Willem Sandberg

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Willem Sandberg (1961)
Mural by Willem Sandberg in the Waterlooplein metro station in Amsterdam

Willem Sandberg , actually: Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (born October 24, 1897 in Amersfoort , Netherlands ; † April 9, 1984 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch graphic artist , typographer and graphic designer specializing in commercial art , museum director and internationally known for his Poster art and catalog designs.

life and work

Willem Sandberg was a supporter of the Mazdaznan movement. As a young man he worked as an apprentice at a printing company in Herrliberg , Switzerland . In 1927 he visited Vienna , where he studied Otto Neurath's isotype system. He traveled to Germany , visited the Bauhaus in Dessau and met Naum Gabo there . Between 1927 and 1935 he also studied psychology in Vienna and Utrecht and then studied art in Amsterdam.

After his return to Amsterdam he worked as a graphic artist and began his long relationship with the Stedelijk Museum from 1928 . In 1932 he became a member of VANK , the Dutch Society for Arts and Crafts .
From 1937 to 1941 he was curator of the Museum of Modern Art, from 1938 second director of the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. After the Second World War he became director of the Stedelijk Museum in 1945 until his retirement in 1962. During his tenure he expanded the museum and developed new exhibition techniques for which he became internationally known. He was also instrumental in the graphic design and typography of over 300 catalogs.

From 1947 to 1951 he was President of the Dutch Artists Association and from 1948 to 1960 Vice-President of the Dutch Art Council . In 1952 he received a prize for graphics from the resistance movement and in 1957 the Werkman Prize of the City of Amsterdam. In 1962 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Buffalo (USA). In 1964 some of his works were shown in the graphics department at documenta III in Kassel .

He was involved in building the new Israeli National Museum in Jerusalem ; from 1964 he was its chairman. In the same year he received the Frans Duwaer Prize . With Hans Ludwig C. Jaffé he wrote the work Kunst van heden in het Stedelijk (Amsterdam, 1961; German A museum for modern art: Stedelijk, Amsterdam , 1962).

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
  • Alain Weill: Encyclopédie de l'affiche . Editions Hazan, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7541-0582-8 , pp. 326–327 m. Fig.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sandberg, Willem
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sandberg, Jonkheer Willem Jacob Henri Berend; Sandberg, Willem Jacob Henri Berend; Sandberg, Willem JHB
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch graphic artist, graphic designer and museum director
DATE OF BIRTH October 24, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Amersfoort , Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1984
Place of death Amsterdam