In the first half of the 20th century, the journal flourished as an artistic medium. Revolutionary, avant-garde art movements like Dadaism, Futurism, Surrealism, and Constructivism used journals to circulate new theories on art, demand social and artistic change, and to garner attention.

This exhibition presents journals from five continents that are particularly important within their individual contexts. These publications deliberately defied current conventions within art, design, and society to visually express new ideas. In doing so, they not only set standards for art but also exemplified innovative, modern design.

Avant-garde means “vanguard.” Originally a military term, it refers to the part of an army that advances first and therefore takes on the greatest risk. In art history, avant-garde denotes the early 20^th century movements that sought to revolutionize the understanding of art and unify art and life.

In Europe, the avant-garde reached its zenith between 1910 and 1933. Specifically, the destruction of the First World War and the downfall of major European empires and their associated value systems sparked the idea for a radical new beginning in art. Around 1910, numerous avant-garde movements began to emerge, alternately supporting and opposing one another.

Many avant-garde movements also pursued political goals. Some put themselves in service of revolutionary Communism. Whereas the avant-garde was defamed as “degenerate” in Nazi Germany, it developed in tandem with Fascism in Italy, where artists propagated the notion of war as a means of renewal. Avant-garde movements were also founded outside of the West, for example in Japan, South America, India, and North Africa.

In the 19th century, the journal emerged as a new medium. At first, satirical journals were especially popular. Artists discovered the journal as a medium in the 20th century. Compared to books, journals are quick and relatively inexpensive to produce. Their content relates to the here and now. Since they are ephemeral, they also offered new creative freedom.

Almost all avant-garde journals are characterized by original cover designs with modern typography and artistic elements. The typeface design, paper selection, and the possibilities offered by different printing processes widened the scope far beyond text and image. In many cases, the covers themselves seem like works of art. Others may seem conventional at first glance, but then startle audiences with their subversive content.

Today, avant-garde journals are regarded as unique objects. Commanding high prices, they are displayed like artworks. Because these publications were not designed for long-term preservation or were only released on small editions, many avant-garde journals are extremely rare and often worth as much as the works of art reproduced in their pages.

With the success of the journal, paper became the most important artistic medium. It was not only the carrier of images that could be reproduced cheaply and on a large scale, but also a medium for new ideas. As a material that artists could control themselves, paper also allowed them to influence the public perception of their work.

In contrast to traditional book printing, where design and content are separate, avant-garde journals unify material, design, typography, and content. Some journals played with the possibilities of paper by adding colour or perforating it. Others used high-gloss paper to emphasize their technical and industrial character. Still others toyed with the effects of transparency, printing several layers on top of one another. Some relied on high-quality production or limited editions and thus took on the character of art objects.

In the early 20th century, the illustrated journal became the prevailing form of mass media. Avant-garde journals took advantage of the popularity of this new medium and set themselves apart from the conventions of the time in terms of content and design. Usually, they were only aimed at a small readership.

Many avant-garde journals used typeface design to visualize radical ideas and garner attention. Expressive fonts and typefaces signalled dynamism and a break with tradition.

The original typeface design of the avant-garde journals set standards for the development of a new typography that emphasized expressiveness, clarity, and simplicity. In the 1920s, design ideas that were initially only used by radical artists’ groups were incorporated into advertising, where they still have a presence today.

Many avant-garde journals refer to one another. Avant-garde-minded artists from all over Europe and the world used the format of the journal to network, report on the latest exhibitions and developments abroad, and disseminate reproductions of artworks.

Some artists were especially active as networkers and editors of journals, especially the gallerist Herwarth Walden in Berlin, the Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in Italy, the Constructivist Karel Teige in Prague, and the Dadaist Francis Picabia in France and the USA, as well as the painter and sculptor Sophie Taeuber-Arp. By publishing journals, they strengthened their own position as leaders of the modern movement in their respective contexts.

Many journals have the character of artistic manifestos. The authors contributing to them thus put themselves at the service of an artistic idea. At the same time, there were often pages advertising journals in other cities or countries. Often, the only thing they had in common was their call for a radical new beginning and rejection of the institutional and cultural establishment.

Avant-garde journals were often published in several languages or included content in different languages. This multilingualism reflects the realities of the lives of many avant-garde artists, who lived in exile or migrated during the World Wars.

Avant-garde art movements were often internationally oriented. The artists involved had worldwide networks that they maintained in part by publishing in journals.

