This little-known cover design for the Italian magazine La Pubblicità (L’Ufficio Moderno, Rivista Mensile, Ottobre 1935-XIII) is one of Schawinsky’s most remarkable, not only for its design qualities but for its ability to reinforce his important role in disseminating modernist ideas throughout Europe and beyond.
The son of a Polish-Jew, Xanti Schawinsky (Born Switzerland, 1904–1979) enrolled as an early student of the Bauhaus in 1924, before moving to Milan, Italy in 1933 where he collaborated with Antonio Boggeri’s newly opened Studio Boggeri, arguably the most important design studio in pre/post war Italy. Three years later, Schawinsky left for the United States where he teamed up with Josef Albers to teach at Black Mountain College.
Theatrical and expressive, this cover design explodes off the page with its exaggerated scale, experimental halftone printing, abstract shape, layering and unique color combination. The black angular, sans-serif text perfectly placed over the smiling face vibrates the page, creating both depth and motion to the design. Schawinsky pays homage to his Bauhaus roots with a photo of two youthful and energetic Bauhaus students taken by his friend and Bauhaus jazz band member T. Lux Feininger. Full of joy, this lively design is as optimistic and spontaneous as Schawinsky himself, maybe how he felt when he arrived in Italy or perhaps the idea that youth will transform modern society. This issue includes a feature article written by Schawinsky aptly titled Pubblicità funzionale.
*Bottom photo by T. Lux Feininger (1910–2011), Untitled (with Georg Hartmann and Miriam Manuckiam), 1928. (Source: Baisers Volés)
Design is fine. History is mine. 