Hans Aeschbach

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Hans Aeschbach (born August 11, 1911 in Burg AG ; † April 28, 1999 in Zollikon ) was a Swiss graphic artist , draftsman and painter .

Life

Hans Aeschbach attended a graphics and lithography class at the Zurich School of Applied Arts in 1927–1931 . He studied the basics of graphics with Otto Baumberger and Ernst Keller, among others. Aeschbach owes a lot to Ernst Keller, both in terms of the craftsmanship and the intellectual attitude on which his artistic design is based. As is typical with Keller, the reduced use of design means, the strict, objective simplicity and the perfectionist, precise execution of illustration and typography are characteristic of Aeschbach's graphic style.

After completing his studies, he went to Paris in 1931 , the city that was considered the vibrant art center of the time. There Aeschbach came into contact with B. with the post-cubist and post- Fauvist styles. The visit to the Académie de l'Art Moderne , directed by Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant , was decisive for his career as a painter. After returning to Switzerland in 1934, he worked for two years in the Herbert Matter studio .

In 1936 he founded his graphic studio and from then on worked as a poster designer and book illustrator. From 1943 until his retirement in 1976, Aeschbach taught the preliminary course at the Zurich School of Applied Arts in drawing and painting as a class teacher.

Create

Graphics

His work includes numerous commercial posters (for the companies Bally and Hero ; for the products Riri-Zipper , Schaffhauser wool and Steinfels detergent and for Swiss tourism ) as well as cultural posters, e.g. B. for the June festival weeks in Zurich. He also delivered work in the field of tobacco advertising (EICIFA, Menziken). In 1939 he and his colleague Hans Peter Weber took part in the graphic design of the Swiss national exhibition “Landi” in Zurich.

Aeschbach's posters always show new design methods and set different stylistic accents. For him, the cooperation with his clients and the associated historical and social context was important. New image ideas and technical innovations such as constructivist photo montage , stylistic devices of the new objectivity , which reflect the zeitgeist of the Swiss world of that time, can be recognized. Aeschbach often made historical references to the respective existing company advertisements and varied and renewed their own product aesthetics and marketing concepts. For example, in 1942 he adopted the “typical” Bally poster style (the original design was by Heiri Steiner and Ernst A. Heiniger ), which appears hyper-realistic due to the factually detailed reproduction of the shoes shown. The daring diagonal composition, which runs over the entire surface, presents the shoes almost floating in the air against a neutral blue background that looks like the blue of the sky. Aeschbach underlines the scenic mood of the background in his poster with finely drawn flowers.

In the poster for “ Pro Senectute ” (1947) he refers to the previous version of Ernst Keller's poster and emphasizes Ernst Keller's expressionistic style with the charcoal drawing in such a way that an even more empathic expression is achieved. From today's perspective, one could describe his work as being shaped by the awareness of corporate design and communication. Viewed in their entirety, Aeschbach's posters are largely characterized by their detailed drawings, their painterly color nuances and their elegant sans serif fonts. He received awards for some of his posters, e.g. For example, for the advertising poster for Bally, which was named one of the “Swiss Poster of the Year” in 1942: women's spring shoe with wooden sole “Intermezzo”. In 1943 he was awarded first prize by the Federal Department of the Interior for the poster for the Swiss Fashion Week.

painting

Aeschbach began to grapple with painting and its creative means since 1933. But his preoccupation with drawing and painting only began after the 1960s, when he had severely restricted his professional activities as a graphic artist and teacher. The early creative phase is important for his artistic development insofar as Aeschbach resorted to some formal elements and motifs from this period in order to refine his artistic ideas and further process themes from classical modernism.

His art is based on the serial implementation of picture ideas with lines, colors and shapes. Contrasts and harmony that result from the interrelationship between colors and shapes, and movements that arise from the rotation and displacement of surfaces, lead to new compositions. The process of creating spatial and rhythmic entirety in his works - his drawing is procedural, as the multifaceted lines and the staggering and overlapping of the colored surfaces generate certain movements - time always becomes a noticeable element when looking at it. It can be seen that Aeschbach understood construction as a principle of painting on the one hand, and painterly expression on the other hand as a dialogue between creative means and the mood created. His drawings are not all non-representational, even if the interest in the abstract and the graphic is of great importance for Aeschbach's graphic work. The choice of motif and the associated emotional expressions are important to him. His motifs show parallels to the surrealist art movement . They contain dichotomies such as masculinity / femininity, cold / warmth, dynamic / calm, geometric / organic form and legality / unpredictability. With recurring graphic elements reminiscent of organic shapes such as B. remember women's bodies or plants, and color contrasts he emphasizes this contradiction or allows it to exist as an inseparable, symbiotic relationship.

