Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1910 Baku, Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan)

Died: 1977 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1912

Other name/s: Sir Misha Black OBE

Biography

Designer, architect and educator, Misha Black was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Baku, Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan) on 16 October 1910. He immigrated to England with his parents in 1912, aged 18 months. Black attended Dame Alice Owen School, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire and later took night classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. In 1928, he studied in Paris. Beyond this, Black had no formal design training but, already, at the age of 17, he designed posters and the Rio Tinto Company’s stand at the Seville Exhibition (1928) in Spain. In the late 1920s or early 1930s, he started working with Lucy Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s great-niece. At the time, both were employed by Wickham and Arundell Display Ltd. and tutored by Hans Kiesewelter. From his home in Seven Dials Street in Covent Garden, Black and Rossetti launched Studio Z, designing book-plates and jackets, posters, and exhibition stands.

Black subsequently co-founded several important art and design organisations. In 1933, together with like-minded thinkers, including the Hungarian-born artist Peter Laszlo Peri, the German-born artist, Edith Simon, and the Vietnamese-born illustrator, Edward Ardizzone, Black co-founded the Artists’ International Association (AIA). This radical left-wing political-art organisation presented many exhibitions across the UK, and stylistically embraced both modernism and traditional styles, although realism was favoured. That year, he co-founded with Milner Gray (1899-1997), the British Society of Industrial Artists, later holding the role of President between 1954 and 1956. Black freelanced until 1933–34 before joining Milner Gray, Thomas Gray, and Charles and Henry Bassett to establish the Industrial Design Partnership, a pioneering British multi-disciplinary consultancy. Black himself was recognised as a pioneering designer whose early work included televisions and radios for E.K. Cole Ltd; the Modern Architectural Research Group’s designs at the New Architecture Exhibition (1938), and the interior of the British Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair (1939).

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Black was named Chief Exhibitions Designer for the Ministry of Information (MOI). In the capacity of consulting architect, between 1936 and 1950, he revamped the Kardomah cafés (a popular chain of coffee shops) and meeting place of the so-called Kardomah gang, a group of bohemian artists and writers who met in the branch in Swansea, Wales. Together with Gray, Marcus Brumwell, and the art historian, Herbert Read, Black co-founded the London-based Design Research Unit (DRU), another early design consultancy, with a broad remit. Two Hitler émigrés, Gunther Hoffstead and Robert Gutmann collaborated with the DRU. Black was also responsible for exhibition designs, including for Britain Can Make It, held at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London in 1946, and for components of the nationwide 1951 Festival of Britain on London's South Bank.

Black's most productive time was with the DRU, where he focused on merging art with technology and closing the divide between industrial and engineering design, especially within the realm of public transport. He was responsible for some of the most recognisable street and transport signage in London, designing street signage in Westminster, as well as the design of the London Underground 1967 Stock, which served the Victoria line from 1967 until 2011. He was also responsible for the exterior design of the British Railways Southern Region’s British Rail Class 71 electric locomotives from 1958 and the Western Region’s British Rail Class 52 diesel locomotives from 1961. Among his final projects were decorative panels for Baker Street Station in 1975. He also received commissions from the Hong Kong Rapid Transport System.

Black held many other important roles. Between 1959 and 1975, he was Professor of Industrial Design (Engineering) at London’s Royal College of Art. In the context of British design education, he ushered in an integration of industrial and engineering design, elevating these disciplines to an academic level within a fine art focused, higher education landscape. From 1959 until 1961, he was President of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. Around this time, he was also elected a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and was awarded the Minerva Medal, the highest accolade given by the Society. From 1974 to 1976, he was President of the Design and Industries Association, and was a member of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the Advisory Council to the Science Museum, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Black also published extensively.

Between 1935 and 1952, Black was married to Helen Lillian with whom he had a daughter and a son. Black was awarded an OBE in 1946, which was reissued in 1950 when Black became a naturalised British citizen. In 1955, he married Edna Joan, with whom he had one son. Black was knighted in 1972. Misha Black died in London, England on 11 October 1977. Since 1978, through the joint efforts of six organisations, the Misha Black Awards have been presented annually to individuals and institutions that have made significant contributions to design education. In the UK public domain, his work is held at the London Transport Museum, while both his papers and works are in the V&A collection.

Related books

Harriet Atkinson, '"Lines of Becoming" Misha Black and Entanglements through Exhibition Design', Journal of Design History, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2021, pp. 37–53
Peter Childs and Miles Pennington, 'Industrial, and Innovation Design Engineering', in Amaresh Chakrabarti and Udo Lindemann, eds., Impact of Design Research on Industrial Practice (Cham: Springer, 2016)
David Buckman, 'Misha Black', entry in Artists in Britain since 1945 (Bristol: Art Dictionaries Ltd., 1998), p. 145
Avril Blake, Misha Black (London: The Design Council, 1984)
Misha Black, 'The Designer and the Management Syndrome', in T. F. Schutte, ed., The Art of Design Management - The Tiffany-Wharton Lectures on Corporate Design Management (Tiffany & Co.: New York, 1975), pp. 41-55
Misha Black, 'The Function of Design in Long Range Planning', Long Range Planning, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1972, pp. 9-15
Misha Black, 'Design education in Great Britain', Nature, Vol. 231, No. 5297, 1971, pp. 19-22
Misha Black, 'The Education of Industrial Designers', Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. 113, No. 5111, 1965, pp. 850-882
Misha Black, 'The Past and the Present', RSA Journal, Vol. 113, No. 5111, 1965, p. 850
Misha Black, 'Education for Industrial Design', Nature, No. 201, Vol. 4926, 1964, pp. 1258-1264

Public collections

Related organisations

Artists’ International Association (co-founder )
British Association for the Advancement of Science (member of the advisory council )
British Society of Industrial Artists (co-founder and president )
Central School of Arts and Crafts (attended courses )
Chartered Society of Designers (fellow )
Council of Societies of Industrial Design (president )
Design Research Unit (co-founder )
Design and Industries Association (president )
Industrial Design Partnership (co-founder )
Ministry of Information (Chief Exhibitions Designer )
Royal College of Art (professor )
Science Museum (member of the advisory council )
Studio Z (co-founder )

Selected exhibitions

London Transport (group show), Design Museum, London (2015)
Festival of Britain (designer of sections of the exhibition), South Bank site, London (1951)
Dome of Discovery (designer of specific parts), Festival of Britain, South Bank, London (1951)
Britain Can Make It (designer of sections of the exhibition), Victoria & Albert Museum, London (1946)
British Pavilion (interior design), World's Fair, New York (1939)
Modern Architectural Research Group (co-ordinating designer), New Architecture Exhibition, Burlington Galleries, London (1938)
Industry Exhibition (parts of exhibition design), Royal Society of Arts /Royal Academy British Art London (1935)
Rio Tinto Company (stand design), Seville Exhibition, Spain (1928)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Misha Black]