Meaningful Typographies

The 15th-century invention of the moveable printing press by Johannes Gutenberg changed everything. Not only could words be published and distributed on a large scale but literacy would improve, news could be created and read and typography would evolve from decorative to functional to an important art form. Post-1919 Germany saw the establishment of the Bauhaus, later seeing the famous Sans-serif type define its aesthetic. Bauhaus artists like Herbert Bayer influenced Jan Tschichold, the man who created visual experiences on a subconscious level for all the book lovers, who could now see art in books, even while only observing letters. His most important work was Die Neue Typographie (The New Typography) published in 1928, as a masterpiece of modern typography and graphic design. This book standardized typographic practices with a set of rules and reflected a move towards a more universal communication style. Though adopted by artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Barbara Kruger, it was Mike Edwards who pioneered contemporary Typographic art, creating word paintings and text portraits. In our own selection of works you will find the likes of Vikenti Komitski whose conceptual work uses typography whilst Maria Qamar demonstrates that words and their meaning carry weight, communicating her comics-inspired work to the world for everyone to understand.