The work and life of this German type and book-designer are, for the first time, presented at length and with full historical documentation. Renner lived through the first half of the twentieth century, and this book is, in effect, a history of typography in Germany in those years. It also speaks to present concerns in design, and especially to the search for a rationality deeper than one of easy rules of style.
| availability | out of print |
| published | 1998.01.01 |
| extent | 224 pp |
| dimensions | 240 × 170 mm |
| illustrations | 110 b&w + 20 colour pictures |
| binding | sewn & jacketed paperback |
| ISBN | 0-907259-12-X |
| ISBN13 | 978-0-907259-12-1 |
| price | £15.00 |
Background
Rejuvenation, 1900–24:
The beginnings of cultural rejuvenation
The German Werkbund
The German cult of the book
Renner as a Werkbund figure
Renewal, 1924–32:
Socially-engaged design
The New Typography
Renner confronts modernity
Theories of modern design
Futura and the modern letter in Germany:
The question of ‘gothic versus roman’
Futura
Orthographic reform
Crisis, 1932–3:
The course of the Werkbund
Renner’s engagement in controversy
Arrest
A brief stay in Switzerland
Typography in a dictatorship, 1933–45:
Gothic script during the Third Reich
Renner returns to Germany
‘Die Kunst der Typographie’
Renner’s attempt to fuse roman and gothic
The Nazis ban gothic
Survival, 1945–56:
Renner’s response to the dispute between Jan Tschichold and Max Bill
Ideas for the modern book
Towards a typographic philosophy
Renner’s last typeface
Final years
Conclusion
Published writings of Paul Renner
Sources
Bibliography
Index
