wiedler.ch

book (design) story #443

rolf bürgi:
paul klee 1879-1940

the tate gallery, london, 1945
printer: shenval press, london
size: 23 x 16 cm
designer: (unknown)

the catalogue of a 1945 paul klee exhibition in london organised by the tate gallery.

most of the exhibited works came from the collections of "frau professor klee, bern" and rolf bürgi (1906-1967) who contributed the foreword.

the typography is quite interesting, too: ...

... the asymmetric title design and page layout is obviously influenced by the (continental) new typography style. especially the cover looked very "tschicholdian" to me, ...

... and then i found out that it was actually an exact rip-off from an example in jan tschichold's 1935 book (below right, see story 30) – however lacking the master's refined elegance! the catalogue was printed by the shenval press, london. this company had published the magazine "typography" since 1936 (editor: robert harling with james shand and ellic howe)– an early platform for avantgarde typography in britain.