WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Piet Zwart

Piet Zwart

Dutch, 1885

WA-00030238

PrintmakingPhotographyGeometric Abstraction

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

126

Works in Collection

207

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

100%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ529366 ULAN500006911

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Art of the Twenties

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979–1980

No image

The Graphic Revolution: 1915�1935

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1977

No image

Collage and the Photo-Image

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1973

No image

Word and Image: Posters and Typography from the Graphic Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, 1879�1967

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1968

Field Verification (3 fields)

3 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyMoMA· 93%✓
Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy· 85%✓

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/6592
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Piet Zwart was a Dutch graphic designer, typographer, and industrial designer whose work bridged modernist principles and functional Dutch design during the twentieth century. A pioneering figure in avant-garde typography and layout, he developed distinctive approaches to letterpress composition and poster design that integrated photography and geometric abstraction. His practice extended to industrial design, furniture, and spatial installation, establishing foundational methods that influenced subsequent generations of graphic and product design in Northern Europe.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Photography

Medium

Printmaking

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (126)

Piet Zwart: Retrospektive fotografie

1981 · Designed catalog

26.9 × 21.3 cm (10 9/16 × 8 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Sleutelwoorden: Piet Zwart 80 jaar jong (80 Years Young)

1966 · Book with designed typography and color printed wrappers

21 × 18.1 cm (8 1/4 × 7 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Koninklijk Netherlands Geleidenhondenfonds letterhead (Letter to Zwart)

1959 · Lithograph

11 3/8 × 8 1/8" (28.9 × 20.6 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Piet Zwart letterhead

1951 · Lithograph

11 × 8 1/4" (27.9 × 21 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Piet Zwart stationery postcard

1950 · Letterpress

4 1/8 × 5 7/8" (10.5 × 14.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Het Boek van PTT (The Book of the PTT)

1938 · Book with color lithographs and photocollage wrappers

25.1 × 17.8 cm (9 7/8 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Het Boek van PTT

1938 · Rotogravure

9 7/8 × 6 15/16 × 1/8" (25.1 × 17.6 × 0.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Nederlandsche Bond voor Kunst in Industrie letterhead

1937 · Letterpress

11 3/4 × 8 1/4" (29.8 × 21 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Nederlandsche Bond voor Kunst in Industrie letterhead

1937 · Letterpress

11 3/4 × 8 1/4" (29.8 × 21 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Nederlandsche Bond voor Kunst in Industrie stationery envelope

1937 · Letterpress

4 3/8 × 8 3/4" (11.1 × 22.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Nederlandsche Bond voor Kunst in Industrie stationery

1937 · Letterpress

Museum of Modern Art

Geef de post 4cm vrij baan

1936 · Book with designed typography and color collage wrappers

12.4 × 25 cm (4 7/8 × 9 13/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Bruynzeel’s Fabrieken (Bruynzeel's Factories)

1936 · Illustrated book with silver embossed rich blue imitation leather wrappers

17.5 × 12.6 × 0.6 cm (6 15/16 × 5 × 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Announcement for furniture exhibition at Metz & Co.

1936 · Printed announcement; letterpress

14.9 × 23.8 cm (5 7/8 × 9 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Geef de post 4cm vrij baan

1936 · Letterpress

4 15/16 x 9 7/8" (12.5 x25.0 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Advertisement for Bruynzeel’s Deurenfabriek Zaandam ("7 maanden winter!")

1935 · Photomontage, printed in black and blue offset lithograph back to blue card

9.5 × 21.6 cm (3 3/4 × 8 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

NKF : onze best wenschen voor 1934 (NKF: our best wishes for 1934)

1934 · Desk calendar, mounted on metal stand, with pen holder, and two-color photomontage wrappers and illustrations throughout

19.7 × 13 × 5.1 cm (7 3/4 × 5 1/8 × 2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Delft Kabels / N.V. Nederlandsche Kabelfabriek (Delft Cables/ Dutch Cable Factory)

1933 · Illustrated book, color photomontages throughout, cover embossed with silver on blue boards

21.5 × 18 × 1 cm (8 1/2 × 7 1/8 × 7/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Een Kleine Keuze Uit Onze Lettercollectie

1932 · Lithograph

11 x 7 3/4" (28.3 x 19.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Typographic Composition

1931 · gelatin silver print, montage

Image: 17.4 x 12.3 cm (6 7/8 x 4 13/16 in.); Paper: 18.2 x 13 cm (7 3/16 x 5 1/8 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Film : die serie monografieën over filmkunst (Film: a monograph series of film art)

1931 · Periodical, 10 issues, graphic two-color photomontage wrappers housed within a blue cloth-covered box

22 × 17.5 × 0.7 cm (8 3/4 × 6 15/16 × 5/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

Nederland Stamps

1931 · Lithograph on adhesive-backed paper

each: 1 3/16 × 7 7/8" (3 × 20 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1931 · Gelatin silver print

6 3/4 × 4 13/16" (17.2 × 12.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

De Komische Film door Constant van Wessem, Serie monografieën over filmkunst onder redactie van Mr C. J. Graadt van Roggen, No 9

1931 · Letterpress

8 7/8 x 7 3/8" (22.5 x 18.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 126 artworks →

Artwork sources (3)

126 published of 204 catalogued · 119 with image

MoMA
78 publishedof 156 catalogued72 img
Art Institute Chicago
47 published47 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
1 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 1)

1 entries · 1 sources

Typographic Composition
1931 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Peers & Context1

Gerrit Rietveldsame movement

Movements2

Photography Geometric Abstraction

Collections2

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Network

Related Artists

Gerrit Rietveld

Furniture

same movement

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Art of the Twenties

New York · 1979

Group Exhibition The Graphic Revolution: 1915�1935

New York · 1977

Group Exhibition Collage and the Photo-Image

New York · 1973

Group Exhibition Word and Image: Posters and Typography from the Graphic Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, 1879�1967

New York · 1968