Article: From De Stijl to a New Typography
By Kees Broos
From: Texts on Type - Heller & Meggs
Key Points of the Article:
–Typography has no restrictions on the user or the medium.
–Importance of being aware of the shapes and functions of the letters, and by extension, the overall expressive potential of their arrangement.
–The Use of Letters can have two entirely different purposes.
–First Purpose: "Printing should be Invisible" -Beatrice Warde. In this purpose, the arrangement of type serves the content.
–Second Purpose: Typography has an autonomous function. Emphasis on the visual potential of letter shape and arrangement. This purpose was practiced by some of De Stijl's founders.
–De Stijl's ideas were a challenge and a touchstone for outsiders who experimented.
–Warde called them stunt "typographers". Spencer called them "Pioneers of Modern Typography".
–Van Doesburg used a symmetrical typography at first, and later an asymmetrical one.
–Van Doesburg's work includes both Dadaist and Constructivist sides.
–Cover for the first issue of De Stijl magazine was designed by Huszar. The letter forms correlated with the context of Huszar's paintings at the time.
–Geometrical experiments with letter shapes and combinations were popular after World War I.
–Wijdeveld devised highly complicated typographical compositions for his periodical, Wendingen.
–Wendingen the antithesis of De Stijl, yet both showed a tendency towards systematizing and plane filling.
–Zwart and Huszar collaborated on designing furniture and interiors.
–In a letterhead for Bruynzeel and a portfolio of architectural drawings, Huszar used a geometric alphabet with solid letters and corresponding graphic elements, quite the opposite of his cover design for De Stijl magazine.
–Van Doesburg's experimenting involved distortions of type, pushing legibility to a secondary tier of importance.
–Later, Van Doesburg experimented less and relied mainly on his basic alphabet, consisting of letters that were compact, self-contained constructions.
–The manner in which the letters in the De Stijl title could be broken down into elements was most consistently found in Bart van der Leck's work.
–Van der Leck differs from Huszar in that he accepts the diagonal and employs a more prominent white background. Van der Leck's letters not constructed on a rigid pattern, but rather distilled from common letter shapes and interwoven into a homogenous texture. Lack of legibility compensated for by poetic quality of letters being drawn in a childlike way.
–Potential for development of new letter shapes from a geometric basis was not realized in the Netherlands, but it was to some extent realized in Germany, via the work of Bayer, Albers, and Schwitters.
–Van Doesburg believed that in poetry the word should be posed according to its meaning as well as its sound. His ideas with poetry related to those of Raoul Haussmann and Kurt Schwitters.
–De Stijl's truly important contribution to typography came from abroad: the special issue Of 2 Squares, by El Lissitzky, recently published in Berlin. The book gave an unparalleled survey of all possibilities text and image, juxtaposed in tension, could bring out on the page. It broke many through many conventions with it's revolutionary and convincing notions.
–Visiting the Netherlands in 1923, Lissitzky met a younger generation with whom he could discuss his typographical ideas.
–Lissitzky's ideas visibly influenced the work of Zwart and Van Doesburg.
–Van Doesburg collaborated with Schwitters to create Die Scheuche (The Scarecrow), the most sympathetic typographical experiment he had ever worked on.
–Schwitters founded the Ring neuer Werbegestalter (Circle of New Advertising Artists) in 1927. Major contributors to De Stijl joined, along with Tschichold and Zwart, but Van Doesburg refused to join.
–The new ideas found many avenues of distribution, including Tschichold's influential handbook, The New Typography.
–De Stijl had played in part of source of inspiration, a part incubator, and finally an irritating antagonist against these ideas.
First we have the first cover for Theo van Doesburg's De Stijl magazine. The title and image below it were designed by Vilmos Huszar, showing the high level of geometric experimentation with letter shape and organization, exploring the potential of visual emphasis. Huszar's alphabet was known for its ability to be broken down into simple, separate elements. Huszar's logo design appeared on the covers of the first three issue of De Stijl, until the format was radically changed by Van Doesburg starting with the fourth issue.
Next we have an exhibition poster designed by Bart Anthony van der Leck, which depicts a man on a horse, constructed entirely of geometrical shapes. Typographically, we can observe the similarities and differences between Huszar's and Van der Leck's work. Like Huszar, Van der Leck's type was fragmented, constructed of simple, individual parts. But Van der Leck employed the diagonal, while Huszar did not. Furthermore, we see that Van der Leck's type was not designed from a rigid grid pattern, but rather distilled from common letter shapes. We can also observe how Van der Leck employed a good deal more white space in his design layout than Huszar.
Finally, we have the book "Of 2 Squares", designed by Russian constructivist El Lissitzky. Breaking through many conventions of the time, the book explored many different possibilities of text and image arrangement and juxtaposition. Among others, the revolutionary ideas conveyed in the book had visible influence on the work of Theo van Doesburg and Piet Zwart. Despite coming from an outside source, "Of 2 Squares" is seen as De Stijl's most important contribution to typography.
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