1984
Poster: "Design ist Kunst, die sich nützlich macht"
(design is art that makes itself useful)
Studio Mendell & Oberer, Munich
Design: Pierre Mendell, Copy: Carlos Obers
Offset (multi-colored), 118.9 x 84.1 cm
Client: The Neue Sammlung, Munich
Printer: Wartelsteiner, Garching
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The striking manner in which the Neue Sammlung's
motto "Design ist Kunst, die sich nützlich macht" (design is art that
makes itself useful) is illustrated in printed form is characteristic of the
work of the Mendell & Oberer studio, which has been responsible for the museum's
image for 15 years now; several of the posters designed for the Neue Sammlung
have been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art
in New York.
It is the spiritual mindset that distinguishes good graphic design:
stringent, reduced in form, at all times powerful, never faking anything. This
was the basis for a truly individual signature of the highest quality, one
that is flexible in its response to the specific task at hand and thus satisfies
the wishes and requirements of a wide variety of clients from the worlds of
industry and culture. For this reason the numerous posters designed by Mendell & Oberer
are so simple, yet convincing, and, despite referencing a particular event
and thus wholly up to date, are nonetheless of relevance long after the event.
Pierre Mendell
(born 1929 in Essen)
Lived in France between 1934 and 1947; emigrated to the USA in 1947; in 1953 returned to France, where he worked in the family textiles company; in 1958 began studying graphic design under Armin Hofmann at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basle; the Mendell & Oberer studio was founded in 1961 in Munich.
Klaus Oberer
(born 1937 in Basle)
1955-59 studied graphic design under Armin Hofmann at the Schule für Gestaltung in Basle; 1959-61 worked for Michael Engelmann in Munich; the Mendell & Oberer studio was founded in 1961 in Munich.
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