Design, Graphics, Decorative Arts, Poster
The Museum für Gestaltung Zürich is the sole institution in Switzerland that, from 1875 onwards, has collected posters, graphic design, and objects that represent quotidian design alongside more artistically ambitious exemplars of the design culture. The four collections – Design, Graphics, Decorative Arts and Poster – are of international importance, and, with over 500,000 objects, boast a number of significant works from the history of aesthetic and technical development. Since 2014, all four collections are combined under a single roof at Toni-Areal.
Collection
The Design Collection is devoted to the design of twentieth-century mass-produced objects, and the philosophy they reflect. The focus is on a broad representation of Swiss design, juxtaposed with reference objects of international provenance. The collected objects include items by well-known designers and commonplace objects of anonymous design. The collection now boasts over 50,000 objects, and includes limited-run mass-produced objects augmented by prototypes and models. In addition to acquisitions and donations, the collection includes on permanent loan exemplars of product design, generously supported by the Swiss Confederation, Federal Office of Culture Bern since 1989. Parallel to the object collection, an archive of Swiss Design is being compiled to serve the needs of academic research work. Design drawings, user manuals, patent records, advertising materials, source texts, as well as parts of studio, company, and association archives form the basis of the documentation that extends far beyond the individual object.
The Graphics Collection, in existence since the founding of the museum, is unique in Switzerland in terms of its diversity and its current focus on European graphic design. It documents aesthetic, technical, and cultural changes in our daily lives, from Gutenberg to the present day. Originally compiled as a collection of international works relevant for art and craft instruction at the former school of arts and crafts, the Graphics Collection encompasses all significant graphic disciplines. Once comprised of drawings, print graphics, as well as illustrated books and textbooks from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, over time the collection has come to include private press work, East Asian works, as well as artists’ books, photography, and graphic design. Today the collecting activity concentrates on Switzerland and Europe, with a particular focus on advertising and information graphics, lettering, typography, and book design. The collection is being enlarged by the acquisition of current works by innovative graphic designers and commercial artists, works from the estates of important designers, as well as examples of corporate design from important firms. Today, the graphics collection includes more than 130,000 objects.
The Decorative Arts Collection includes over 17,000 pieces and, alongside the Graphics Collection, is the oldest collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, as well as one of the most important collections of international applied art in Switzerland. Originally conceived as a collection of models and examples for education, trade and industry, the collection focuses on the 19th and 20th centuries. Individual areas such as Coptic and old Peruvian textiles stretch far back into the past, while others reach into the present. The diverse profile traces the artistic processing of glass, ceramics, metal, wood, and textiles and concentrates mainly on Europe. Outstanding examples from the USA and Japan can be found in the field of tapestries and textile sculptures. The Art Nouveau section has groups of works by William Morris, Emile Gallé, René Lalique, Hermann Obrist, and Henry van de Velde, and enjoys an international reputation. Among the finest items are a unique collection of puppets by twentieth-century artists such as Sophie Taeuber-Arp and an important musical instrument collection of some 250 objects.
The Poster Collection is one of the most extensive and important archives of its kind in the world. Over 380,000 posters, 150,000 of them researched and inventoried, document Swiss and international poster history—including political, commercial, and cultural posters—from its beginnings in the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The geographical emphasis—itself determined by the history of poster design—is on Switzerland, Europe, Japan, Cuba, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. The collection is continually expanded and brought up to date in dialogue with contemporary output and acknowledging historical achievements. The collection’s historical, thematic, and geographical diversity offers both a survey of poster art and a look into a visual archive of the everyday world. In addition to the principal questions of graphics and typology, the collection also concentrates on a socio-political understanding of design, as posters reflect in a unique way the aesthetic and social processes of a particular era.
Collection curator:
Bettina Richter
Documentalists:
Nico Lazúla Baur
Barbara Schenkel
The Poster Collection is supported by
Loans
The objects in the collection are available internationally as exhibition loans and can be borrowed by culture institutions under standard museum conditions.
