ASPEN, COLO.- The Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies is presenting Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer. This exhibition examines Herbert Bayer’s pioneering artistic production in three dimensions—a distinctive multidisciplinary practice that melded environmental design, landscape architecture, and sculpture.

The Exhibition

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Aspen Institute, Sculpting the Environment: The Three- Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayerprovides the most comprehensive investigation to date of Bayer’s exploration of “the total environment,” or, as he put it in 1970, “the extension of my work into many areas of space.” Focusing on his site-specific outdoor sculptures and land art, this exhibition brings together more than one hundred works by Bayer, including drawings, paintings, photographs, models, and maquettes—many on view for the first time. Elevating this prolific artist’s legacy as a boundary-breaking polymath whose Bauhaus training informed the genesis and execution of his environmental sculptures, the exhibition promises to deepen the viewer’s knowledge of Bayer’s relationship with the landscape. His particular fondness for Aspen, where he was given free rein to sculpt the Aspen Meadows into agesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, will be highlighted.

Background

Enticed to Aspen in 1946 by Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke, Bayer encountered a semi- abandoned mining town amid the Rocky Mountains, the scale of which was so impressive that he was inspired to think about creating art on a massive scale, using the landscape itself as his inspiration and medium. Boldly reimagining the alpine topography and the passage of geological time, Bayer transformed a variety of natural sites over a thirty year period. Beginning in 1953, he designed the forty-acre campus of the Aspen Institute, whoseGrass Mound(1955) is widely recognized as one of the first modern earthworks. Bayer continued to engage the built environment in dramatic and awe-inspiring ways until the last years of his life, including through prominent large-scale commissions, including Articulated Wall(1968) in Mexico City,Double Ascension(1973) in Los Angeles, andMill Creek Canyon Earthworks Park(1982) in Kent, Washington.

"This exhibition tells the story of Herbert Bayer’s relationship to sculpture, land art, and the built environment in its many forms. Ultimately, his sustained and wide ranging interest in creating in three dimensions exceeded the limits of these terms, as he strived for an expansive integration of the arts as only he could,” says Bayer Center Curator Adam Thomas.

The exhibition is co-curated by Thomas and Herbert Bayer’s granddaughter, Koko Bayer, and designed by James Williams, principal of The Common Era.

“Since we opened our doors in 2022, the Bayer Center has presented different aspects of Bayer’s life and artwork, introducing the incredible diversity of this multi faceted artist. We havefeaturedexhibitions that highlight Bayer’sfineartwork including his paintings, drawings, and photographs, as well as his seminal 1953 World Geo graphic Atlas and his design and typography influence at the Bauhaus. It seems only fitting that this year, to honor the 75th anniversary of the Aspen Institute, we focus on his greatest work of art, the campus of the Aspen Institute, and the many three dimensional artworks that Bayer designed to make this exceptional campus," says Bayer Center Executive Director Lissa Ballinger.