tive, focusing on one corner of the booth. His final
drawing expanded upon this focus on corner, but
emphasized an increased dynamism of the space
though the use of strong diagonals and interlocking
forms which heightened the viewer’s experience of
being drawn into the room. Zwart’s design for this
exhibition booth eventually lead to the avant-garde
emphasis on viewing the exhibition space as an
independent demonstration space wherein interiors
themselves could become the focus of display, as they
did, for example in El Lissitsky’sProun Space(1923).
A similar concern with drawing the viewer in con-
ditioned Zwart’s typographic experimentation in the
name of advertising. While working for Berlage,
Zwart met his future son-in-law, a member of the
Board of Directors for NKF, a Dutch cable factory.
Over the next 10 years, he designed approximately
275 advertisements and posters for NKF, each of
which expanded upon and honed his commitment
to ‘‘functional’’ typography, well-suited to commu-
nicating information in a speed befitting a modern
reader. As opposed to the poster designers who had
preceeded him, Zwart emphasized the white spaces
of the background, using asymmetrical form, layout,
bold graphics, and large print to generate a dynamic
tension intended, once again, to draw the viewer into
the ad as quickly as possible. Dynamism replaced
harmony as the reigning aesthetic.
Zwart increasingly employed photography, or
what he would refer to as phototypography, in his
designs. At first he worked with industrial photogra-
phers, but eventually eschewed them in favor of tak-
ing his own photographs, all of which emphasized
sharp focus, close-up views, and extreme angles in
depicting the mechanical objects and icons featured
in the ads, such as the cross section of a bundle of
electric cables in his 1929 NKF English catalogue, or
a picture of stacked wood inUntitled (lumber yard)
in which the light grid created in the ceiling reflects
the pristine, precise lumber stacks. He also employed
photomontage in his advertisements, but tended
away from the photogram techniques he learned
from El Lissitsky as early as 1923.
In 1933, Zwart made a radical return to interior
design, producing a number of notable interiors, in-
cluding the 1938 kitchen he designed for the Bruyn-
zeel Company. Zwart’s exacting and innovative
legacy is recognized in Rotterdam in the establish-
ment of the Piet Zwart Institute for Postgraduate
Studies and Research as part of the Willem de Koon-
ing Academy Hogeschool.
HannahFeldman
Seealso:Modernism; Photography in The Nether-
landsBiography
Born in Zaandijk, The Netherlands 28 May 1885. Studied
drawing and architecture at the National School for
Applied Arts in Amsterdam (Rijksschool Kunstnijver-
heid), 1902–1907. Taught drawing and art history at the
Industry and Household School for Girls in Leeuwarden,
1908–1913. Studied Architecture at Institute of Technol-
ogy (Technische Hogeschool) in Delft in 1913. Employed
as draftsman in Jan Wils’ architectural practice, 1919–
1921; left to become chief draftsman for Henrik Petrus
Berlage. First typographic commission in 1921; from
1923–1933 designed advertisements for NKF. Died in
Wassenaar, The Netherlands, 27 September 1977.Selected Works
Design for Chair, with Vilmos Husza ́r, 1920
First, Second, and Definitive Designs for Celluloid Manufac-
turer’s Stand, Annual
Industrial Fair, Utrecht, 1921
Hot Spots, NKF advertisement, 1925
ITF (International Film Festival), Poster, 1928
NKF English Catalogue, 1928–1929
Cabbage, 1930
Untitled (lumber yard), c. 1930sFurther Reading
Broos, Kees.Piet Zwart: Typotect. Princeton: PAPress,
2003.
Broos, Kees, ed.Piet Zwart. The Hague: Gemeentemu-
seum, 1973.
Troy, Nancy J.The De Stijl Environment. Cambridge: MIT
Press, 1983.ZWART, PIET