Herbert Matter papers, ca. 1937-1984

Summary

Creators:

Matter, Herbert

Abstract:

Original artwork, photographs, negatives, films, letters, manuscripts, memorabilia, and working equipment from the career of Swiss-American photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter.

Extent:

310 Linear Feet ca. 310 linear feet

Language:

English , French , German .

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Herbert Matter papers (M1446). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection covers the photography and graphic design career of Herbert Matter (1907-1984), including his commercial and personal work. This includes original artwork (collages, sketches), photographs (predominately black and white prints, contact prints, working prints), manuscripts, in-process material (paste-ups, proof sheets), memorabilia, negatives, transparencies, and audiovisual reels. The photography and graphic design material includes projects Matter did with the Knoll furniture catalog; Wyandotte Chemicals; Oxford Paper Company; and Union Carbide. In addition to the commercial projects, the collection includes Matter's photographs of dancers in motion; photographs for museums; and magazine covers and spreads. The collection is also notable for the correspondence and photographs of Matter's friends and associates, including Gregory Ain, Alexander Calder, John Cage, John Entenza, Walter Gropius, Gyorgy Kepes, Isamu Noguchi, Irving Penn, and Brett Weston among others. Throughout the collection, the impact of Matter's wife, Mercedes Carles Matter, can be seen in his graphic design work for the New York Studio School, photographs where she modeled, and their collaboration at the end of his life on a book about the sculptor Alberto Giacometti.

Biographical / historical:

Born in the resort village of Engelberg, Switzerland, Herbert Matter (1907-1984) was best known for his international contributions in photography, photomontage, and graphic design work. Matter was also a filmmaker, exhibition designer, and professor. He photographed a wide range of subjects in art, advertising, and fashion. His experimentation led to ongoing refinements in composition, typography, and a variety of printing techniques.

Matter initially studied painting at the Ëcole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, Switzerland, and Paris' Académie Moderne as a student of Fernand Léger and Amédée Ozenfant. He came to the United States in 1936 and began work as a freelance photographer for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue magazines. He photographed items for catalogs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and created displays for the Swiss and Corning Glass Pavilions for the 1939 World's Fair.

In 1939, he married Mercedes Carles (1913-2001), the daughter of painter Arthur Beecher Carles, and an artist in her own right. The couple had been introduced by Léger and ran in artistic circles of New York during the 1930s and early 1940s. During the 1960s, she was the founder of the New York Studio School, of which Matter also became involved.

Over the course of his career Matter worked with Charles Eames; designed photomontages and covers for Arts and Architecture magazine; and served as the design and advertising consultant for Knoll, creating the company's award winning graphics, layout, and photography. Matter also directed, filmed, and edited 'Works of Calder' in 1950 for the Museum of Modern Art–the first color film to show Alexander Calder's sculptures. Matter also introduced the first photography classes offered at Yale University, where he taught until 1976.

Matter's most personal endeavor was his extensive photography of the work of sculptor Alberto Giacometti during the 1960s and 1970s. These images were compiled in Alberto Giacometti, a book Matter worked on up to his death; it was published posthumously in 1987.

Acquisition information:

This collection was purchased by Stanford University, Special Collections in 2004 (Accn. 2004-283). Additions to the collection were a gift of the Matter family in 2005 (Accn. 2005-114) and in 2016 (Accn. 2016-195).

Processing information:

The Herbert Matter papers were originally processed by Jeffrey Head in 2005. About two-thirds of the collection was rehoused to address preservation concerns in 2024. In rehousing materials, many of the original boxes were split into multiple boxes; this split is designated as 'A', 'B', and occasionally 'C'. As an example Box 282 was divided into Box 282A and Box 282B. The intellectual arrangement of the collection remains as it was originally processed.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in nine series, with subseries and subsubseries augmenting the organizational structure.

