Alexander Schawinsky, 1904–1979, multi-genre, multi-media, Bauhaus-influenced artist-dynamo.
Xanti Schawinsky was born in Basel, Switzerland. After a short time, studying in Berlin, he enrolled in the Bauhaus in Weimar where Albers, Gropius, Kandinsky, Klee and Moholy-Nagy were among his teachers. In addition to drawing and painting, his pursuits included those of a performer, musician and stage designer. Schwawinsky left Germany for Italy in 1933, where he founded an advertising studio and created what we today consider classic posters and product designs of the 1930s. In 1935 he left Italy for London and in 1936, London for the United States. Interestingly, he worked on the 1939 World’s Fair (North Carolina and Pennsylvania pavilions). He lived, work and taught in New York during the 1940s and 50s, spending more and more time in Europe after 1961.
Schawinsky was featured in the April 1937 edition of PM Magazine and during his time in New York, surely had typesetting done at The Composing Room. This print, The Lovers, is presumably a wedding gift.
