After working on graphic designs for the few modern buildings being constructed, he built his first work, his own house and studio (1932–3) in Zurich-Höngg.[1] From 1937 onwards he was a prime mover behind the
Allianz group of Swiss artists.[2]
Bill is widely considered the single most decisive influence on Swiss graphic design beginning in the 1950s with his theoretical writing and progressive work.[3] His connection to the days of the Modern Movement gave him special authority. As an industrial designer, his work is characterized by a clarity of design and precise proportions.[4] Examples are the elegant clocks and watches designed for
Junghans, a long-term client. Among Bill's most notable product designs is the "Ulmer Hocker" of 1954, a stool that can also be used as a shelf element, a speaker's desk, a tablet or a side table. Although the stool was a creation of Bill and Ulm school designer
Hans Gugelot, it is often called "Bill Hocker" because the first sketch on a cocktail napkin was Bill's work.
As a designer and artist, Bill sought to create forms which visually represent the New Physics of the early 20th century. He sought to create objects so that the new science of form could be understood by the senses: that is as a
concrete art. Thus Bill is not a rationalist – as is typically thought – but rather a phenomenologist. One who understands embodiment as the ultimate expression of a concrete art. In this way he is not so much extending as re-interpreting Bauhaus theory. Yet curiously Bill's critical interpreters have not really grasped this fundamental issue.[4] He made spare geometric paintings and spherical sculptures, some based on the
Möbius strip, in stone, wood, metal and plaster.[5][6] His architectural work included an office building in Germany, a radio studio in Zurich, and a bridge in eastern Switzerland.[7]
He continued to produce architectural designs, such as those for a museum of contemporary art (1981) in Florence and for the
Bauhaus Archive (1987) in Berlin. In 1982 he also entered a competition for an addition to the
Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, built to a design by
Mies van der Rohe.[1]Pavillon-Skulptur (1979–83), a large
granite sculpture, was installed adjacent to the
Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich in 1983. As is often the case with modern art in public places, the installation generated some controversy. Endlose Treppe (1991), a sculpture made of North American granite, was designed for the philosopher
Ernst Bloch.
Bill was a professor at the
Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg and chair of Environmental Design from 1967 to 1974. In 1973 he became an associate member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Science, Literature and Fine Art in
Brussels. In 1976 he became a member of the
Berlin Academy of Arts. In addition to his teaching, Bill wrote and lectured extensively on art, architecture and design, appearing at symposiums and design conferences around the world. In particular, he wrote books about
Le Corbusier,
Kandinsky,
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and artistic theory.[7]
Exhibitions
Bill executed many public sculptures in Europe and exhibited extensively in galleries and museums, including a retrospective at the
Kunsthaus Zürich in 1968–69. He had his first exhibition in the United States at the Staempfli Gallery in New York City in 1963 and was the subject of retrospectives at the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1974. He participated in
documentas I (1955), II (1959), and III (1964). In 1993, he received the
Praemium Imperiale for sculpture, awarded by the
Emperor of Japan.[6]
Bill is credited with having been "the spark that lighted the fuse of Brazil's artistic revolution" and the country's "movement toward concrete art"[9] with his 1951 retrospective at the
São Paulo Museum of Modern Art. He strongly influenced Brazilian artists like
Franz Weissmann.[10]
Private life
After a liaison with
Nusch Éluard, Bill married the cellist and photographer Binia Mathilde Spoerri in January 1931.[11] She died in 1988. From 1974 he was living together with art historian Angela Thomas; they married in 1991.
Bill was also involved in politics. He was elected to the Zurich municipal council in 1961.[7] From 1967 to 1971, he served as a member of the
Swiss National Council.
Bill died en route to a hospital after collapsing from a heart attack at
Berlin Tegel Airport. He was 85 and lived in Zumikon, a Zürich suburb.[6]
In 1996, Jakob Bill, the son of Max, founded the Swiss Max Bill Foundation (max, binia + jakob bill stiftung[12]) and implemented the idea of his father. The purpose of the foundation is to collect and take care of the works in possession of the Bill family, as well as the promotion of scientific research.
