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Cadernos De Tipografia Nr.6 Fevereiro 2008 Página 1 Cadernos de Tipografia 6 Made in USA — Part 1 — Cadernos de Tipografia Nr.6 Fevereiro 2008 página 1 CT6 – Temas aros leitores! Pela selecção de temas deste CCa derno de Tipografia – e também do Made in USA, Parte 1. seguinte – rapidamente verá que esta edição foi As letras que vieram da publicidade ...............3 consagrada a uma apresentação da Tipografia A Cromolitografia expulsa os «made in USA». Este tema de grande fôlego só tipos de chumbo ................................................. 6 pode ser abordado por um patchwork de aponta- Fundamentalistas protestantes, mentos soltos, que, no melhor dos casos, servirão pioneiros do design contemporâneo ............10 para o leitor poder construir a sua própria imagem Os móveis Shaker: paradigmas da evolução da Tipografia nos EUA. Junto com do Modernismo ................................................13 os temas tipográficos poderá ler duas excursões a Benjamin Franklin, tipógrafo ........................17 temas do Design (pág. 10-16). Neste CT 6 reuni- Frederic Wiliam Goudy .................................20 mos temas até 1930-40; o seguinte Caderno fará o Linotype: a composição mecaniza-se ..........23 inventário até aos criadores contemporâneos. A Monotype de Tolbert Lanston ..................25 Mas então existirá o «quintessential American Linn Boyd Benton .......................................... 27 font», com já foi perguntado no site typophile? Morris Fuller Benton ......................................29 Claro que sim, existem várias fontes «tipicamente A fonte Broadway ..............................................31 americanas». Mas quais são? Poder-se-á chegar a The Century Family ........................................ 32 um consenso na denominação das «typical ameri- American Type Founders Company ............33 can»? Neste Caderno tentamos o enquadramento Franklin Gothic, a sem-serifa de algumas fontes que possam ser consideradas norte-americana ...............................................34 típicas. Deste modo, o leitor verá vários alfabetos William Addison Dwiggins .......................... 36 assinalados com a etiqueta «American Type». A fonte Electra .................................................. 37 Seria muito interessante saber se está – ou não – Os posters da WPA, 1936–1943...................... 38 de acordo com esta escolha. Escreva a sua opinião Citrus crate labels, rótulos de e os seus comentários para info.tipografia@gmail. caixas de fruta americanas ............................42 com. Obrigado! Anúncios .............................................................51 Fevereiro de 2008, Paulo Heitlinger com a Tipogra fia, o typeface design, o design Ficha técnica gráfico, e a análise so cial e cultural dos fenó menos rela cio nados com a visualização, edição, Os Cadernos de Tipografia são redigidos, paginados publicação e repro dução de textos, símbolos e e publi cados por Paulo Heitlinger; são igualmente imagens. pro prie­­dade intelectual deste editor. Qualquer comu nica ção dirigida ao editor – calúnias, Os Cadernos, publicados em português, e também louvores, ofertas de dinheiro ou outros valores, em castelhano, galego ou catalão, diri gem os seus propos tas de subor no, etc. deve ser dirigida ao temas a leitores em Portugal, Brasil, Espanha e email [email protected]. América Latina. Os Cadernos de Tipo gra fia não professam qualquer Os Cadernos estão abertos à mais ampla orien­­tação nacionalista, chauvinista, partidária, participação de colaboradores, quer regulares, religiosa, misticista ou obscurantista. Também não quer episó dicos, que queiram ver os seus artigos e discutimos temas pseudo-científicos, como a as suas opiniões difundidos por este meio. Semió tica, por exemplo. Os artigos assinalados com o nome do(s) seu Em 2008, a distribuição é feita grátis, por autor(es) são da responsabilidade desse(s) divulgação da versão em PDF posta à disposição mes mo(s) autor(es) – e também sua propriedade dos interessados em www.tipografos.net/cadernos intelec tual. Conforme o nome indica, os Cadernos de Tipografia inci dem sobre temas relacionados © 2007,8 by Paulo Heitlinger. All rights reserved. Cadernos de Tipografia Nr.6 Fevereiro 2008 página 2 Existem «letras americanas»? American Alphabets. Um livro que asta olhar para o título do catálogo da ATF – «Book incluiu alfabetos publicados e não- publicados, da autoria de typeface of American Types – para perceber que, pelo menos B designers como Oswald Cooper, W.A. para a American Type Founders, não restavam quais- Dwiggins, Fred Goudy, Gustav Jensen quer dúvidas quanto à resposta: «Sim, claro que existem e muitos outros. Os mais importantes tipos americanos!» Tipos com características específi- são retratados nesta e na próxima edição dos