Rotierende vierfarbige Doppelkerne I-IV

Materials

Oil on canvas; 120 x 60 cm

Dating

1972

About the artist

The Swiss artist made a name for himself as painter, sculptor, architect, industrial designer and art theorist. He belongs to the most important and most influential exponents of the constructive-concrete art movement.
From 1924 to 1927, Max Bill completed an apprenticeship as a silver smith at the Zurich School of Design. Afterwards, he studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau under artists such as Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. In an exhibition catalogue of the Kunsthaus Zurich from 1936, Bill defined his notion of ‘Concrete Art’: ‘Concrete Art originates from its own means and laws and does not derive from natural phenomena. Therefore, the visual presentation depends on colour, form, space, movement.’ As one of Zurich’s leading Concrete artists he has shaped systematic-logical art with its serial and methodological way of thinking. Later in his career, he taught at different schools in Germany and Switzerland.
Furthermore, Max Bill was a very active politically. He spoke up about environmental issues, protested against wars and the proliferation of nuclear weapons and was a dedicated anti-Fascist. Without belonging to a specific party, Bill was voted into the district council of Zurich and into the National Council of Switzerland.