Herbert Matter came to Modernism in Paris
Herbert Matter was born on 25th April 1907 in the Swiss mountain village of Engelberg. There he came into contact not only with the largest pipe organ in Switzerland, but above all with two of the most beautiful collections of medieval illuminations. After attending monastery school, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva from 1925 to 1927, before his fascination with Modernism drew him to Paris. There he discovered new artistic horizons with Fernand Léger (1881-1955) and Amédée Ozenfant (1886-1966) at the Académie Moderne – recently founded in 1924 - and also found a lifelong friend in Léger. As soon as Matter acquired a Rollei and began experimenting, painting took a back seat in favour of photography. In doing so, he saw the camera first and foremost as a design tool with which he could express himself in an innovative way in an era in which graphic design was faced with seemingly unlimited possibilities of development.
Herbert Matter's global career began in New York
Under the influence of El Lissitzky (1890-1941) and Man Ray (1890-1976), Herbert Matter became increasingly enthusiastic about the possibilities of collage, montage and photograms. His skills as a designer and photographer eventually earned him a job at Deberny & Peignot, where he learnt the intricacies of typography as an assistant to Cassandre (1901-1968) and Le Corbusier (1887-1965). Even his expulsion from France in 1932 due to a lack of papers could not impair Matter's development in the long term: In Switzerland, he proved popular with his poster designs for the tourist office, for which he combined what he had learnt in Paris with his personal vision. In 1936, Matter travelled to New York due to his collaboration with a Swiss ballet company and decided to stay there. The Russian designer Alexei Brodovich (1898-1971), who knew and appreciated Matter's Swiss poster work, arranged photo commissions for the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. Further commissions for Vogue, Fortune Magazine, Arts & Architecture and Town and Country followed.
Valued consultant to companies and museums
Herbert Matter worked for the Container Corporation of America during the Second World War, and in 1944, took up a position as a design consultant for the Knoll company, whose image he shaped for over 12 years. He made a successful documentary film about the sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976) for the Museum of Modern Art, for which John Cage (1912-1992) composed the music, and took up a position at Yale University as a professor of photography through Alvin Eisenman (1921-2013). There he also worked on architecture and designed his own studio spaces, and from 1958 to 1969, advised the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. For a quarter of a century, Herbert Matter photographed the sculptures of his fellow countryman Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) for an extensive illustrated book, which he did not, however, live to see published. His artist friends included Jackson Pollock (1912-1956), Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Franz Kline (1910-1962) and Philip Guston (1913-1980).
Herbert Matter died in Southampton, New York, on 8th May 1984.
Herbert Matter - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