The use of language also corresponds to the geopolitical circumstances of the time. French, German, and Russian were used as lingua franca in Europe, whereas English was not. Multilingual publications primarily appeared in cities such as Prague or Belgrade, which were outside of the cultural and political centres of Western power and exposed to different cultural influences.

As non-Western countries like Japan and Brazil modernized, avant-garde movements also developed. They published journals that often built linguistic and cultural bridges to Western modernism. 

Der Sturm was one of the first journals to advocate for radical modernism and to publicize Italian Futurism and French Cubism in Germany.

It broke with the decorative and figurative aesthetic of more popular magazines. Instead, it published Expressionist and Constructivist woodcuts and drawings as well as texts and “word art” by avant-garde writers.

The journal saw itself not only as an artistic voice of the future but also as a political one: Its articles on women’s rights and contraception sparked controversy. At the same time, the journal was an advertising platform for the Berlin gallery of the same name, which opened in 1912.

Dada journals are considered the epitome of this avant-garde medium. A paradigmatic example is the way the design conventions of the time are upended by the wildly mixed large and small, colourful and bold letters.

In these publications, the political, social, and artistic instability of the First World War is expressed in a wholly new and provocative visual form.

The Zurich journals were printed in the shop owned by anarchist Wilhelm Julius Herberger (1888–1965), who was arrested during the general strike of 1918.

Since Dada journals were printed with a low budget and during a period of rationing for paper and ink, they appeared irregularly, in small print runs or as a single issue.

291 was published by the gallery of the same name, which was run by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) at 291 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Its aim was to present the United States as the epicentre of artistic innovation, thereby shifting the focus away from Europe.

Influenced by the work of Francis Picabia (1879–1953) and Marius de Zayas (1880–1961), the journal moved between Dada and Futurism. In terms of aesthetic and content, it explored the intersection between photography, modern technologies and art. The typography was expressively designed to reveal “inner emotions.” The editors referred to this design principle as “psychotype.”

From the outset, 291 was planned as a short-lived journal, so nothing was spared in its production: It was printed using high-quality paper and ink.

During the interwar period, Hannover developed into a cultural centre. Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948) founded the journal Merz there to represent his one-man art movement of the same name.

Like Dada, the title refers to the invention of a word by chance. The first issue of Merz was dedicated to “Holland Dada” and published in a small format. After issue 8-9 Nasci, which was designed by El Lissitzky (1890–1941), the format became more varied, experimental, and constructivist.

Schwitters also worked as a graphic designer. In 1928, he founded the international “Circle of New Advertising Designers,” which took up ideas from avant-garde art and was considered a pioneer of modern graphic design.

The journal Cercle et Carré, which was dedicated to abstract art, was created as a counterweight to Surrealism in Paris and to bring together artists interested in Constructivism.

The focus of the publication, which consists of just a few pages, was not on printing art but rather texts. After only three issues and one exhibition, the Paris group disbanded.

A cofounder of the journal, Joaquín Torres García (1874–1949), returned to his home country of Uruguay and continued the journal there as Círculo y Cuadrado.

The bauhaus journal was the official publication of the eponymous school for art and design in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin (1919–1933), where Paul Klee taught (1921–1931). The school played a central role in disseminating avant-garde ideas in Germany and beyond.

For example, the bauhaus journal used the universal typeface that Herbert Bayer (1900–1985) developed at the school. All letters are lower case, their design based on a simple line and circle. The journal published theoretical texts and reviews of the instructors’ work, thus raising the school’s profile.

Its final issue was dedicated to Paul Klee, who was leaving the Bauhaus at the time of publication.

The title of the journal ReD is an abbreviation of Revue Devětsil. Devětsil was a group of Czechoslovakian artists, architects, and writers who subscribed to the idea of an avant-garde, abstract, and proletarian art.

By contrast, they saw contemporary art movements such as Futurism and Cubism as manifestations of capitalism. ReD refers to the journal’s left-wing political program: the “red signal of a new cultural epoch to come.”

On the one hand, the journal was deeply embedded in the Czech art scene. On the other, it was cosmopolitan and promoted networking between avant-gardes across Western, Eastern, and Central Europe.

The journal Stile Futurista was edited by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944), the author of the Futurist manifesto, who made a name for himself in Italy as the editor of numerous journals and manifestos. Later, he became a Fascist politician. Stile Futurista was dedicated to the aesthetic of the machine and its interactions with art and life.

Its covers took up key Futurist themes, including the idea of a social revolution through technological progress and the celebration of war. Whereas early Futurist journals drew attention through expressive typography, Stile Futurista was more conventional.

