Herbert Thannhaeuser
Herbert Thannhaeuser (* 2. December 1898 in Berlin , † 12. April 1963 in Kleinmachnow near Berlin) was from 1925 to 1963 as a freelance commercial artist worked and type designer. Outstanding activities included the artistic direction of Erasmusdruck Gebr. Krause, Berlin, the artistic advice of the type foundry Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig and later of the VEB Typoart Dresden.
After an apprenticeship as a porcelain painter , he became a student of the poster painter Ernst Deutsch . From 1922 he was employed by Erasmusdruck Berlin, where he took over the artistic direction in 1925. The employment turned into a freelance activity, which enabled him to work for other clients. One of his first font publications was Adastra , which was published by D. Stempel type foundry in 1928 . His other writings were published by Schelter & Giesecke in Leipzig and by Schriftguß AG in Dresden . In 1934, Thannhaeuser was commissioned by the city of Berlin to redraw the school district from Schelter & Giesecke for the signage of the street names. After the Fraktur ban in 1941 , the order was renewed and changed from Fraktur to Antiqua. It has not yet been possible to clarify whether the Berlin street sign font used to this day was actually created by Herbert Thannhaeuser. The Thannhaeuser fracture , which was published by Schelter & Giesecke in 1938 and was very successful, may have emerged from the revision of the school fracture .
In 1951 the type foundries of Schelter & Giesecke and Schriftguß Dresden were merged to form VEB Typoart in Dresden, of which Thannhaeuser was the artistic director until his death.
Fonts developed by Thannhaeuser
| Font name | First casting | Type foundry | Font usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adasta | 1928 | D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt / Main | Commercial typeface |
| Adasta (swing Adasta) | 1931 | D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt / Main | Commercial typeface |
| Buik half bold (unpublished) | 1931 | D. Stempel AG, Frankfurt / Main | Commercial typeface |
| Didot Antiqua | 1958 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Didot-Antiqua half bold | 1958 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Didot italic | 1958 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Erler capital letters | 1953 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Commercial typeface |
| Garamond Antiqua | 1955 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Garamond italic | 1955 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Gravira | 1935 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| Greater German | 1935 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| Hermann Gotisch | 1934 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| cornet | 1939 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| courier | 1939 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| lotto | 1955 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Commercial typeface |
| Liberta-Antiqua | 1956 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Liberta italic | 1956 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Liberta-Antiqua semi-bold | 195? | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Liberta-Antiqua extra fat | 195? | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Liberta-Antiqua narrow half-bold | 1959 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Liberta-Antiqua narrow bold | 1960 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Magna (posthumous) | 1968 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Magna Italic (posthumous) | 1968 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Magna semi-bold (posthumous) | 1968 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Master Antiqua | 1952 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Master Italic | 1952 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Master Antiqua, semi-bold | 195? | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Parcival Antiqua | 1930 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Text font |
| Parcival italic | 1930 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Text font |
| Parcival Antiqua bold | 1932 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| Technotype | 1948 | Polygraph VEB (S & G), Leipzig | Text font |
| Technotype semi-bold | 1949 | Polygraph VEB (S & G), Leipzig | Text font |
| Technotype bold | 1948 | Polygraph VEB (S & G), Leipzig | Text font |
| Technotype extra fat | 1949 | Polygraph VEB (S & G), Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
| Technotype narrow semi-fat | 1949 | Polygraph VEB (S & G), Leipzig | Text font |
| Technotype narrow fat | 1960 | VEB Typoart, Dresden | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser fracture | 1938 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser fracture, semi-bold | 1938 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser fracture narrow fat | 1939 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser script | 1929 | Schriftguß AG, Dresden | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser italic | 1933 | Schriftguß AG, Dresden | Text font |
| Thannhaeuser font in bold | 1934 | Schriftguß AG, Dresden | Text font |
| Advertising German | 1933 | Schelter & Giesecke, Leipzig | Commercial typeface |
Working as an illustrator
- Fritz Schillmann (Ed.): Giogio Vasari. Renaissance artist , with 30 portrait drawings by Thannhaeuser. Vollmer Verlag, Wiesbaden-Berlin, no year.
Web links
- http://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/Thannhaeuser/HThannhaeuser.pdf (PDF file; 734 kB)
- about Typoart; u. a. a portrait of Thannhaeusers ( Flash ; 2.5 MB)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thannhaeuser, Herbert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German type designer and illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 12, 1963 |
| Place of death | Kleinmachnow near Berlin |