Book Reviews KURT LÖB, Exil-Gestalten
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Book reviews KURT LÖB, Exil-Gestalten: Deutsche Buchgestalter in den Niederlanden 1932-1950. Arnhem, Gouda Quint, 1995, 24 x 18 cm., 341 pp., illus., ISBN 90-387-0267-1, f 124.50. [Originally a doctoral thesis, Amsterdam University, 1994.] With summaries in Dutch and English. Among those who fled Germany after Hider came to power in 1933 were many graphic and typographic designers. The best known of these emigrants is certainly Jan Tschichold, who had established his name with the publication of the modernist designer's guide- book Die neue Typographie(1928). He moved first to Switzerland and then, in 1947, to England where he developed his now famous design for Penguin Books. Berthold Wolpe, John Heartfield, and Hans Schmoller also settled in England (Schmoller actually after the War). In 1934 George Salter, the most celebrated German designer of book-jackets, began a new career in New York with great success. Other designers, such as the mod- ernists Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (a Hungarian who was living in Germany) also left for the United States. Among the immigrants who enriched the Netherlands in the thirties were Henri Friedlaender, Susanne Heynemann, Hajo Rose, Helmut Salden, Paul L. Urban, and Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart. Heynemann and Salden were to settle here perma- nently. In general, the literature about Dutch typography of this period has not reached a very high standard, so it's no surprise that little or nothing has been written about the work of these German immigrants. Kurt Lob (b. Berlin 1926) attempts to change this with F-xzl-Gestalten:Deutsche Buchgestalter in den Niederlanden1932-195°. His book centres on the designers Henri Friedlaender and Paul L. Urban. Henri Friedlaender (Lyon 1904 - Jerusalem 1996) originally wanted to become a pub- lisher, but thanks to his admiration for the Bauhaus he chose a practical training. In 1922 he began. work as a volunteer for a medium-sized Berlin printing office where he tried his hand in various departments. At the same time, he took evening classes in typesetting and printing at the city's Kunstgewerbe- und Handwerkerschule. He then studied from 1925 to 1926 at the Staatliche Akademie fur Graphische Kunste und Buch- gewerbe in Leipzig, where Hermann Delitsch was his most important teacher (in cal- ligraphy). After these studies Friedlaender worked as a hand compositor for Jakob Hegner in Hellerau (near Dresden). But his speed did not meet their demands, so he left for Offenbach am Main. There he began setting type specimens for the in-house printing office of the typefoundry Gebr. Klingspor. That brought him into contact with Rudolf Koch, the designer of some of the types, who greatly influenced him. His first job as a typographic designer came only in 1928, from a Hamburg printing office where his work showed the influence of the New Typography. Friedlaender's last em- ployer in Germany was Offizin Haag-Drugulin in Leipzig, where he worked primarily 149 on book interiors. Offizin Haag-Drugulin, like Hegner, produced quality printing of the highest order. Friedlaender, a Jew, emigrated from Germany to the Netherlands as early as 1932. The type designer and book typographer S.H. de Roos had found him a job as artis- tic adviser and typographic designer at Mouton & Co., printers in The Hague. He con- tinued with them until 1946, but also took on free-lance work on the side. He described Dutch typography of that time in his acceptance speech for the 1971 Gutenberg Prize: 'Als ich nach Holland kam, fand ich dort einen in torichter, mechanischer Form erstarr- ten Jugendstil, und eine erstarrte Buchtypographie im Sinne der Doves Press oder der Heuvel Pers, der Handpresse von De Roos. Nicht daB die urspriinglichen Vorbilder schlecht waren, aber alles war totgelaufen.... Ich habe probiert, zu einer Typographie zu kommen, die nicht starr ist, die atmet und frei ist; und auch, soweit ich es vermochte, das was in der modemen Kunst geschah, in die Typographie hinein zu bringen.' Fried- laender's skilful and reserved book typography, did not stand alone in the Netherlands. His expressive book-jackets were more conspicuous: in contrast to the classical capitals of figures such as Jan van Krimpen, he preferred (drawn) lettering in the Didot style. His lettering is much more dynamic and less 'polished' than that of Van Krimpen or De Roos; unlike them, he also readily used lowercase in his numerous binding and book- jacket designs, including those for the exile publications issued by Querido and Allert de Lange. Friedlaender had considerable influence on a few young designers, especially through the classes he taught in calligraphy and typography. Among his students were Reinold Kuipers, Huib van Krimpen, Jan Vermeulen, Otto Treumann, and Alexander Verberne. He moved to Israel in 1g50. The other figure discussed by Lob left fewer traces in the Netherlands. The work of Paul L. Urban (1901 - ca. 1937?)has previously received only passing attention. Urban at- tended the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where his teachers included F.H. Ehmcke. He worked in Berlin from 1927. Like his friend John Heartfield, he was a founding member of the ARBKD(Association Revolutiondrer Bildender Kunstler Deutschlands). He made use of photomontage, but the illustrations in Lob's book show that he could also produce capable illustrations as well as strikingly informal and not unattractive lettering (written and drawn). Urban came to the Netherlands in 1933. Like Friedlaender, he designed exile publications for Querido and Allert de Lange, but he was not nearly so successful. A representative of Allert de Lange, for example, complained that his work often elicited negative reactions. Besides his book design, Urban earned money through espionage for the Russian secret service. He moved to Russia in 1936, but nothing more was heard from him after his first year there. The title of this doctoral thesis is a bit pretentious, since it actually covers only two designers (who, incidentally, didn't know each other personally). Lob never clearly explains why he chose Friedlaender and Urban in particular. Other (German) immigrants in the Netherlands deserved to be discussed, however briefly. As it stands, Exil-Gestaltendoesn't place these two figures in their proper context. Helmut Salden (1910-96) for example, who came from Essen, was certainly the most important lettering artist and book-jacket designer of his generation in the Netherlands. But Lob probably found this notoriously difficult man unsuited to his research methods. Concerning Friedlaender, who receives the most extensive coverage, Exil-Gestaltenis after all largely Friedlaender on Friedlaender in interviews with Lob (written, or via telephone or tape-recordings). His influence on .