There is a kid downtown that does pretty good stuff…
June, 2009 Monthly archive
Tuesday, January 27, 2009—Sunday, July 12, 2009
Gallery 368
Free Exhibition
This year marks the 20th annual Modernism exhibition presented at Wells Fargo Center in downtown Minneapolis. To commemorate the anniversary, Wells Fargo Minnesota has donated a series of 20 Swiss posters — emblematic of the Swiss International Style dating from 1950 to 1985 — to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
A haven for artists fleeing two world wars, neutral Switzerland formulated a distinct advertising style with special emphasis on the poster format. Swiss artists had been exposed earlier to the movements and styles flourishing elsewhere in Europe (de Stijl, Bauhaus and Constructivism), yet it was not until the late twenties that the Swiss poster exemplified a universally recognized signature style.
Many factors contributed to making Swiss graphics internationally preeminent. Among these were a technically advanced and highly skilled printing industry that continued to develop while the rest of Europe was devastated by war, and a strong tradition of graphics dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, which had been nurtured further by extensive contact with the German Bauhaus.
The active encouragement of poster design by the Swiss government at national and local levels and the institution of an annual competition to promote it were significant, as were such important journals as Graphis (founded in 1944) and Neue Grafik (New Graphic Design, founded in 1958). Replete with articles summarizing the major tenets of the Swiss Style, it was responsible for establishing Switzerland’s reputation as the epicenter of modernist typography. Moreover, the schools of applied arts in Basel and Zurich became internationally important education centers for graphic design.
Swiss designers developed a number of new typefaces in the 1950s, the most popular and celebrated being Helvetica, a refined version of Akzidenz Grotesk, a 19th-century sans-serif typeface. Helvetica’s widespread use became integral to the clarity and easy legibility of the Swiss graphic style. In fact, sans-serif type was the most emblematic component of the International Typographic Style. In 1954, Adrian Foutiger designed Univers, a mathe-matically constructed and visually programmed font with 21 variations.
Among the younger Swiss designers who emerged in the 1950s through the ’70s as important innovators were: Armin Hofmann, Tino Steinemann, Carl B. Graf, Jorg Hamburger, Fritz Gottschalk, Hans Rudolf Bosshard and Siegried Odermatt, all represented in the 20 posters donated to the MIA and seen in this current exhibition.
(via Swiss Miss)
final thesis typeface, KABK Type and Media Masters program, 2009
Arietta is Abi Huynh‘s first serious text face, it is intended for short subject and non?-iction books, the family consists of a transitional roman with multiple text italics that provide modulating degrees of stylistic contrast from the roman. Arietta Book has a serious, unobtrusive and reserved tone while the three italic companions each produce a distinct character and textural density.
This specimen poster shows the status of the type family at the end of the Type and Media course, produced for the final examination. Size 100 x 210 cm.
UK based publishing company Black Dog Publishing, just informed about this very interesting new title they will release this august.
Extract of the press release:
The use of written language has been one of the most defining developments in twentieth century visual art. Art and Text is a unique and timely survey of this most contemporary and relevant artistic tool.
The use of text can be seen in some of the most seminal, avantgarde artwork of the twentieth century: René Magritte used text as an instrument for Surrealist subversion when he inscribed his painting with the statement “Ceci n’est pas une pipeâ€, and Dadaist artists used it to describe anti-art and anti-aesthetic sentiments.
Some of the most famous Conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s began to use written language as an artwork in itself, abandoning the juxtaposition of images for the first time. Artists such as John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, Martha Rosler and Joseph Kosuth—still some of the world’s most respected practitioners—helped codify the completely new boundaries of what constitutes art.
The expansive Art & Language group of artists and theorists also reconsidered the possibilities of linguistic art, and Art and Text features a new essay by esteemed member, Charles Harrison, alongside essays from Dave Beech and Will Hill.
Art and Text is a beautifully illustrated survey, documenting and contextualising the fascinating relationship between word and image for the first time, and showcasing the many artists who continue to use text and expand its possibilities, including Richard Prince, Raymond Pettibon, Mark Titchner, Roni Horn and Glenn Ligon.
Art and Text
Hardback
288 pages
273 colour and b/w ills
9 x 11 in
US $45.00
Here is the Adrian Frutigers acceptance speech for the European Design Hall of Fame.