Cadernos de Tipografia. cas, apropriados para o mercado americano. Muitos com grandes semelhanças a desenhos europeus, outros já den- tro de uma genuína estética yankee. Uma estética mais aguerrida, mais emocional, mais consumista. Um bom tipo era aquele «que vendia», pelo menos para a gigan- tesca indústria publicitária, que acompanhou a Indústria e o Comércio dos EUA logo desde a sua mais tenra idade. São estas letras americanas que esta e a próxima edição dos CT exploram. Poster para o filme «Silk», 1926. Desde cedo, a indústria do cinema Poster do filme «Sogras», 1923. americana dinamizou a produção de novas fontes, requerendo Um desenho de Grosz. constantemente novas letras para as suas mais diversas produções. Cadernos de Tipografia Nr.6 Fevereiro 2008 página 3 Cena de rua, fotografada em 1521 Boardwalk, entre Kentucky Avenue e New York Avenue. New Jersey, Atlantic City. Foto publicada em 1922. Legado da R.C. Maxwell Company Collection, Library of Congress. As letras que vieram da publicidade A contribuição mais significativa que os EUA aportaram ao universo tipográfico foram as letras criadas para fins publicitários. Enquanto as fundições européias se concentraram na produção de livros, os typeface designers americanos cedo buscaram o impacto visual e a estímulo que as fontes pudessem transmitir ao consumidor. partir de 1800 assistimos a uma ex plo são de tipos novos – uns mais A altos e magros, outros profu samente deco­­rados com sombreados ou ara bes cos, com motivos antropomórficos ou vegetais. As seri fas são modi- ficadas: ou engrossam, ou desapa re­­­cem. Aparecem caractéres finos e finís- simos, assim como negros e supernegros – e também os vio len ta mente conden sados e os excessivamente expan di dos e gordos. Um belo exemplo de panfleto publicitário Marcando passo com a procura por parte das empresas gráficas, que dos EUA, impresso entre 1880 e 1890; os tipos de grande tamanho foram talhados agora imprimiam todo o género de folhas e catálogos publicitários, a cria- em madeira e racharam com o uso. ção de novos tipos atinge uma variedade assombrosa – possivelmente ainda maior que a do pre­­sente. Se bem que nem tudo o que aparece nesses anos seja con­­­vincente, e muito menos brilhante, assistimos à criação de dois grandes géneros, componentes essen ci ais da tipografia contemporânea: as letras de serifa grossa e as grotescas (sem serifas). Quando há que alcan çar os enor­­mes tamanhos necessários para os car- tazes publi ci tá rios que são afixados por toda a parte, os tipos móveis são fei- tos em madeira; fabri­­cam-se woodtype characters. Cadernos de Tipografia Nr.6 Fevereiro 2008 página 4 As «egípcias» ma evolução notável no desenho de le tras deu-se no país que mais Ucomercialmente se tinha vindo a dedicar à impressão: a Inglaterra. Entre 1804 e 1805, o tipógrafo britânico Robert Thorne (1754-1820) fundiu as pri mei ras fontes que quis anunciar como Egyptians – tipos novos, uns mais bem estreitos, outros genero sa mente expandidos, mas todos com fortes e robustas serifas. No apêndice editado em 1817 para o mostruário de espéci- mens de 1815 da fundição lon drina de Vin cent Figgins, um contemporâneo de Robert Thorne, também surge uma destas «egípcias», porém com a estra- nha designação de Antique. William Caslon IV, membro da notável dinastia detipógrafos britânicos, introduziu outra novidade, desenhando e fundindo um dos pri mei ros carac- teres sem serifas – antecedendo uma evo lução que iria culminar na «nova tipografia» do século xx. No mostruário de espécimen de Wil liam Caslon IV aparece, pela primeira vez em 1816, uma letra sem serifas – esta também com a designação de Egyptian. Ins­t aura-se de ime diato uma tremen da con- fusão na nomen clatura. Em 1820, William Thorowgood, sucessor de Robert Thorne e da suaFann Street Foundry, também publi cita caractéres à nova moda – com serifas gros- sas e de novo designados Egyptians. Mais tarde, em 1847, Figgins lança outra bizarria: a Half Ske leton Egyptian. De onde vieram estes caractéres? Segundo Jock Kinneir e o historiador James Mosely, as tabuletas comer ciais pintadas à mão teriam estado na ori- gem das letras de serifa-grossa (as egípcias) e das letras sem-serifas (as gro- tescas). A rotulação «letras egípcias» eventualmente terá sido deri vada das cam- panhas de Napoleão Bona par te no Egipto, mas a origem da letra com serifas grossas terá tido causas bem pragmáticas – e uma ori gem doméstica, e não colonial. Terá surgido da mão dos pintores de tabuletas e adquiriu notório êxito na Inglaterra, país onde eram muito usadas tabuletas para pubs (taber- nas) e inns (albergues). Os pintores de tabuletas – importante classe pro fissio nal do século xix – começaram a rectificar as ele gan tíssimas, mas demasiado frágeis letras neo- classi­­cistas Bodoni,( Didot, Wal
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