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.