Exhibits’ Highlights

Wolfgang Weingart revitalised modern Swiss typography and, in doing so, he wrote international design history. The exhibits are presented as Weingart’s world of poetic comparisons, and the exhibition is developed from the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich’s own collections, to which Weingart donated a major part of his archive.

Apprenticeship as a Typesetter

Weingart acquired his initial experience in typesetting in 1958 at the Merz Academy in Stuttgart, where he also learned printing with lead type, linocut and woodcut. He developed these skills further from 1960 to 1963 during his apprenticeship as a typesetter at the printing company Ruwe in Stuttgart. The graphic designer there was a former student of Armin Hofmann. Through him Weingart discovered Swiss typography in the form of works by Karl Gerstner, Emil Ruder and Hofmann who were all from Basel, and the magazine New Graphic Design, which was published in Zurich and which contained contributions by Siegfried Odermatt. These influences shaped Weingart’s career. The early prints made during his apprenticeship already showed certain characteristics of Swiss typography such as the handling of white space that was included in the design, the relationship of the elements to one another, as well as the clear, asymmetrical structuring and reduction in formal terms.

Weingart, Experiment Buch, double page, 1962, wood print

Wolfgang Weingart, M, photo optical experiment, 1965, photo collage

Typography in a New Context

At the end of the 1960s, Weingart applied his unconventional use of type material to the appearance of the text. His series of eleven typographical text interpretations, which was conceived in 1969 as a manifesto for an exhibition in Stuttgart at Kurt Weidemann’s gallery, was an excellent example of this approach. The key text sheet “My Criteria for Typographical Experiments” presented a concise summary of his concept. The text and the graphical act criticised the established rules of modern Swiss typography: the letters varied in thickness and size. They were penetrated by symbols and the spacing between them was increased, making the words more difficult to read. Parts of the typesetting were out of line and the leading was exaggerated. A curved line held the dynamic system together. These contraventions of the rules were aimed at Emil Ruder and the principle of good legibility. However, Weingart’s manifesto was also directed against the gridded typography of the Zurich Concrete Artists.

Wolfgang Weingart, Typographische Monatsblätter Nr. 11/1973, magazine cover from his series of eight, 1973, letterpress

 

Wolfgang Weingart, Das Kotzenbuch, double page, 1970–1972, letterpress, manual typesetting

Film Techniques, Layerings as Collage

By the mid-1970s, Weingart had exhausted the possibilities of lead typesetting and the letterpress. Although he experimented with photo-optical processes, he found that phototypesetting, which was a topical theme at the time, was not a viable alternative for him. He preferred to work by hand and see the marks left by the different materials during the printing process. By getting physically involved in the design and implementation processes, Weingart was better able to control them and react to unexpected circumstances. The unusual technique of overlaying lithographic film opened up a new area of experimentation for him. The material’s transparency made it possible to overlay letters and images.

Wolfgang Weingart, The 20th Century Poster, exhibition poster, 1984, offset (photo collage)

Wolfgang Weingart, Kunstkredit 1978/79. Mustermesse Basel, exhibition poster, 1979, offset (photo collage)

Xerox and MacPaint Collages

By the 1970s, the black-and-white photocopier formed a fixed part of Weingart’s workshop. He and his students used the Xerox appliance with its special sfumato aesthetic as a design tool. The colour photocopier was not added to Weingart’s workshop until the 1990s. By changing the colour toner cassettes, Weingart was able to produce patterns in various colours and layer different colours. These were cut out and, in combination with other pieces produced by analogue or digital methods, were pasted to create collages. Weingart used the computer in a similar way. He employed it exclusively to produce patterns and illustrations, which he then combined with other techniques. Even in the 1990s he did not use it as a layout instrument.

Wolfgang Weingart, Q, design alternatives for the cover of the magazine Design Quarterly, 1995, xerography

Advanced Class for Graphic Design

By the 1970s, the black-and-white photocopier formed a fixed part of Weingart’s workshop. He and his students used the Xerox appliance with its special sfumato aesthetic as a design tool. The colour photocopier was not added to Weingart’s workshop until the 1990s. By changing the colour toner cassettes, Weingart was able to produce patterns in various colours and layer different colours. These were cut out and, in combination with other pieces produced by analogue or digital methods, were pasted to create collages. Weingart used the computer in a similar way. He employed it exclusively to produce patterns and illustrations, which he then combined with other techniques. Even in the 1990s he did not use it as a layout instrument.

Philip Burton, TEE – Trans Europ Express. Eine Typographische Reise, book cover and double page, 1970-1973, Linocut (Wolfgang Weingart’s teaching activity)

Roger Séguin, Accra, small poster for airline from City Color Poster series, 1989–1990, iris print (Wolfgang Weingart’s teaching activity)

Heinz Hiltbrunner, Elementare Rechenschaltungen, draft, from a series of seven textbook covers for Birkhäuser, 1984, colour paper, litho film (Wolfgang Weingart’s teaching activity)

Copyright 2015 Hong Kong Design Institute and Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee)