Merrill C. Berman Collection

A typographic innovator and designer, Willem Jacob Henri Berend Sandberg (Dutch, 1897–1984) is perhaps best-known today as the pioneering director of Amsterdam’s @stedelijkmuseum from 1945 to 1963. During the Second World War, Sandberg was a member of the Dutch resistance, who used his knowledge of printing and design to forge identity papers. Toward the end of the war, Sandberg went into hiding from the Gestapo. It was then that he designed the pages that would eventually be published together as Experimenta Typografica II (“II” indicating this later iteration). Between 1943 and 1945, Sandberg collaborated with the Amsterdam printer Frans Duwaer to produce a series of near-unique, collage-like compositions, incorporating drawings, texts, and found materials. He utilized scraps of paper torn from magazines and other recycled sources due to wartime material shortages. Sandberg’s pamphlets blurred the lines between the unique and the multiple and paired the raw materiality of the printing press—the tactility of paper, the indexical marks of the press—with fragmentary quotations on art and philosophy by a wide range of thinkers from Le Corbusier to Goethe to Karl Marx. Rearranged and reprinted, these wartime traces form the contents of the postwar compilation, Experimenta Typografica II. The torn letterforms that appear on the front and back covers of the book roughly represent the “e” and “t” of the title. The ambiguity of the “e”—like the ambiguity of the Roman numeral II (two) written like the number 11 (eleven) on the title page—is intentional, allowing for misunderstanding and slippage of meaning. 1▪ Front cover Experimenta Typografica II: Das Konstruktive / Tektonikh (Typographical Experiments: The Constructive / Tectonics) Cologne: Verlag Gallerie der Spiegel, 1956 (after works created between 1943 and 1945) Printer: C. A. Spin & Zn, Amsterdam 60-page book, letterpress on various paper types (brown packing paper, translucent vellum, rag paper, etc.) 8 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 5/8” 2–9▪ Select spreads 10▪ Back cover #willemsandberg #graphicdesign #bookdesign #typography #experimentatypografica #typographicalexperiments #letterpress #merrillcberman

In her capacity as Director of the @harvardartmuseums for the last seven years, Martha Tedeschi has been a great friend and supporter of the collection. To mark her retirement, Merrill presented the Harvard Art Museums with the gift of Vasily Kandinsky’s iconic book Klänge (Sounds) of 1913 “in honor of Martha Tedeschi.” Hosted by his longtime friend Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum @busch_hall , and Peter Murphy, Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow, Merrill and our valued team member Robert Gorman toured the galleries, where paintings by Carl Grossberg and Jankel Adler (given respectively in 2019 & 2023) are on view. Bravo to our friends at Harvard, to the marriage of our collections, and to the power of these objects to educate future generations beyond our personal stewardship. 1▪Merrill & Lynette Roth with Carl Grossberg’s Komposition mit Turbine (Composition with Turbine), 1929 2▪Carl Grossberg’s Komposition mit Turbine (Composition with Turbine), 1929 on view with Charles Sheeler’s Upper Deck, 1929 3▪Merrill & Lynette with Jankel Adler’s Artist, 1927 4▪Herbert Bayer’s poster, Section Allemande (German Section) 1930, together with a selection of Bauhaus works in the Art Study Room of the Harvard Art Museums 5▪Merrill with Carl Grossberg’s studies for Industrielandschaft (Industrial Landscape), 1934 and a selection of works by Gustavs Klucis in the Art Study Room of the Harvard Art Museums 6▪Carl Grossberg’s studies for Industrielandschaft (Industrial Landscape), 1934 7▪Carl Grossberg’s studies for Industrielandschaft (Industrial Landscape), 1934 and a selection of works by Gustavs Klucis 8▪Gustavs Klucis’s Smotri v vitrinu (Look in the Shop Window), c. 1923-1926 and VKhUTEMAS: Fundamentals, 1924-1926 9▪A selection of Gustavs Klucis’s photomontages featuring Stalin 10▪Merrill, Lynette Roth, & Peter Murphy #carlgrossberg #charlessheeler #jankeladler #herbertbayer #gustavsklucis #marthatedeschi #merrillcberman

2/2 posts Select graphic materials from the legendary cabarets Die Hölle (Hell) and Die Fledermaus (The Bat) founded in Vienna, continued. 1▪ Heinrich Lefler (born Vienna; 1863–1919) Poster: Die Hölle: Theater und Cabaret, Directors: Leopold and Sigmund Natzler, 1910–1914 Lithograph, 18 1/8 x 11 3/4” 2▪ Bertold Löffler (born Nieder-Rosenthal bei Reichenberg, Bohemia [now Liberec, Czech Republic], 1874–1960) Leaflet: Fledermaus: Theater und Kabarett (Bat: Theater and Cabaret), 1907 Lithograph, 11.5 x 8” 3▪ Program: Kabarett Fledermaus (Cabaret Fledermaus), [1. Heft] (1907) Lithograph, 9 3/4 x 9 1/4”, closed Cover image & layout: Carl Otto Czeschka (born Vienna, 1878–1960) Internal illustration: Oskar Kokoschka (born Pöchlarn, Lower Austria, 1886–1980) 4▪ Program: Kabarett Fledermaus (Cabaret Fledermaus), 2. Heft (1907) Lithograph, 9 3/4 x 9 1/4” Cover layout: Carl Otto Czeschka (born Vienna, 1878–1960) Cover image & internal illustration: Moriz Jung (born Nikolsburg, Moravia [now Mikulov, Czech Republic], 1885–1915) 5▪ Josef Hoffmann (born Pirnitz, Moravia [now Brtnice, Czech Republic], 1870–1956) Program: Fledermaus: Theater und Kabarett (Bat: Theater and Cabaret), 1910 Letterpress, 7 1/8 x 5 3/8” #diehölle #diefledermaus #heinrichlefler #bertoldlöffler #carlottoczeschka #oskarkokoschka #morizjung #josefhoffmann #posterdesign #programdesign #leaflet #merrillcberman

1/2 posts Following in the tradition of Paris’s Chat Noir (founded in 1881) and Munich’s Elf Scharfrichter (founded in 1901), the legendary cabarets Die Hölle (Hell) and Die Fledermaus (The Bat) were founded in Vienna within a year of each other and within walking distance of one another. There was a continuous exchange of performers between the two establishments. The brothers, actors, and theater entrepreneurs Leopold Natzler (1860–1926) and Sigmund Natzler (1862–1913) opened Die Hölle in the cellar of the Theater an der Wien near the Naschmarkt in the Fall of 1906. Heinrich Lefler (1863-1919) and Joseph Urban (1872–1933), co-founders of the Hagenbund artists’ association, designed Die Hölle theater’s interior. An image by Lefler, depicting a woman and a satyr dancing head-to-head (see above) became the cabaret’s emblem. Die Hölle existed until 1928. Brainchild of the Wienier Werkstätte, Die Fledermaus represented a fulfillment of the group’s ambition to create a public, functioning Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The cabaret was established in the cellar of an apartment complex on the corner of Kärntner Strasse and Johannesgasse. Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956) determined the overall concept, the architectural program, many of its interior features and furnishings, as well as graphic works such as poster and program design. Hoffmann commissioned Michael Powolny (1871–1954) and Bertold Löffler (1874–1960), co-founders of the Wiener Keramik workshop, to create over seven-thousand multicolored tiles for the cabaret’s bar. Die Fledermaus operated until 1913. Select graphic materials related to both cabarets are presented in two posts. 1▪Heinrich Lefler (born Vienna; 1863–1919) Poster: Hölle Künstler-Bar neu eröffnet (Hell: Newly Opened Artists' Bar), c. 1910 Lithograph, 25 x 18 5/8” 2▪Urban Janke (born Blottendorf, Bohemia [now Polevsko, Czech Republic]; 1887–1915) Poster: Pierrots letztes Abenteuer (Pierrot's Last Adventure), Die Hölle, 1911 Lithograph, 18 3/4 x 24 7/8” #diehölle #diefledermaus #heinrichlefler #josefhoffmann #michaelpowolny #bertoldlöffler #posterdesign #vienna #urbanjanke #gesamtkunstwerk #merrillcberman

