Bill is certainly seen as having a huge impact on Swiss design due to his theoretical writing and progessive work. His work always exuded a sense of clarity and precise proportions - and as well as this, his connections to the days of the Modern Movement gave him a certain authority in the design world. (Modernism at this time was incredibly impactful on Swiss design, and inspired many designers work including Max Huber’s).
Bill was not only a very talented designer, but also an architect, artist, and industrial designer. He worked with many mediums over a range of practices. From designing and building his own home and studio (a superb, stripped-down building which would later influence Brutalist architects), to elegant clocks and watches designed for Junghans, a long-term client. 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. His idea of Concrete Art was that it should be purely abstract. “A work of art,” he wrote, “must be entirely conceived and shaped by the mind before its execution. It shall not receive anything of nature’s or sensuality’s or sentimentality’s formal data. We want to exclude lyricism, drama, symbolism, and so on.”
In 1937 Bill formed the group Allianz in Switzerland with a number of other artists, including Max Huber. The Allianz group advocated the concrete art theories of Bill with more emphasis on color than their Constructivist counterparts.
Despite his vast array of talents, Bill remained ubiquitous in the art world. He designed memorable posters for the Munich Olympics in 1972; he influenced a generation of Op Artists; and his sculptural works, many of them based on a Möbius strip or an endless ribbon, popped up in plazas throughout Switzerland and Germany. All of these works were striking and colourful.
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