• 1. Biographical
• 2. Correspondence
• 3. Artifacts
• 4. Graphic Design Projects
• 5. Non-Commercial Projects
• 6. Master Photofile
• 7. 2 1/4 in Negative Strips
• 8. Media
• 9. Photographs Gifted from the Matter Family

Physical location:

Special Collections and University Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 36 hours in advance.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

• Arthur Beecher Carles papers (M2809): https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/14076097
• R. Buckminster Fuller materials from Herbert Matter (M1803): https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8802726
• Skizzenbuch of Herbert Matter, with an identity affidavit (MISC 1859): https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/10244394
• Herbert Matter collection related to his design of the book Alberto Giacometti (M2069): https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/11469735

Indexed terms

Subjects:

African American dance.
Yale University.
Art, Modern -- 20th century.
Art, Modern -- Switzerland.
New York World's Fair (1939-1940).
Graphic arts.
Photography, Artistic.
Dance.
Civil Defense.
Furniture -- United States -- History.
Design.

Names:

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)
Museum of Primitive Art (New York, N.Y.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Mount Washington Ski Resort (Plymouth, New Hampshire)
New York Studio School.
New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company.
New Bauhaus (Chicago, Ill.)
Kimbe Optic.
Knoll Associates, Inc.
Kunsthaus Zürich.
Ives - Sillman Workshop.
Container Corporation of America.
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Corning Glass Works.
Cummins Engine Company.
Deberny et Peignot.
First Savings. (Houston, Tex.)
Wyandotte Chemicals.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation.
Zumstag, Abraham.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Arts et métiers graphiques.
Seven-Up Company.
Schweizerische Zentrale für Verkehrsförderung.
Seagram Company.
Tishman Construction Corporation.
Universal Limited Art Editions.
Union Carbide Corporation.
American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Pepsi-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola Company.
Condé Nast Publications, Inc.
Oxford Paper Company.
Black Star (Picture agency)
Bonwit Teller & Co.
Boston and Maine Railroad.
Meredith, Burgess
McGray, Porter.
McGray, Peter.
Matter, Jordan.
Motherwell, Robert.
Morrison, Andrew
Morris, George L.K.
Morgan, Willard Detering
Moore, Henry
Mondrian, Piet
Miró, Joan
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig
Nagy, Laszlo Moholy.
Nakashima, George
Matter, Mercedes
Muller, Jan
Muller, Henry
Newman, Barnett
Niemeyer, Oscar.
Nelson, Paul.
Nast, Condé
Nehru, Jawaharlal
Knoll, Hans
Knoll, Florence.
Knorr, Donald.
Knoll, Peter.
Kiesler, Frederick.
Klein, Franz.
Lebeau, Roland.
Le Corbusier
Dufay, Guillaume
Lescaze, William
Lehmbruck, Wilhelm
Krasner, Lee
Knox, Doris.
Larsen, Jack Lenor
Logan, Joshua.
Lollo, Dizzy.
Lord, James.
Léger, Fernand
Liberman, Alexander
Lichtenstein, Roy
Little, John.
Loewy, Raymond
Mathsson, Bruno.
Matisse, Pierre
Matta Echaurren, Roberto Sebas
Matter, Alex
Maccio, Romulo
Maclanchlen, Betty.
Magritte, René
Mangiarotti, Angelo.
Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster)
Frankenthaler, Helen
Frank, Joseph
Forge, Andrew.
Giacometti, Annette.
Giacometti, Alberto
Geldzahler, Henry.
Gabo, Naum
Goddard, Paulette.
Gleizes, Albert
Girard, Alexander.
Giacometti, Diego.
Guston, Philip
Grosman, Tatvana
Gropius, Walter
