German graphic designer and painter Anton Stankowski (1906 – 1998) worked on the possibility of describing actions and forces through abstract compositions. Far from the depiction of physical properties, his visual research did not aim at depicting physical properties, but at giving shape to the forces acting behind intangible scientific processes and societal relationships. The theorization of these ideas was summarized in his publication “How to illustrate invisible processes in graphic design“.
Throughout his whole career, Anton Stankowski subtly composed colors’ shapes and lines to achieve bold and effective images, always basing his projects on an extreme economy of means, as every sign is completely necessary to the final expression. An extreme formal rigor is combined with a never-ending experimentation with media and compositions, leading to solutions which are functional and poetic at the same time.
All images © The Stankowski Foundation
Leave a Reply