Otl Aicher (German, 1922–1991) Kabarett Voli Geiler Walter Morath vom Cornichon Zürich, 1954 Lithograph, 16 1/4 x 15 7/8" (41.25 x 40.5 cm) See our link in bio for a pdf of our publication on Otl Aicher. #otlaicher #typography #poster #ulmschoolofdesign #ulmschool #graphicdesign #lithography #merrillcberman

This week, we launch the third issue of Research. This essay, written by Adrian Sudhalter, unpacks Carl Grossberg’s painting Interieur (Stahlmöbel) of 1935. For Sudhalter, this work, which was painted two years into the Nazi regime, is “an image of modernism compromised—of the innovation and formal purity of the tubular steel chair degraded, popularized, and conforming to a rigid new order.” For a downloadable PDF, please see our link in bio. For images of additional works by Grossberg in the collection, please see our Artists page on our website. Research offers scholarly investigations of a single, significant work (or group of works) in the collection. Forthcoming issues feature essays by outside scholars, whom we have had the pleasure of hosting and engaging in critical discussion. #carlgrossberg #grossberg #neuesachlichkeit #newobjectivity #germanpainting #germanart #germanartist #interieur #oilpainting #mcbresearch #merrillcberman

Abram Games (British, 1914–1996) 1▪Murphy Television, 1950 2▪Murphy Television, 1949 Both: Lithograph, 22 9/16 x 16 1/2” (57.3 x 41.9 cm) #abramgames #murphyradio #lithography #merrillcberman

2/2 posts Mihály Biró (Hungarian, 1886–1948), continued. 1▪ Seifen (Soap), M. E. Mayer Parfümerie- und Seifenfabrik, Vienna, c. 1921 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 48 1/2 x 36 1/2” R: Poster. Lithograph, 49 5/8 x 37 3/8” Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (Pl 5184) 2▪ III. Wiener Internationale Messe (Third International Viennese Trade Fair) (September 10–18, 1922), Vienna, 1922 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 49 1/2” x 37 1/4” R: Poster. Lithograph, 49 5/8 x 37 3/8” Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (Pl 1697) 3▪ ABADIE: Papier a cigarettes (ABADIE Cigarette Paper), 1924 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 96 3/4 x 36 3/4” R: Poster. Lithograph, 99 1/8 x 37 3/8” Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (Pl 5192) 4▪ De Telegraat (The Telegraph), 1925 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 49 1/4 x 36 1/4” R: Poster. Lithograph, 49.6 x 37.4” (126 x 95 cm). Private collection 5▪ Maquette for poster: Ehrlich Schuhe, c. 1927 Gouache on paper, 49 1/4 x 36 1/4” 6▪ Poster: Kast und Ehinger Druckfarben Fabrik (Kast und Ehinger Printer’s Ink Factory), Wien, c. 1920–1928. Lithograph, 26 x 15 1/2” #mihálybiró #mihalybiro #hungarianartist #posterdesign #maquette #merrillcberman

