The gallery in the type case

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The gallery in the type case is a collection of unique items , made for a type case , as it was used in the times of lead type. The initiator of this small “ museum ” of graphic arts is the trained typesetter and former print shop manager Arno Stolz.

idea

Stolz had the idea for this project in 1979, when his son gave him and his wife Edith a miniature painting the size of a type case with the initials E & A. Characteristic original contributions by nationally and internationally known graphic designers , illustrators and typographers should fill the case. In 1980, Stolz began sending handwritten letters to designers around the world. He enclosed a schematic drawing of the type case with the letters, in which he marked the assigned type case compartment for the respective designer. Anton Stankowski , Otl Aicher , Willem Sandberg , Karl Oskar Blase , Kurt Weidemann , Christof Gassner , Hermann Zapf  - the first designers responded quickly, were impressed by the project and in turn contributed names of designers who should be represented in the collection.

scope

The gallery comprises a total of four type cases: type case 1 was filled from 1980 to 1996. Its dimensions are: 610 mm high, 960 mm wide and 26 mm deep. It has 125 compartments, the smallest compartment is 50 × 40 mm, the eleven large compartments are 106 × 85 mm. Type case 2 was filled from 1985 to 1997. Dimensions and compartments are identical to those of the case 1. In addition to the two large type boxes, the gallery also includes a number box with ten compartments and a fractional number box with 22 compartments. Both boxes are each 280 mm high, 220 mm wide and 22 mm deep. They were filled from 1999 to 2014. After 34 years, all four type boxes with 282 entries were filled with works by designers from 24 nations: Belgium, China, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Croatia, Cuba , Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, USA and Venezuela.

content

In addition to two-dimensional works made of paper and cardboard, there are a number of three-dimensional objects in the type cases. For example the egg from Milton Glaser and the brass line cast in plaster with lead letters by Wolfgang Weingart . The materials in the case are acrylic glass, gold leaf, lead, wire, elephant skin , colored foil, colored paper, fine silver , photo paper, plaster of paris, wood, Japanese paper , cardboard, cling film, cord, plastic, brass gears made of clocks, paper, mirror, mirror foil, stone , Sumi ink, corrugated cardboard, celluloid. The techniques used by the designers are also wide-ranging: acrylic, watercolor , letterpress , colored pencil, felt pen, copper print , ballpoint pen, offset printing , embossing , screen printing , tempera , inkjet printing, Indian ink.

collection

Stolz's extensive correspondence with designers from all over the world also resulted in a collection of around 600 envelopes and letters, written by hand or with a typewriter. With some designers, Stolz still exchanges a New Year's greeting every year. The collection also includes posters, books, prints, drawings, photographs and alternatives to the type case contribution - gifts from the designer to the collector Arno Stolz.

Designer (selection)

publication

In the 1980s and 1990s, specialist magazines for typography, design and printing such as Baseline , Page and Druckspiegel reported on the Galerie im Setzkasten. The range of designers and their partly personal dedications for the collector pride aroused interest. The time when the type boxes ended up on the bulky waste or were sold at flea markets was not long ago.

In 2014 David Fischbach completed his studies in communication design in the design department at the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences with a book design about Die Galerie im Setzkasten and the collector Arno Stolz. The 9k gallery in Willich exhibited all four typesetting boxes for the first time in 2016 and showed posters, graphics, drawings, New Year's cards, books, objects, envelopes and 160 letters from the collection. In 2019, Niggli Verlag published Fischbach's book. Erik Spiekermann wrote in the foreword: “So Arno's simple idea was a stroke of genius. The reduction to this small container has spurred us all on, just as the best solutions need tight specifications in order not to end up as creative common places. "

literature

  • Berthold Hengstermann, Helmut Schmidt Rhen: Arno's pride. In: OETZ . Journal in the design department of the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, No. 13, January 1986, pp. 30–31.
  • Kurt Wolf:  “The gallery in a type case.” Interview with the Dortmund typesetter Arno Stolz . In: Der Druckspiegel. Trade journal for German and international printing technology. Issue 1/1987.
  • Albert Dommer: Typography instead of types. In: Page, No. 2 February 1992.
  • Hans Dieter Reichert: Type case 1 + 2. In: Baseline. International Typographics Magazine. No. 28, Bradbourne Publishing, Kent 1999, ISSN 0954-9226.
  • Herbert Lechner: Small art: the gallery in a type case. In: novum , 1/2019, Stiebner Verlag, ISSN 1438-1753.
  • David Fischbach (ed.): The gallery in the type case. The collector Arno Stolz. Niggli Verlag, Salenstein 2019, ISBN 978-3-7212-0986-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Fischbach (Ed.): The gallery in the type case. The collector Arno Stolz. Niggli Verlag, Salenstein 2019, ISBN 978-3-7212-0986-0 , pp. 5 .
  2. ↑ David Fischbach (Ed.): The gallery in the type case. The collector Arno Stolz. Niggli Verlag, Salenstein 2019, ISBN 978-3-7212-0986-0 , pp. 292-293 .
  3. ↑ David Fischbach (Ed.): The gallery in the type case. The collector Arno Stolz. Niggli Verlag, Salenstein 2019, ISBN 978-3-7212-0986-0 , pp. 288-289 .
  4. ↑ David Fischbach (Ed.): The gallery in the type case. The collector Arno Stolz. Niggli Verlag, Salenstein 2019, ISBN 978-3-7212-0986-0 , pp. 4 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 9.4 "  N , 6 ° 35 ′ 22.5"  E