Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, Eyes on the Paris Openings, Harper’s Bazaar, 1939, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, collection de graphisme, © Roland Mouron

The Russian graphic designer Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971) began as an autodidact. In 1920 he fled to Paris. He established himself as an influential voice of a modern and elegant graphic design. In 1930 he emigrated to the USA.

He worked as a teacher and as a role model for legendary photographers or as art director of the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar. His radically simple layouts and lots of white space revolutionized editorial design. He made design history.

The interplay of image and typography in his work remains a reference point for graphic design to this day. The exhibition presents his work in breadth: the photographs, posters, and magazines on display trace the influential designer’s career.