1/2 posts In 1912, Mihály Biró (Hungarian, 1886–1948) created the first version of his “red man” motif in the form of a poster for Népszava (The People’s Voice), a publishing house (and left-wing trade union newspaper) run by his older brother Dezsö. His monumental male nude wielding a hammer, a proletarian hero symbolizing victory of the Hungarian workers’ movement, became an omnipresent icon of Socialist power. A leading propaganda artist for the short-lived Soviet Republic of Hungary (March 21 to August 1, 1919), Biró was forced to leave Hungary for Vienna on November 1, 1919. In Vienna, he was active as a commercial poster designer. His “letter-image” advertisements in which he created pictorial contexts for letters—such as his “MEM” designs for M.E. Mayer’s perfume and soap company featured here—are among his most striking commercial works. For more biographical information on Biró, see our link in bio. 1▪ Poster: Népszava (The People's Voice), year. XLI, no. 1 (January 1, 1913), c. 1913–1918. Letterpress and lithograph, 49 1/2 x 36 7/8" 2▪ Poster: De Luxe Rasierklingen (Deluxe Razor Blades), M. E. Mayer Parfümerie- und Seifenfabrik, Vienna, 1922 Lithograph, 12 1/2 x 14" 3▪ Damokles Klinge (Blade of Damocles) Razor Blades, M. E. Mayer Parfümerie- und Seifenfabrik, Vienna, 1922 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 50 1/4 x 37 1/4” R: Poster. Lithograph, 49 x 37 3/8” Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (PI 25) 4▪Seifen, Klingen (Soap, Blades), M. E. Mayer Parfümerie- und Seifenfabrik, Vienna, c. 1925 L: Maquette for poster. Gouache on paper, 59 1/4 x 36 1/2” R: Poster. Lithograph, 62 1/2 x 37 3/8” Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (PI 1112) #mihálybiró #mihalybiro #hungarianartist #posterdesign #maquette #népszava #socialistart #merrillcberman

Opening this week at the @meadartmuseum , Amherst College, is the exhibition The Juncture: Ukrainian Artists in Search of Modernity and Identity (May 24–October 13, 2024). Please see our link in bio for the exhibition webpage. Organized by guest curator Konstantin Akinsha, the exhibition examines “the work of three leading modern artists from Ukraine who produced work during an astonishing period of the country’s cultural renaissance in the early twentieth century: Alexander Archipenko (1887–1964), Oleksandr Bohomazov (1880–1930), and Vasyl Yermilov (1894–1968).” This is the first exhibition of Modern Ukrainian art organized in North America since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022. We are delighted to be able to support this exhibition with the loan of six rare works by Vasyl Yermilov, pictured here. 1▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Maquette for book cover: Workers’ Library: Literature and Art, c. 1930 Gouache, ink, and cut-and-pasted gelatin silver print on paper 10 5/8 x 16 3/4” 2▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Maquette for book cover: Oleksander Maryamov, Shores of the Twelve Waters,1930 Gouache, ink, and cut-and-pasted halftone prints on paper 12 1/8 x 24” 3▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Poster: All-Ukrainian exhibition dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of the October Revolution, 1927 Woodblock, 39 3/8 x 29 1/8” 4▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Proof for poster: Exhibition of Ukrainian Books and Periodicals on the 10th Anniversary of the October Revolution, 1927 Woodblock, 38 5/8 x 26 1/4” 5▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Poster: State Publishing House of Ukraine, c. 1929–1930 31 3/8 x 23 5/8” 6▪Vasyl Yermilov (Ukrainian, 1894–1968) Periodical (Ukrainian and Esperanto): Avantgarde, 1929 Letterpress, 12 x 9 x 1/8” #vasylyermilov #yermilov #ukrainiandesign #ukrainiantypography #meadartmuseum #amherstcollege #konstantinakinsha #merrillcberman

