Herbert & Joella Bayer
Joining Forces in the Service of Art
Herbert Bayer, Foursome, 1971 
Herbert Bayer, Herbert and Joella Bayer in the studio at Red Mountain, Aspen, 1970er-Jahre 
Herbert Bayer, Suspended Secrets, 1979 
Herbert Bayer, Self portrait, 1932 
Herbert Bayer, Leaning Gate, 1970 
Herbert Bayer, Lonely Metropolitan 
Exhibition view, Herbert & Joella Bayer, 2022 
Exhibition view, Herbert & Joella Bayer, 2022 
In this show, the Lentos puts its Bayer Archive centre stage. This archive is one of the most comprehensive collections in Europe featuring works by this truly universal, Upper Austrian born artist.
For the first time the exhibition also showcases his collaboration with his wife, Joella. In her capacities as manager and donor, she made a significant contribution to Herbert’s success.
Herbert Bayer (1900 – 1985) is considered the epitome of the modern universal type of artist. His career took him from Linz to Germany and the United States, where he continued his Bauhaus inspired work for international corporations, museums, and the tourism industry. As an architect, designer, painter, sculptor and landscape designer, he shaped the townscape of such places as Aspen, where the Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies opened this year.
Joella (1907 – 2004), daughter of the famous writer, artist and feminist Mina Loy (1882 – 1966), not only took charge of her husband’s estate after his death, but she was also his muse and artistic mentor during his lifetime and a source of inspiration for Dalí and Man Ray. She had a remarkable talent for bringing together different personalities from the worlds of business and art.
The exhibition puts a unique focus on Bayer’s success as a commercial designer in Germany and the United States. Photos from private US Archives and by Bayer’s first wife, Irene Bayer Hecht (1898 – 1991), and Ise Gropius (1897 – 1983) of Bauhaus as well as Mina Loy supplement the Lentos’s holdings. These are comprised of more than 200 works generously donated to the Lentos between 1986 and 2004 by Herbert and Joella Bayer. Some are more recent acquisitions.
Curator: Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller
Exhibition Design: Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch
Interactive Exhibition part
Let’s redesign the exhibition space! Inspired by Bauhaus ideas, a large part of the show invites visitors to use and design it themselves. Elements of this interactive area of the exhibition can be used, moved and changed. In this way, the exhibition space is created anew again and again.
| Date | Title | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 03.12 | Express Tour: „Herbert&Joella Bayer“ This tour offers an insight into the Lentos. It looks at the museum‘s history and collection of art and includes highlights of the present special exhibition. Language: English, Ticket: 3€ plus admission, duration: 45 minutes | 4:00 pm–4:45 pm |
| Sat 07.01 | Express Tour: „Herbert&Joella Bayer“ This tour offers an insight into the Lentos. It looks at the museum‘s history and collection of art and includes highlights of the present special exhibition. Language: English, Ticket: 3€ plus admission, duration: 45 minutes | 4:00 pm–4:45 pm |
Video
*Please understand that we offer our video production in German language only.
