American artist, designer, and writer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon (born 1928) was the first to fuse Swiss Modernism with the West Coast aesthetic.
American artist, designer, and writer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon (born 1928) was the first to fuse Swiss Modernism with the West Coast aesthetic.
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, 1955.
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, 1955.
The result is formal but fun, modern architecture reshaped by color and form. In the 1960s, Barbara created Supergraphics mural at the Sea Ranch community in California, featuring huge stripes, arrows, and letterforms that fly across the room, becoming art that people can walk into. “I was a Californian. I went back to San Francisco and I broke all the rules. My designs were bigger and bolder than my Swiss classmates' solutions had been. Give me a big white wall and I covered it with big red stripes,” Barbara sums up her philosophy.
The result is formal but fun, modern architecture reshaped by color and form. In the 1960s, Barbara created Supergraphics mural at the Sea Ranch community in California, featuring huge stripes, arrows, and letterforms that fly across the room, becoming art that people can walk into. “I was a Californian. I went back to San Francisco and I broke all the rules. My designs were bigger and bolder than my Swiss classmates' solutions had been. Give me a big white wall and I covered it with big red stripes,” Barbara sums up her philosophy.
Sea Ranch ram's head logo designed by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon.
Sea Ranch ram's head logo designed by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon.
Stauffacher Solomon’s first major job as a designer was to develop the corporate style of the Sea Ranch—a community in California devised in 1964 by a group of young architects from the University of Berkeley and often referred to as “California’s modernist utopia”. In the late sixties, Stauffacher Solomon shook up the architectural world with her groundbreaking Supergraphics—an abstract mural blending Swiss style, wooden architecture, and bright colors.
Stauffacher Solomon’s first major job as a designer was to develop the corporate style of the Sea Ranch—a community in California devised in 1964 by a group of young architects from the University of Berkeley and often referred to as “California’s modernist utopia”. In the late sixties, Stauffacher Solomon shook up the architectural world with her groundbreaking Supergraphics—an abstract mural blending Swiss style, wooden architecture, and bright colors.
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Moonraker Athletic Center interior supergraphics, 2018.
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Moonraker Athletic Center interior supergraphics, 2018.