13 June 2019 press release

The legacy of Jan Tschichold is being digitalised with the support of the DFG

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the digitalisation and cataloguing of Jan Tschichold’s legacy. The legacy is housed in the German Museum of Books and Writing (DBSM) at the German National Library (DNB) in Leipzig. During an 18-month-long project, selected parts of the legacy will be digitalised and catalogued. The project is being funded with approx. 110,000 Euro. The digital copies will be allocated authority data and made accessible globally online via the DNB portal. At the same time, the materials will be catalogued by subject under the academic supervision of Professor Patrick Rössler from the University of Erfurt. The insight thus provided into Tschichold’s workshop is unprecedented in terms of both scope and ease of access. To complete the project, the results will be summarised in a book publication and during a conference.

Jan Tschichold was one of the most influential typographers and font designers of the 20th century. He worked within the sphere of the Bauhaus movement and was regarded there as the initiator of the so-called new or constructive typography. Following the Second World War, he was increasingly guided by traditional role models and published numerous typographical works and textbooks on font design.

Jan Tschichold’s heirs gifted his legacy to the DBSM so that it can be used for research and teaching. In recent years, it has been one of the museum’s most frequently-used legacies. The more academics, artists and students view the legacy on site, however, the more wear it suffers. Digitalisation is a good way to provide many people with an insight into the legacy while protecting it as much as possible. Here it is especially important to enrich the digital copies with accurate descriptions (so-called metadata) in order to help users find precisely what they are looking for. Once digitalised, the files will become part of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek and Europeana, the European digital portal for culture.

The exhibition “Jan Tschichold – a once-in-a-century typographer?” is still open in Leipzig until 6 September 2019. This exhibition, for which Wallstein-Verlag has printed a richly illustrated companion publication, uses a selection of the most interesting pieces from the legacy to reconstruct Tschichold’s life and work.

Jan Tschichold – a once-in-a-century typographer? // Insights into his legacy

Temporary Exhibition at the German Museum of Books and Writing
German National Library in Leipzig
19 March to 6 September 2019
Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays 10:00–18:00, Thursday 10:00–20:00
Admission is free.

Background

German Museum of Books and Writing oft he German National Library
The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history. Founded in 1884 in Leipzig as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it is the oldest museum in the world in the field of book culture, and also one of the most important with regard to the scope and quality of its holdings. The museum interlinks its holdings through national and international cooperative projects and feeds them into the widest possible range of academic disciplines.

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