Bequests of the HfG

The bequest of Otl Aicher

Otl Aicher (1922–91) was a co-founder, temporarily a rector, and one of the most important lecturers at the HfG. As head of the Visual Communication Department he set new standards in the fields of design and graphic design. With the members of his development group “E5” he created corporate identities for the companies Braun and Deutsche Lufthansa, the West German airline. In 1968 he became responsible for designing the Munich Olympic Games. Further projects included Bavarian Reinsurance, Bulthaup, Dresdner Bank, ERCO Luminaires, Frankfurt Airport, FSB, Westdeutsche Landesbank, and the television channel ZDF. His pictograms, developed since 1968, quickly became an international system of symbols. Otl Aicher is also known for his photography and his large body of writing as a cultural critic. —› more

The bequest of Tomás Gonda

The graphic designer Tomás Gonda (1926–88) came to the Ulm School of Design in 1958 and taught there until 1966. As Otl Aicher’s colleague in development group 5, he participated in the design of a number of important projects for advertising graphics, graphic reproductions, packaging, and exhibitions. One example is the corporate identity for the West German airline Lufthansa; others are the advertising campaigns for the companies Braun and Hermann Miller. He assumed responsibility for re-designing the HfG magazine «ulm» from the sixth issue onwards. Between 1963 and 1966 Gonda taught in the Visual Communication Department. He subsequently became the art director of Rinascente/Upim in Milan. From 1977 through to his death he ran his studio in New York, Gonda Design Incorporated.

The artistic bequest was presented to the HfG Archive in 1996. It was part of a retrospective exhibition, «Tomás Gonda, a Life in Design,» curated by Leslie Brothers in cooperation with the Anderson Gallery, School of the Arts at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. The donation from Jacqui Morgan centered on 69 framed works, 130 graphic works, photos, and negatives.

The bequest of Walter Zeischegg

The sculptor Walter Zeischegg (1917–83) came to Ulm in 1951 to assist in the setting up of the design school. He became a lecturer in the Industrial Design Department. With the exception of Otl Aicher, he was the only lecturer to teach and work at the school from beginning to end. After the closure of the HfG in 1968 he opened his own design studio in Ulm.

His complete artistic bequest came to the HfG Archive in 1991. The collection comprises approximately 600, partly multipart objects and models, around 22,600 graphic works, 6,800 photos, negatives, contact prints, and slides, 120 books, as well as a large archive of files containing correspondence, work documentation, handwritten notes, manuscripts, and sketches.