2/2 posts Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945), continued. From the print portfolio: Käthe Kollwitz: Handzeichnungen in originalgetreuen Wiedergaben (Drawings in Faithful Reproductions). Edited by Fritz Boettger and with an introduction by Walther Georg Hartmann. Dresden: Emil Richter Verlag, [1920]. Ausgabe “C” (unnumbered). Portfolio cover, colophon, and 24 offset lithographs of varied dimensions mounted on Bristol board, 30 x 23 1/4”. 1▪Plate 6: Studie zum “Losbruch” Blatt 5 aus dem Bauernkrieg (Study for “Outbreak” Plate 5 of Peasant’s Revolt) Plate 7: “Gefangene,” Kohlezeichnung zu Blatt 7 aus dem Bauernkrieg (“Prisoners,” Charcoal Drawing for Plate 7 of Peasant’s Revolt) 2▪Plate 8: “Vergewaltigt,” Bleifeder zu Blatt 2 aus dem Bauernkrieg (“Raped,” pencil drawing for Plate 2 of Peasant’s Revolt) Plate 9: Studie zur Carmagnole (Study for Carmagnole) 3▪Plate 10: Abschied (Farewell) Plate 11: Abschied (überhängender Arm) (Farewell [Overhanging Arm]) 4▪Plate 12: Weiblicher Rückenakt auf grünem Tuch (Female Nude from the Back on Green Cloth) Plate 13: Frau, Kind liebkosend (Woman Caressing Child) 5▪Plate 14: Blatt mit Kinderköpfen (Sheet with Childrens’ Heads) Plate 15: Kauernde Frau mit Kind im Schoss (Crouching Woman with Child on her Lap) 6▪Plate 16: Kleines Kind im Arm gehalten (Small, Cradled Child) Plate 17: Heimarbeiterin (Home Worker) 7▪Plate 18: Verunglücktes Kind (Child Victim of an Accident) Plate 19: Zeichnung für den Simplicissimus (Drawing for [the journal] Simplicissimus) 8▪Plate 20: Zeichnung für den Simplicissimus (Drawing for [the journal] Simplicissimus) Plate 21: Mutter am Bett des toten Kindes (Mother at the Bed of Dead Child) 9▪Plate 22: Farbzeichnung zur “Pietà” (Color Drawing for “Pietà”) Plate 23: Mütter (Mother) 10▪Plate 24: Eltern (Parents) #kathekollwitz #käthekollwitz #drawing #drawings #germanart #merrillcberman

1/2 posts In 1919, Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945) was the first woman to become a full member of the Prussian Akademie der Künste, an appointment that came with the honorary title “Professor.” The following year, she agreed to publish this large-format portfolio of twenty-four offset lithographic reproductions of drawings she had created over the past two decades. Because of Kollwitz’s role in selecting the works reproduced, this portfolio, published by Emil Richter in Dresden (thus the nickname “Richter-Mappe,” or “Richter Portfolio”), is recognized as a significant document of the fifty-three-year-old artist’s own assessment of her accomplishments to date. Less celebrated, however, are the plates themselves, which tend to be dismissed by print specialists as mere reproductions. Commercial techniques had progressed to such a point in 1920, however, that the detail and verisimilitude of these reproductions is exceptional. For Kollwitz, the potential of commercial reproductive processes to circulate her works to the broader public at an affordable price was paramount. We are inspired to highlight this portfolio by Starr Figura’s dazzling exhibition Käthe Kollwitz, on view at @themuseumofmodernart , New York until July 20. Please see our link in bio for a link to the exhibition webpage.  From the print portfolio: Käthe Kollwitz: Handzeichnungen in originalgetreuen Wiedergaben (Drawings in Faithful Reproductions). Edited by Fritz Boettger and with an introduction by Walther Georg Hartmann. Dresden: Emil Richter Verlag, [1920]. Ausgabe “C” (unnumbered). Portfolio cover, colophon, and 24 offset lithographs of varied dimensions mounted on Bristol board, 30 x 23 1/4” 1▪Käthe Kollwitz’s “Richter-Mappe” (1920) Title Page Plate 1: Selbstbildnis 1916 (Self-Portrait 1916) 2▪Plate 2: Zeichnung von H. K. (Drawing of H.K.) Plate 3: Kinderstudie zu “Zertretene” (Study of a Child for “Downtroden”) 3▪Plate 4: Frauenstudie zu “Zertretene” (Study of a Woman for “Downtroden”) Plate 5: Zeichnung zu Blatt II “Tod” aus dem Weberzyklus (Drawing for sheet II “Death” of Weavers’ Revolt) #kathekollwitz #käthekollwitz #drawing #drawings #selfportrait #germanart #merrillcberman