Herbert Matter (1907-1984), a Swiss photographer and graphic designer, was born in Engelberg, Switzerland. He is credited with the first use of the modern photographic poster in Switzerland, an innovation that helped transform the visual language of twentieth-century graphic design. Matter studied painting from 1925 to 1927 at l'École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, then traveled to Paris to study at the Académie de l'Art Moderne from 1928 to 1929 with teachers such as Fernand Léger. During this time he introduced himself to photography with a camera left in his Paris apartment.

Between 1929 and 1932, Matter freelanced as a photographer and graphic artist in Paris, as well as working for the studio Deberny & Peignot and the journal Arts et Métiers Graphiques. Upon his return to Switzerland in 1932, he designed a renowned series of tourism posters for the Swiss National Tourist Office. A leader in photomontage, he was also able to demonstrate freshness in his colors and surfaces by dyeing different elements photochemically. These Swiss posters remain among the most beloved graphic designs of the twentieth century and helped define the modern visual identity of Swiss tourism.

In 1936 Matter settled in the United States, soon photographing for publications such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Town and Country, as well as for New York advertising agencies. He showed his versatility with even more projects, such as helping to design the Swiss and Corning Pavilions at the 1939 World's Fair, and receiving commissions by the U.S. government for propaganda posters during the Second World War. In addition, he worked as a graphic designer for Ray and Charles Eames and for Knoll Furniture, contributing to the visual identities of some of the most important American design firms of the mid-century.

Matter photographed the work of many artists, including Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. He proved his skills as a filmmaker with a color film concentrating on Calder's mobiles. In 1960 he began photographing the sculptures of Alberto Giacometti and later made them into a book that remains one of the most important photographic records of that sculptor's work. After teaching photography and graphic design at Yale University for over thirty years, Herbert Matter passed away in 1984.