1928 to his emigration to America in 1938 that he developed his unique vision as an artist, combining a strongly modernist aesthetic sense with a rare ability to convey meaning clearly and directly. This seamless combination of art, craft and design mark Bayer as true prophet of Bauhaus theories. Bayer followed Gropius to America in 1938, and set his breadth of skills to work later that year in designing the landmark Bauhaus 1918-1928 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Bayer flourished in New York as a designer and architect, but it was his meeting with the industrialist Walter Paepcke in 1946 that allowed him to harness his concepts of 'total design' to the postwar boom. Paepcke was developing Aspen as a cultural and intellectual destination, and found in Bayer the perfect collaborator. Bayer was designer, educator and indeed architect for Paepcke's Aspen Institute...
Metal
Sold
H 23.43 in W 16.54 in
Herbert Bayer, 50 Jahre Bauhaus - Original Exhibition Poster from 1968
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Hamburg, DE
Original exhibition poster by Herbert Bayer for the exhibition "50 Jahre Bauhaus" from 5 May - 28 July 1968 at Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Germany. Herbert Bayer (19...
Offset
Composite Structure, Bauhaus Print by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. Composite Structure Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1951 (1965) Offset Lithograph Frame Size:...
Offset
Cosmorama #9, Bauhaus Print by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
A print from the CCA folio of Herbert Bayer published in 1965. Nicely framed. Cosmorama #9 Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900–1985) Date: 1957 (1965) Offset Lithograph Frame Size: 16.5 x...
Offset
Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in San Francisco, CA
A rare lithograph by Bauhaus graphic designer Herbert Bayer c.1965 Title: "Winter Afternoon". This is from his 1965 portfolio of lithograph prints. The lithograph retains all of i...
Lithograph
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H 22 in W 16.5 in D 0.1 in
Herbert Bayer "Structure and Moon on Green" Lithograph c.1965
By Herbert Bayer
Located in San Francisco, CA
Superb mid-century 1965 offset lithograph by Herbert Bayer (Austrian, 1900 - 1985) Title: "Structure and Moon on Green". Approximate dimensions 16.5 inches wide x 22 inches high. ...
Lithograph
Four Scales, Bauhaus Silkscreen by Herbert Bayer
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Four Scales Year: 1968 Medium: Screenprint, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 28/70 Size: 35 x 35 inches Sheet: 37 x 36 inch...
Screen
Grid, Bauhaus Silkscreen by Herbert Bayer 1967
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Herbert Bayer, Austrian (1900 - 1985) Title: Grid Year: 1967 Medium: Silkscreen, signed and numbered in pencil Edition: 93/100 Size: 20 x 20 inches
Screen
"From Light to Dark, " Screenprint, 1968
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
This screenprint was created by Austrian artist Herbert Bayer. Bayer, an architect, sculptor, and graphic artist, was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus movement. His experience range...
Screen
Abstract Screenprint, 1969
By Herbert Bayer
Located in Long Island City, NY
This screenprint was created by Austrian artist Herbert Bayer. Bayer, an architect, sculptor, and graphic artist, was greatly influenced by the Bauhaus movement. His experience range...
Screen