Goldstone, Harmon H. (Harmon H
Heifetz, Jascha
Hess, Trudi.
Hannah, Bruce.
Harrison, Wallace K. (Wallace
Hofmann, Hans
Hirschorn, Joseph H.
Hoffman, Armin.
Johns, Jasper
Johnson, Philip
Jeanneret, Charles Edouard.
Jeanneret, Pierre
Kendrick, Marvin.
Kaiser, Ray.
Kelly, Richard.
Cordoba, Mathilde de.
Crawford, Joan
Dale, Chester, b.1883.
Cézanne, Paul
de Cordoba, Mathilde.
De Chirico, Giorgio
De Kooning, Elaine
Dearstyne, Howard.
de Souza-Gomez, H.
Defucio, Robert.
Dehn, Mura.
Dorn, Marion V.
Dragonette, Jessica.
Duchamp-Villon, Raymond
Dudley, George A.
Eames, Charles.
Eames, Lucia.
Eames, Ray.
Eldon, Jim.
Entenza, John
Feldman, Irving
Feldman, Morton
Ferrari-Hardoy, Jorge.
Kepes, Gyorgy
De Kooning, Willem
Wyler, Eva.
Yanaihara, Isaku
Zapf, Otto
Weston, Brett.
Wolff, Robert.
Wormley, Edward.
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Wagner, Hans
Weese, Harry.
Wegner, Hans.
Vicente, Esteban
Vignelli, Massimo.
Vincente, Harriet.
Waddell, Theodore.
Zogbaum, Wilfrid
Sillman, Ives.
Austin, Warren.
Sert, José Luis
Arp, Jean
Armstrong, Louis
Stephens, Bill.
Barnes, Edward Larrabee.
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
Ballard, Shreve.
Sorenson, Abel.
Baldwin, Benjamin.
Southern, Terry.
Bacon, Francis
Schlossberg, Edwin
Beebe, Tina.
Schultz, Richard.
Beckstrand, Mildred.
Sandals, Bernardo.
Baziotes, William
Scarpa, Tobia.
Barnes, Mary
Seitlin, Percy.
Bill, Max
Senft, Peter.
Bertoia, Harry.
Berry, James.
Bennett, Glen.
Thompson, David C.
Thackray, Joanna.
Temple, Shirley
Finkelstein, Louis
Aalto, Aino, 1894-1949
Tàpies, Antoni
Twombly, Cy
Switzerland, Christian.
Ain, Gregory, 1908-1988
Sweeney, James Johnson
Albers, Josef
Sweeney, Ciannait.
Aalto, Alvar, 1898-1976
Stone, Edward Durrell.
Abramovitz, Max.
Tapiovaara, Ilmari.
Tamayo, Ruffino
Archipenko, Alexander, 1887-1964
Takahama, Kazuhide.
Albini, Franco.
Sylvester, David.
Albinson, Don
Calder, Alexander Stirling
Pearstein, Philip.
Cajori, Charles
Penn, Irving.
Calder, Louisa.
Calder, Alexander
Petit, Don.
Carles, Arthur B.
Pevsner, Antoine
Callery, Mary
Picasso, Pablo
Picchetti, Carlo.
Chagall, Marc
Platner, Warren
Cassandre, A. M.
Chillida, Eduardo
Nitschke, Oscar.
Chermayeff, Serge
Noguchi, Isamu
O'Hara, Frank.
Clayton, Buck
Olson, Odelberg.
Cohen, John.
Ormandy, Eugene
Cohen, I. David (Isidore David)
Oswald, Marion.
Cohen, Penny.
Pearson, L. Max
Ritchard, Cyril
Risom, Jens.
Boeri, Cini.
Rosenquist, James.
Bontecou, Lee
Rivers, Larry
Rudolph, Paul
Bossard, Klaus.
Rothko, Mark.
Salzman, Arthur George.
Botticelli, Sandro
Saarinen, Eero
Brancusi, Constantin
Pollock, Jackson
Braque, Georges
Pollock, Charles.
Breuer, Connie.
Rae, Christine.
Breuer, Marcel
Prestini, James.
Bunshaft, Gordon
Rassmussen, Jorgen.
Burri, Alberto
Rand, Paul
Butler, Lewis.
Rebetez, Robert.
Cafiero, Vincent.
Rauschenberg, Robert
Cage, John

Places:

Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Va.)
Coney Island (New York, N.Y.)
Grosse Pointe (Mich.). Library.
Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century.

Restrictions:

Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.

Terms of access:

© Stanford University. All Rights Reserved.

Preferred citation:

[identification of item], Herbert Matter papers (M1446). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Location of this collection:

Stanford University, Manuscripts Division

Department of Special Collections, Green Library

557 Escondido Mall

Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US

Contact:

(650) 725-1022

specialcollections@stanford.edu

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