Wim Brusse, Netherlands

AGI member since 1952

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As the son of a publisher, Wim Brusse was exposed to typography, publicity and printing matters as a child. He studied at the Royal Academy of The Hague. After having worked in a progressive advertising agency, Wim set up his own studio. He worked for the Dutch Post, and was strongly political engaged, caring about the victims of the Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish Civil War. He and Dick Elffers criticized the use of photography in graphic design, as it had become crucial to the leading Dutch pioneers and the Bauhaus adepts. Nonetheless, both Elffers and Brusse married very talented, prominent photographers (Emmy Andriesse and Eva Besnyö). He became a teacher at the Rietveld Academy, and designed many books. He was one of the editors of an early postwar avant-garde magazine (with Willem Sandberg, Mart Stam and Gerrit Rietveld). Like his friend Elffers, Wim Brusse resigned from AGI after a few years.

Design work by Wim Brusse


    Wim Brusse, Netherlands (1952)

    As the son of a publisher, Wim Brusse was exposed to typography, publicity and printing matters as a child. He studied at the Royal Academy of The Hague. After having...

    Read full biography
    Wim Brusse, Netherlands (1952)

    As the son of a publisher, Wim Brusse was exposed to typography, publicity and printing matters as a child. He studied at the Royal Academy of The Hague. After having worked in a progressive advertising agency, Wim set up his own studio. He worked for the Dutch Post, and was strongly political engaged, caring about the victims of the Sino-Japanese War and the Spanish Civil War. He and Dick Elffers criticized the use of photography in graphic design, as it had become crucial to the leading Dutch pioneers and the Bauhaus adepts. Nonetheless, both Elffers and Brusse married very talented, prominent photographers (Emmy Andriesse and Eva Besnyö). He became a teacher at the Rietveld Academy, and designed many books. He was one of the editors of an early postwar avant-garde magazine (with Willem Sandberg, Mart Stam and Gerrit Rietveld). Like his friend Elffers, Wim Brusse resigned from AGI after a few years.