Allianz

school 1937-1950s Switzerland Europe

Allianz was a group of Swiss artists formed in Zurich in 1937 to promote modern art - above all the concrete abstraction of Max Bill, with a distinctive emphasis on color relationships. Its first exhibition, 'Neue Kunst in der Schweiz', opened at the Kunsthalle Basel in 1937, followed by shows at the Kunsthaus Zurich in 1942 and 1947 and, from 1944, at John Konstantin Hansegger's Galerie des Eaux Vives. In 1941 the group published the Almanach Neuer Kunst in der Schweiz, placing members' work beside that of Paul Klee, Le Corbusier and Kurt Seligmann, with theoretical texts by Bill, Leo Leuppi and others. Allianz exhibitions continued into the 1950s, helping make Switzerland a European centre of abstract and concrete art after the war.

​Henri Matisse, La danse (first version) 1909, oil on canvas, 8' 6 1/2" x 12' 9 1/2" (259.7 x 390.1 cm)
​Henri Matisse, La danse (first version) 1909, oil on canvas, 8' 6 1/2" x 12' 9 1/2" (259.7 x 390.1 cm)Public domain (credit: Henri Matisse （存活時間：1954）) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Concrete abstraction: non-referential geometric form with no natural subject
  • Color relationships studied systematically - the group's signature emphasis
  • Constructivist rigor softened by painterly surface and chromatic warmth
  • Clean planar composition: flat shapes, grids and measured intervals
  • Group exhibitions and printed almanacs as shared statements of principle

Key figures

  • Max Bill (1908-1994) — Theorist-artist whose concrete art the group championed
  • Camille Graeser (1892-1980) — Concrete painter of serial color logic
  • Richard Paul Lohse (1902-1988) — Systematic modular color compositions
  • Verena Loewensberg (1912-1986) — Concrete painter of the Zurich Konkrete circle

Sources

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