Publications in the Willem Sandberg exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion

Willem Sandberg from type to image

Red, blue and yellow – the primary colours, design, experiment, type, play, rough, collage, asymmetric are the words that may spring to mind as you walk round the Willem Sandberg exhibition at De La Warr Pavilion says Roz Cran.

Willem Sandberg was Director of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam from 1945 to 1963, a man of strong beliefs, a prolific worker and someone who pushed and changed ideas about graphic design and typography. The gallery is full of Sandberg’s designs: colourful posters, catalogues, stationery and booklets ranged along the walls and in vitrines. In addition to his role of managing the Museum he took on the design work, making experimental graphic publicity material.

open-oog (Open Eye) magazine 1946

Sandberg was a Curator at the Stedelijk in the 1940s and you can watch a short film in the gallery: The Stedelijk in the Second World War. He was instrumental in getting a Vault built in the coastal sand dunes, well away from ports that might have been bombed by the Nazis, in which to hide important art. He was a member of a resistance group that produced fake Identity Cards of good quality. This group also tried to burn down the Record Office that could detect the difference between real and forged cards. Many of his friends were captured and executed and he went into hiding for two years until the end of the war. During this difficult time he was able to experiment with typography and produced a number of booklets using simple techniques of cut and torn paper, collage, different typefaces and his own handwriting, on any papers he could get hold of. He named this work: experimenta typografica. Some examples are on display. He had honed his ideas and techniques and materials and put them into practice as Director after the war.

Henry Moore poster 1950

When he took over as Director he began to shape the Museum into a modern gallery with bright, airy spaces in sharp contrast to the usual dark, reverential rooms of the time. This was one of the first museums to have a café, library and reading room and he painted the whole building white to create a modern place to attract new audiences to see the art and to encourage dialogue and engagement.   These aims are still current. The Tate Guide arrived this week and the bright, spacey listings are also encouraging conversation and participation in art events. De La Warr Pavilion seems an apt place to show Sandberg’s graphic designs, itself being airy, white and modern. Although sadly this gallery is dimmed as the windows are blocked out to deliver low light – perhaps to protect the colours in the posters.

Sandberg thought posters and especially catalogues were deeply important in publicizing shows and attracting people to the museum. He saw catalogues as a way to entice visitors and made them available before an exhibition opened. He produced more than 320 catalogues during his time at the Stedelijk – this must be a record. About a quarter of his material is on show at De La Warr Pavilion.

9 jaar stedelijk museum 1945-54 (9 years of Stedelijk Museum) exhibition catalogue 1954

After Sandberg left the Stedelijk in 1963, he was heavily involved in setting up the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. He was also part of the committee for the Pompidou Centre. He continued to design, lecture, arrange exhibitions, teach at Harvard until he died in 1984.

The Israel Museum guide 1965

The words in my mind as I leave the show are: alive, vital, daring, experimental, exciting.

Willem Sandberg from type to image, curated by Carolien Glazenburg, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in collaboration with Fraser Muggeridge and De La Warr Pavilion, continues at De La Warr Pavilion, Marina, Bexhill-on-Sea TN40 1DP, Monday to Sunday 10am–6pm,
until 4 September 2016.

Also in: Visual Arts