Max Bill (1908 – 1994) was a Swiss polymath bridging the worlds of design, architecture, art, publishing, advertising, and politics.

This first part of a comprehensive monograph retraces Bill’s biography from his childhood to his Bauhaus training, his return to Zurich, and on until the late 1930s.

The reader discovers a young Bill characterised by commitment, clarity in thinking, a highly critical mind, and a growing network of artists.

Part biography, part eulogy, part memoir, this publication proposes insights into the pre-World War II cultural milieu of a European community of artists, designers, and architects.

This book is written by Bill’s widow, the art historian Angela Thomas.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, New York in 2022.