Author: evsifnar

Clyfford Still was an American painter whose work focused on the abstract. His work in the abstract predated some prominent abstract artists such as Pollock and Rothko, and is often cited as a pioneer who helped lead the art movement of Abstract Expressionism. One of the particular caveats of his work was his interest in edges and borders, as he noted that “It’s intolerable to be stopped by a frame’s edge.”

Still’s work continues to have influence in the modern day, and his paintings have been in exhibitions and museums around the world.

A colleague of the renowned Emil Ruder and successor as the head of the graphic design department at the Basel School of Design, Armin Hofmann’s work relies heavily on the fundamentals of graphics: lines and dots. Hofmann’s posters are especially of note, as he avoided the use of color in favor of black and white. They often incorporate clean shapes that bleed into one another, such that a subtle semblance of other letters can form in the spaces between regular letters. In the 1950s, he was a key figure in efforts to develop Swiss Style, or International Typographic Style. This graphic design style emphasized readability, asymmetric alignment, and cleanliness through a grid-based text layout. To this day, Hofmann’s posters and his work in International Typographic Style continue to influence and inspire architects and designers alike.