wiedler.ch

book (design) story #199

helen rosenau:
woman in art – from type to personality

isomorph ltd., london, 1944
printer: the marshall press ltd., london
size: 12 x 19 cm
designer: anthony froshaug

helen rosenau (1900-1984) was an art and architecture historian who left germany after her habilitation was rejected in 1933 due to her jewish background. she emigrated to britain. this small booklet on woman in art has a sociologist viewpoint.

the booklet with its then very modern plastic spiral binding is an early design by british typographer anthony froshaug (1920-1984, his norwegian name is sometimes also spelt "frøshaug" or "fröschaug"). it is the first and only book published by his short-lived isomorph company. although this collection is mostly about german-language books we include froshaug because he was a new typography pioneer in britain influenced by jan tschichold. in the 1940s froshaug (unsuccessfully) planned to publish tschichold's books in english, and in the 1950s he taught at the the hfg ulm and designed some of their publications. for more information about anthony froshaug see the excellent two-volume monograph by robin kinross (isbn 090725909X).

above a sculpture by british artist barbara hepworth; another one of her works it is also depicted on the front cover, together with the famous "venus of willendorf", a stone-age figure from the collection of the naturhistorisches museum in vienna. the overprinting of monochrome images in different colours is a technique popularized by the modernist typographers of the late 1920s and often used by swiss graphic designers such as max bill, richard paul lohse, herbert matter and others.