Max Bill, 85; Controversial Swiss Artist, Sculptor and Writer

Max Bill, the controversial Swiss artist, sculptor and former politician, has died of a heart attack. He was 85.

Bill, who was also an architect and writer, suffered a heart attack Friday at Berlin’s airport as he was waiting for a flight to Zurich. He died en route to the hospital.

From 1927 to 1929, Bill was at Germany’s famous Bauhaus school of architecture and applied arts, where he was influenced by the work of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky.

Described by the New York-based Art News magazine in 1989 as the “leading light” of the Concrete and Constructivist art movements, Bill applied what he called a “mathematical” approach to art.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibited a retrospective of Bill’s paintings and sculptures in 1974.

No stranger to controversy, Bill caused an uproar in Zurich in 1988 when he refused to attend a party the city threw to celebrate his 80th birthday. He said he was irritated by the fuss and felt special exhibitions organized by local museums to show his work were unrepresentative.

Bill was also involved in politics. He was elected to the Zurich municipal council in 1961 and was a Federal Parliament deputy from 1967 to 1971 as a member of the Independent Landesring Party.

He is survived by his second wife, Angela, and a son, Jakob.