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau
Architekturforum Zürich
Bernisches Historisches Museum
Château de Gruyères
Fotomuseum Winterthur
Gewerbemuseum Winterthur
Gta Austellungen, ETH Zürich
Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich
Historisches Museum Baden
Historisches Museum Luzern
Historisches Museum Thurgau
Historisches und Völkerkundemuseum St. Gallen
Kunsthaus Zug
Kunsthaus Zürich
Kunstmuseum Bern
Kunstmuseum Solothurn
Kunstmuseum Thun
Kunstmuseum Thurgau
Landesmuseum Zürich
m.a.x.museo, Centro Culturale Chiasso
MASI Museo d’Arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano
mudac, Musée de Design et d’Arts appliqués contemporains, Lausanne
Musée Ariana, Genève
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne
Musée d’art et d’histoire Genève
Musée d’art et d’histoire Neuchâtel
Musée d’ethnographie Genève
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Chaux-de-Fonds
Musée Historique Lausanne
Museum Burg, Zug
Museum Oskar Reinhart Winterthur
Museum Rietberg, Zürich
Museum Strauhof, Zürich
Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
Nouveau Musée de Bienne
Péristyle de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, Neuchâtel
Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum
Textilmuseum St. Gallen
Vögele Kulturzentrum, Pfäffikon SZ
Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Architekturmuseum Wroclaw, PL
Barbican Centre, London, GB
Bard Graduate Center New York, US
Berlinische Galerie Berlin, DE
Berner Design Stiftung
Bröhan–Museum, Berlin, DE
Buchheim Museum Bernried, DE
Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, DE
Caixa Forum, Madrid, ES
Centre d’innovation et de design au Grand-Hornu, Hornu, BE
Centre Pompidou Metz, FR
Cité internationale de la tapisserie Aubusson, FR
CIVA, Bruxelles, BE
Designmuseum Danmark, Kopenhagen, DK
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, US
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi Milano, IT
Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin, DE
Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, NO
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK
Hong Kong Design Institute Gallery, HK
Hortamuseum Brüssel, BE
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, DE
Kunst Haus Wien, AT
Kunstforum Wien, AU
Kunsthalle Bielefeld, DE
Kunsthaus Graz, AT
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, DE
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, DE
La Caixa, Barcelona, ES
Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenburg, DE
Landesmuseum Mainz, DE
Leopold Museum Wien, AT
Lieu du Design, Paris, FR
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, DK
MART – Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, IT
Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, DE
McCord Museum, CA
Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, JP
MNAC Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya Barcelona, ES
Modemuseum Provincie Antwerpen, BE
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR
Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nizza, FR
Musée d’Etat des Beaux-Arts Pouchkine, Moscou, RU
Musée d’Orsay Paris, FR
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, FR
Musée Picasso Paris, FR
Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brüssel, BE
Museo del Vetro Venedig, IT
Museo Nazionale Romano, IT
Museo Picasso Málaga, ES
Museu Picasso, Barcelona, ES
Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, DE
Museum für angewandte Kunst Frankfurt am Main, DE
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Wien, AT
Museum für Kommunikation Berlin, DE
Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt am Main, DE
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, DE
Nationalgalerie Prag, CZ
Neue Galerie New York, US
Neues Museum Weimar, DE
Nottingham Contemporary, GB
Palacio de Aramburu, Tolosa, ES
Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo, IT
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, DE
Schloss Wernigerode, DE
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, DE
Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, DE
Stavanger Art Museum, NO
Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden, NL
Stiftung Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DE
Tap Seac Gallery Macau, MO
TextielMuseum Tilburg, NL
Textilmuseet, Textile Fashion Center Boras, SE
Victoria and Albert Museum London, GB
Villa Bardini, IT
Vitra Design Museum, Weil, DE
Individual research in the framework of requests for loans or research projects is free of charge; notification must be given at least 14 days in advance. A charge is made for research by private persons or firms.