Switzerland's natural landscapes have been home to many tradional art movments.
The country now known as Switzerland, once called Helvetia, was part of The Holy Roman Empire until the late 17th century when the Treaty of Westphalia solidified Swiss independence. Before the 19th century, when Switzerland began practicing political neutrality, much of Swiss art developed in response to and in line with other European cultural movements. Used as a territorial pawn throughout its early history, Switzerland came into its own thereafter, developing most of its cultural and artistic styles in the modern world.
Romanesque Architecture
Switzerland contains many Romanesque Cathedrals.
During medieval times, Romanesque architecture adorned most of the churches and cathedrals in Europe. Characterized by a combination of Western Roman and Byzantine traits and often featuring semi-arch circles, Romanesque architecture is generally very symmetrical with thick walls, groin vaults and towers. Examples of Romanesque Cathedrals in Switzerland include St-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva where John Calvin gave his sermons in the 16th century, Grossmunster Cathedral, which was founded by Charlemagne in 12th century Zurich and Schlosskirche, or Castle Church, that overlooks Lake Thun in Bern.
Dada
Collage was a popular dada art technique.
Begun in 1916 by a group of artists and writers in Zurich, dadaism grew out of a response to what many thought was a nationalistic and overly rational justification for World War I. Dadaists categorized themselves as strictly anti-bourgeoisie or upper class. The artistic forms that dada took were extremely diverse, ranging from literature to painting to collage to performance art and sculpture. A piece of dadaist art aims to demystify the artistic process and even the artwork itself, while maintaining a mystique surrounding the concepts or ideas that generate the work. Hugo Ball's "Dadaist Manifesto," read at a dadaist party in 1916, is among the most popular pieces of dada artwork.
Allianz Art Group
Allianz artists responded to the clean lines characterized by Bauhaus style.
In 1937, a group of Swiss artists, including Richard Paul Lohse and Leo Leuppi, co-founded the Allianz Art Group, which aimed to highlight and underscore the contributions of artist and art theoretician Max Bill to the whole of Swiss culture. Max Bill's theories emphasized color over constructivism, leading directly to Bill's breakthroughs in graphic design in the 1950s. The first Allianz exhibition was held in Basil, Ksthalle in 1938. Subsequent exhibitions took place in 1942 and 1944 all in Zurich.
Graphic Design
Swiss style began as a response to industral designs in 1920's Switzerland.
International Typographic Style, otherwise known as "Swiss style" graphics, emerged in the 1920s and 30s directly out of Swiss industry designs that emphasized clean lines, legibility and aesthetic simplicity. In place of illustrations, International Typographic Style prefers to utilize photography, bold colors and a grid system of placement to express content and meaning in the most objective format possible. Today, Swiss style is used readily in the advertising industry. An example of International Typography, Helvetica, can be found in most computer font archives.
