Will Burtin

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Will Burtin (born January 17, 1908 in Cologne , † January 18, 1972 in New York City , USA ) was an American designer , graphic artist specializing in commercial graphics and exhibition designer of German origin. Burtin is known as the father of " corporate identity " in the US in the 1940s.

life and work

Will Burtin learned typography from 1922 to 1926 at the Chamber of Crafts in Cologne and from 1926 studied graphics and "Artistic and Technical Design" ( industrial design ) at the Cologne factory schools with Richard Riemerschmid and Jakob Erbar . In 1932 he married Hilde Munk (1910–1960), the cousin of the aviation pioneer and inventor of the wind tunnel, Max Munk . From 1927 to 1938 Will Burtin ran his own design studio in Cologne and designed brochures, posters, books , exhibitions, displays, advertising and films for German, French and other customers. When Joseph Goebbels asked him to be made head of department in his Ministry of Propaganda, he fled to the USA in 1938.

From 1939 to 1943 he taught communication design at the Pratt Institute in New York, from 1959 the Pratt Institute appointed him professor and head of the department for visual communication. In 1949 he was awarded the New York Art Directors Club medal and became director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts . From 1945 to 1949 he was the art director of Fortune magazine . He was a member of the Art Directors Club New York and the Alliance Graphique Internationale AGI. In 1954 he was Program Chairman (with Saul Bass ) of the International Design Conference in Aspen , Colorado . (Likewise again in 1955 and 1956). From 1961 until his death he was married to the designer Cipe Pineles .

In collaboration with American scientists, he developed special methods and exhibition models for the graphic and plastic representation of scientific research results. In 1964, works by him (including exhibition models for human cells, for the brain and the uranium atom with exhibition catalogs ) were shown at documenta III in Kassel in the graphics department .

Literature and Sources

  • documenta III. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand Drawings; Volume 3: Industrial Design, Graphics; Kassel / Cologne 1964

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Burtin, Will
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American graphic designer
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 1972
Place of death New York City