Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Bayer's Atlas

A new exhibit at The Bayer Center celebrates 70th anniversary of Bayer's Atlas.

Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas (1953)

The opening of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies—aka The Bayer Center (thebayercenter.org)—on the campus of the Aspen Institute last year paid homage to the legacy of the Bauhaus artist and designer who transformed the Aspen Institute and the city itself. Bayer helped revitalize Aspen after the Second World War, including designing the Institute’s campus and helping shape its early programming. That pursuit is further realized this summer with the opening of the campus-wide Concept of a Visualist: Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas, an exhibition that serves to examine Herbert Bayer’s 1953 World Geo-Graphic Atlas, at once a piece of design, art and education. “[The Atlas] served as a major source of inspiration for several generations of graphic designers,” says the show’s co-curator Benjamin Benus, associate professor of art history at Loyola University in New Orleans. “Because it was such an ambitious undertaking, its achievement was difficult to repeat. It remains valuable today as a model of artistic-scientific collaboration and as a demonstration of the way that visual artists can help us to make sense of complex information.”

Interior spread and cover of the World Geo-Graphic Atlas (1953)

Bayer’s Atlas was commissioned initially 70 years ago by Walter Paepcke—founder of the Aspen Institute and chairman of the Container Corporation of America—to mark the 25th anniversary of his company. First presented at the 1953 International Design Conference at the Aspen Institute, the Atlas not only innovated in the realm of information design and scientific illustration, but it also proved to be prescient, warning of the dangers of failing to conserve natural resources. “I wouldn’t argue that Bayer had any special ability to predict the future,” says Benus, who co-curated the exhibit with Bayer expert Bernard Jazzar. “Scientists had already published a great deal of research about the environmental issues addressed in the Atlas. But these issues weren’t widely understood by general audiences at the time. His unique contribution rests with his efforts to make this material accessible (and visually exciting) for general readers.”

A complimentary multimedia installation is also on display at the Doerr-Hosier Center. Entitled Charting Space: Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas at 70, the year-long interactive presentation is meant to educate the public (particularly students from kindergarten through 12th grade) on current issues—from travel and natural resources to population and conservation. “The Atlas was about teaching readers how to read maps and getting readers to think about how mapmakers’ decisions shape the stories that maps tell,” says Benus. “The educational exhibit offers audiences an opportunity to explore how Bayer’s Atlas did this, and it encourages visitors to reflect on the stories we tell to make sense of our own contemporary world.”

Exterior of the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies

The exhibit marks the first to celebrate Bayer’s Atlas and its lasting impact while exploring his larger work and influence on map design and visual education. “Bayer didn’t believe in the traditional hierarchies that fine-arts academies had once promoted, in which painting and sculpture occupied a privileged place above ‘applied’ forms of art like graphic design,” says Benus, who recently released a book entitled Herbert Bayer’s World Geo-Graphic Atlas and Information Design at Mid-Century. “The work is emblematic of Bayer’s belief that the arts can integrate seemingly disparate aspects of life into a unified whole––a point that The Bayer Center is highlighting with this show.” 610 Gillespie Ave, Aspen