The Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies

The Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies (the Bayer Center), located on the campus of the Aspen Institute in Colorado, opened on June 26, 2022. This 7,000-square-foot space is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the artist and designer Herbert Bayer (1900–1985). The Bayer Center promotes a fuller understanding of Bayer—one of the leading figures to translate the Bauhaus movement into an American context—and his contributions to art, design, and architecture. It anchors the Aspen Institute’s campus-wide visual arts program, which includes over 9,000 square feet of gallery space and multiple site specific outdoor art installations. The vision is intended to honor Bayer’s interdisciplinary perspective by promoting an understanding of art and design through exhibitions, public programming, and educational initiatives.

Current exhibition: "Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer"
Open to the public June 10, 2025 - April 16, 2026.

FREE ADMISSION

Resnick Center for Herbert Bayer Studies is free and open to the public.
Open Tuesday - Sunday I 12 - 5pm
610 Gillespie Ave I Aspen Institute Campus

Getting Here

The Bayer Center is located on the southeastern edge of the Aspen Meadows campus, at the intersection of Gillespie Avenue and North 5th Street, and is less than one mile from the heart of downtown Aspen, and steps away from the Benedict Music Tent and Harris Hall. We recommend taking the Downtowner or the free RFTA Crosstown Shuttle.

Parking

Free, designated parking is available on the south side of the Music Festival parking lot, adjacent to Gillespie Street.

For exhibit and tour information, please visit: thebayercenter.org

Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Aspen Institute, Sculpting the Environment: The Three-Dimensional Art of Herbert Bayer provides 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 display 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 a gesamtkunstwerk, or total work of art, will be highlighted. This exhibition is co-curated by the artist Koko Bayer, Herbert Bayer’s granddaughter, and Adam Thomas, PhD.

Funding for the exhibition is provided by the estate of Ann M. Korologos. Additional support provided by Lynda and Stewart Resnick.

interior photo of the bayer center with artwork on the wall

The Bayer Center Store

Open by appointment only from April 27- June 9.

The Bayer Center Store will feature a rotating display of original, framed Herbert Bayer prints and curated retail items focused on modernist design influenced by the Bauhaus and Bayer. Merchandise will include custom apparel and books, jewelry, Bauhaus product re-editions, functional items for the home, personal accessories, games, and textiles. Every purchase made supports the Bayer Center’s initiatives and programming. Learn More(details)

Herbert Bayer

Widely recognized for his innovative graphic design work, Austrian-American artist Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) was a polymath who explored a great variety of media, including painting, sculpture, environmental and interior design, architecture, and photography. After studying and then teaching at the Bauhaus, he became one of the most important graphic and advertising designers in Berlin. He moved to the United States in 1938, where he enjoyed a richly varied career until his death in 1985. His mastery of an extraordinary range of disciplines is most stunningly evident on the campus of the Aspen Institute. Over a period of approximately 20 years, Bayer developed a masterplan for the Institute and oversaw the execution of its every element, creating a total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) in the amazing setting of Aspen.