Because Bill had not settled his estate, the legacy was divided equally between his son and his widow. The two heirs each independently set up a foundation.[13]
In 1997 Angela Thomas founded the max bill georges vantongerloo foundation, which is based in the house and studio built by Max Bill in 1967/68 in Zumikon. The foundation aims to make representative parts of the work of the two artist friends Vantongerloo and Bill as well as Haus Bill Zumikon accessible to the public.[14][15]
Gallery
Ulmer Hocker (Ulmer Stool) (1954)
Part of the work Familie von fünf halben Kugeln (Family of Five Half Balls) (1966) in Karlsruhe
Säule mit 3-6-eckigen Querschnitten (Column with 3–6 angular cross sections) (1966) in Marl
Pavillon-Skulptur (Pavilion Sculpture) (1983) in Zürich
Bildsäulen-Dreiergruppe (Picture column tripartite group) (1989) in Stuttgart
Einstein Denkmal (Einstein Monument) (1982) in Ulm
Endlose Treppe (Endless Stairs) (1991) in Ludwigshafen
Max Bill: Funktion und Funktionalismus. Schriften 1945–1988. Benteli, Bern 2008,
ISBN978-3-7165-1522-8.
Max Bill, Retrospektive. Skulpturen Gemälde Graphik 1928–1987. (Texte Christoph Vitali, Eduard Hüttinger, Max Bill.) Katalog Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Zürich/Stuttgart 1987
ISBN3-922608-79-5.
Thomas Buchsteiner und Otto Lotze:max bill, maler, bildhauer, architekt, designer. Ostfildern-Ruit 2005,
ISBN3-7757-1641-6.
Luciano Caramel, Angela Thomas: Max Bill. Pinacoteca Communale Casa Rusca, Locarno / Fidia Edizione d'Arte, Lugano 1991,
ISBN88-7269-011-0.
Roberto Fabbri: Max Bill in Italia. Lo spazio logico dell'architettura, Bruno Mondadori Editore, Milano 2011,
ISBN978-88-6159-606-1.
Gerd Fischer: Der Koloss von Frankfurt: Die „Kontinuität“ von Max Bill. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung, Heft 4/1999, S. 22–23.
Eduard Hüttinger: Max Bill. abc Verlag, Zürich 1977,
ISBN3-85504-043-5.
Eduard Hüttinger: Max Bill. Edition Cantz, Stuttgart 1987 (erweiterte Ausgabe)
ISBN3-922608-79-5
Gregor Nickel und Michael Rottmann: Mathematische Kunst: Max Bill in Stuttgart. In: Mitteilungen der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung, Band 14, Heft 3/2006, S. 150–159.
Arturo Carlo Quintavalle: Max Bill. Università Commune Provincia di Parma, Quaderni 38, 1977.
Thomas Reinke und Gordon Shrigley: Max Bill: HfG Ulm: Drawing and Redrawing: Atelierwohnungen, Studentenwohnturm. marmalade, 2006,
ISBN978-0-9546597-1-4.
Emil Schwarz: Im Wissen der Zeit oder Der Sinn, den die Schönheit erzeugt, Hommage à Max Bill, ein dichterischer Nachvollzug mit dem Essay Wirklichkeit oder Realität. NAP Verlag, Zürich 2010,
ISBN978-3-9523615-4-2.
René Spitz: hfg ulm. der blick hinter den vordergrund. die politische geschichte der hochschule für gestaltung ulm 1953–1968. Stuttgart/London 2002.
ISBN3-932565-16-9. (Zur Geschichte der HfG Ulm von der Gründung 1953 bis zur Schließung 1968.)
Margit Staber: "Max Bill". Methuen, London 1964. (Art in Progress series)
Angela Thomas: A Subversive Gleam: Max Bill and His Time. 1908–1939. Translated from German by Fiona Elliott. Zurich, Hauser & Wirth, 2022,
ISBN978-3-906915-40-1