In 1969, Aeschbach made glass paintings in bright colors for the deaf community of Zurich , which maintain a balance between the decorative background and figures. Aeschbach plays with dynamism and calm to thematize the story of creation, which he had created on glass as part of this commission. The impression of powerful movement is created through color fusions and contrasts, and in addition, rhythm and oscillation are generated through the different density of the lines. Diverse shapes and colors are spatially arranged so harmoniously that the rhythmic can be sensually experienced.

Works (selection)

Posters
  • 1941: 650 years of the Swiss Confederation - "Gang, lueg d'Heimat a", commissioned by the Swiss Traffic Center, printed by: Graphische Anstalt JE Wolfensberger , lithograph, 128 × 90, 5 cm.
  • 1942: Bally women's spring shoe with wooden sole «Intermezzo», awarded one of the «Swiss Posters of the Year», commission: CF Bally, print: JE Wolfensberger, lithograph, 128 × 90 cm.
  • 1942: Aubusson - carpets from five centuries, exhibition at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Zurich , commission: KGSZ, print: KGSZ, lithograph, 128 × 90 cm.
  • 1944: Arosa, commission: Arosa tourist office , print: Orell-Füssli , lithograph, 128 × 90 cm.
  • 1945: Holidays in Switzerland / spring trips, commission: Swiss traffic control center, print: Säuberlin & Pfeiffer, lithograph, 102 × 64.5 cm.
  • 1947: For old age - Voluntary donation / Per la Vecchiaia - Don Volontaire / Don volontaire - Pour la Vieillesse, commission: Pro Senectute Zurich, printing: Orell Füssli Graphische Betriebe AG, lithography, 128 × 90 cm.
  • 1948: Riri zippers, 50 years of Swiss posters, awarded by the Federal Department of the Interior, commission: Riri, print: JC Müller, lithograph, 128 × 90.5 cm.
  • 1951: Delightful doing, Migros Club School , 6 days open to the public, Zurich Congress Center, 25. – 30. June 1951, commissioned by Migros Klubschule, printing: Jacques Bollmann Zurich, letterpress, linoleum, 128.5 × 91 cm.
  • 1956: Hero - For gourmets! Order: Hero canned food, printing: Graphic Institute JE Wolfensberger, lithograph, 127 × 90 cm.
  • 1957: Schaffhauser Wolle, order: Schoeller & Söhne, print: Paul Bender print shop, lithograph, 128 × 90 cm.

literature

  • 100 years of Swiss design. Museum of Design Zurich (ed.), Ed. by Lars Müller Publishers, 2014, ISBN 978-3-03778-440-2 .
  • Schaffhauser Wolle, a brand makes history - posters 1924–1986. Texts by Daniel Grüter, Bettina Bussinger. Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen 2018, ISBN 978-3-907066-82-9 .
  • Peter Vetter, Katharina Leuenberger, Meike Eckstein: No style. Ernst Keller (1891–1968), teacher and pioneer of Swiss Style . Triest Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03863-022-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernst Keller on kunstbreite.ch
  2. ^ Peter Vetter, Katharina Leuenberger, Meike Eckstein: No style. Ernst Keller (1891–1968), teacher and pioneer of Swiss Style . Triest Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03863-022-7 , pp. 147-183 .
  3. ^ Peter Vetter, Katharina Leuenberger, Meike Eckstein: No style. Ernst Keller (1891–1968), teacher and pioneer of Swiss Style . Triest Verlag, Zurich 2017, ISBN 978-3-03863-022-7 , pp. 100, 132 .
  4. ↑ Luzerner Tagblatt (ed.): The poster competition of the Swiss National Exhibition . December 18, 1937.
  5. ^ Bettina Richter: Posters by Hans Aeschbach. Retrieved January 20, 2019 .
  6. ^ Bettina Richter: Posters by Hans Aeschbach. Retrieved January 20, 2020 .
  7. ↑ See Steiner, Heiri. In: Sikart
  8. ↑ poster. Bally offers more. emuseum, Museum of Design Zurich, accessed on January 20, 2020 .
  9. ^ Bettina Richter: Posters by Hans Aeschbach. Retrieved January 20, 2020 .
  10. ^ Objects from Pro Senectute, Zurich. Retrieved January 20, 2020 .
  11. ↑ NZZ (Ed.): Local. Competitions for the Swiss Fashion Week . Zurich January 19, 1943.
  12. ↑ The basics of composition and color theory, which he taught in the preparatory course in the Kunstgewerbeschule, also seems to have been a subject of his painting. See in: Hans Fischli, Zurich School of Applied Arts. The preliminary course, director of the Zurich School of Applied Arts (ed.), Zurich, 1960.
  13. ↑ Art in Words. What is surrealism? Accessed January 30, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Geri Schedl: A game with lines, colors and shapes. Ed .: Zürichsee-Zeitung . January 4, 1999.
personal data
SURNAME Aeschbach, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss graphic artist, draftsman and painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 11, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Burg AG
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1999
Place of death Zollikon