The publication exemplifies the connection between Futurism and Fascism, making it clear that avant-garde art movements could also have a totalitarian character.

Kentiku Sekai (World of Architecture) was Japan’s first architecture journal. Its content ranged from traditional Japanese architectural design to international modernist architecture. In this context, architecture was seen as a form of critical engagement with societal and technological developments.

The magazine was published during a period of upheaval in Japan, which is reflected in the typeface design, for example. Increasingly, it was not only read from top to bottom and from right to left, as is standard in Japan, but from left to right in the “Western” style. Thus, in Kentiku Sekai, texts are laid out in both ways, so it can be read from front to back and vice versa.

As a result, the back resembles a cover: With the same information as the front, but in Latin script, it features a world map with all signs pointing to Japan.

Minotaure is the first avant-garde journal to use full-colour printing. The high-quality reproduction of art was its aim. All the journal’s sales revenue went toward its elaborate production.

For each of the eleven issues, a different artist interpreted the mythological creature of the title. Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) was the first to contribute, followed by Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), Joan Miró (1893–1983), and Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), among others.

The goal of this Surrealist journal was to radically expand human fantasy and imagination; to explore the unknown and the suppressed; and to bring together the arts: It featured texts on poetry, music, psychoanalysis, and ethnology. The experimental design of the pages, with numerous precisely arranged images, lends them the character of a work of art.

The bulletin abstrakt konkret was published by the Galerie des Eaux Vives in Zurich as a mouthpiece for Allianz, a Swiss group of avant-garde artists dedicated to the promotion of modern art. With an emphasis on abstract and Concrete art, the publication was closely linked to the “Zurich Concretists”.

At the time abstrakt konkret was produced, modern art in Switzerland was the subject of heated debate and at odds with the nationally oriented art of the “Spiritual Defense” movement.

Some of the covers were printed on brightly coloured paper. Each one was created by a different artist, including Max Bill (1908–1994), Verena Loewensberg (1912–1986), and Richard Paul Lohse (1902–1994), among others. In addition to several original prints, the issues featured essays on art movements.

Arte Madí Universal was launched as the publication organ of the Grupo Madí in Argentina, which was dedicated to abstract (“concrete”) art.

The group’s manifesto, published in the very first issue, proclaimed “dynamism” as the journal’s main theme. In its pages, paintings were juxtaposed with poetry and pieces of music. The paintings framing is often unevenly shaped. Colour illustrations were glued in, the standard for journals of the time.

To gain a worldwide audience, the journal also published texts in French. The meaning of “Madí” remains obscure: Does it refer to Movimento de Arte De Invención or is it an invented word, like Merz or Dada?

The French-Arabic journal Souffles / Anfas was founded in post-colonial Morocco by the poet Abdellatif Laâbi (*1942). The editor and contributors saw themselves as “linguistic guerillas.” Opposed to Western cultural dominance, Souffles was a manifesto for modernism in the Arab-speaking world.

Art was seen as a tool for social and political change. Primarily dedicated to poetry, literature, and linguistic experiments, the journal also published texts on visual art.

During the first few years, the cover’s colour changed, but it always featured the black or white sun logo. Eventually, Souffles was banned due to its political content, and Laâbi was imprisoned for many years.

Habitat was founded in 1950 by the Italian couple Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992) and Pietro Bardi (1900–1999), architects and collectors who had immigrated to Brazil.

The journal was key to disseminating modern art and architecture in that country. It challenged the notion that the appreciation of art and architecture was only for the elite. Furthermore, it aimed to overcome the social equality in a rapidly changing country.

Lina Bo Bardi, who was responsible for the design during the first few years, repeatedly juxtaposed modernist and Indigenous architecture and art to break down conventional definitions of art.

Fokus. Journals of the Avant-Garde
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
19.10.24 – 16.2.25

Acknowledgement:
Sammlung Dora und Walter Labhart
Archives de la construction moderne – École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Bibliothek für Gestaltung Basel
gta Archiv / ETH Zürich
Kunsthaus Zürich
Bibliothek des Basler Kunstvereins / Basler Kunstverein

Digital Guide:
Implemantation: Netnode AG
Project: Dominik Imhof

The Zentrum Paul Klee is barrier-free and offers inclusive events. 

With the support of:

ZENTRUM PAUL KLEE    
Monument im Fruchtland 3, CH-3006 Bern    
T +41 (0)31 359 01 01    
info@zpk.org    
zpk.org