Jan Tschichold
One only needs to go back to the turn of the twentieth century to discover the roots and intertwining movements that led to what we call today the Modern Movement.The great breakthrough period a stretch of almost twenty years, that separates modern typography from earlier typographics, started with the publication of the Futurist manifesto in 1909 and peaked in the late twenties.Futurism was a violent reaction by artists and writers against the status quo which symbolised failure to make life worth living.The advent of photography, economic and social forces and new philosophical attitudes also contributed to the development of new attitudes toward communication design. The Futurists ignored the constraints of metal typography and letterpress printing. Horizontalism was out, Type at any angle was in. The big thing in Futurist design was shock and contrast.Another major departure from straight realistic thinking was the development in the early 1900's of Cubism. This art represented objects (that weren't totally abstract) in a new way, Still life was now envisioned as a compromise of shape and shifting volumes of planes. This was a strong departure from the 400 year old Renaissance tradition. Unlike Impressionism, Pos
In fact typography of the 1920's should have been as different as the people that surrounded it and in many ways the Modern Movement restricted the freedom of individuality, as the rules and theories created a regimented world, and in cases a world to closely associated with fascism. Between 1916-1923 many writers and artists in the west of Europe felt it necassary to destroy failed traditions before a sane world could be built. His book was widely read and highly influential as a major strep in modern ideals. When Sabon was designed, amazingly Tchochold was defending symmetrical typography and classic typeface's. His return to the old advocacy was due to political as well as graphic considerations. In any event, his powerful advocacy of the new typography was a tremendous force in spreading its influence and acceptance, and his more conservative work, showed how effective conservative typography can be when exquisitely executed. Looking at the text of the 1930's you will find that in most cases a different rythem than the dual symmetry that had been used up until this period. "He felt he had been used by the Nazis, and equated the new typography with fascism. Several other movements continued this break with realistic representation by image or word. His work combined vitality as much as order. With this blended knowledge as a background. A literacy movement in Zurich, later to be known as the established Dada group believed that the world had gone mad and the only valid art was non-art and the only sense non-sense. Which wasn't the case of the new typographical approach. Tschichold favoured sans serif typeface's not for novelty but for function. Parallel to these developments in extreme art , the Eastern and Western areas of Europe were making attempts to capture the vitality of the new art forms, while bringing some order and clarity to enhance effective communication.
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Acceptance Essays
