Marie Neurath: Designing Bilston’s Housing Exhibition

Marie Neurath was a pioneer in information design who co-developed the graphic approach Isotype and co-founded the Isotype Institute. This article elaborates on Marie’s creation of an educational exhibition in 1946 in Bilston, UK, advocating for a slum clearance project in a working-class neighborhood of Bilston. For over ten months, Marie carefully designed twelve charts that would help viewers understand the importance of the project for health and happiness. Despite being one of Isotype’s most visionary schemes for public education, Marie’s original contribution is unclear, in part because a new town clerk changed the housing exhibition at the last minute, bringing in “attractions” such as an ant farm and related cartoons. This article draws on correspondence, sketches, and notes from The Otto and Marie Neurath Isotype Collection at the University of Reading to show that Marie’s work should be recognized as a central contribution in the Bilston work.