Walter Schiller

This article is about graphic designer Walter Schiller. For the physician of the same name, see Walter Schiller (Mediziner) , for the geologist, see Walther Schiller .

Walter Schiller (born March 18, 1920 in Hamburg ; † August 7, 2008 ) was a German graphic designer and typographer .

Studies, world war and professorship

He passed the Abitur exam in 1938. Then he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna . Before that, he had his first practical experience as a trainee in a graphic arts institute. With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, his studies ended in December of the same year when he was called up for military service.

After the war, he began studying at the Leipzig School of Graphics and Book Art (HGB) in 1947 , which he finished in 1951. From 1952 to 1955 he worked there as an aspirant. After Albert Kapr founded the Institute for Book Design (since 1990 "Institute for Book Art") at the HGB on September 1, 1955 , Schiller was employed by Kapr as secretary. After working there for several years as an assistant , senior assistant and lecturer, he was appointed professor of typography at the HGB in 1964 .

Book design and teaching of typography

From 1968 to 1973 he headed the book design department at the HGB. From 1983 until his retirement in 1985 he headed the Institute for Book Design. After that, he was able to provide technical support for some master class students. He worked out the typographical design for more than 50 books that were awarded as the most beautiful book in the GDR . His contributions were so outstanding that he was often mentioned as an author.

In 1973, together with Albert Kapr, he published the book Gestalt und Funktion der Typografie , which became the standard and textbook for typesetters and typographers at the HGB. He stayed true to his way of working to design with scissors and pencil drawing until the end, even if other technical means were available in the meantime. He saw the design of books as an area of ​​the artistic. This is how he formulated this provision with Kapr in his standard work:

The introduction of new typesetting techniques and modern printing processes will not change this fact. Rather, the high-performance technology will increase the responsibility of the typographer, the responsibility for the aesthetic and functional use of typography .

Working method and honors

In addition to the design of books, he also worked on the design of posters. B. for the solidarity bazaar of Leipzig artists. Anneliese Hübscher named an unimaginable work intensity and an incorruptible sense of quality as proof of his successful work . With this, Schiller helped the HGB to regain a good reputation for becoming an outstanding school for book art and graphics.

He received the Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig in 1968. In 1976 he was awarded the National Prize of the GDR . In Brno he was honored with the Biennale Prize. Under the title Typography: Walter Schiller , the Badische Landesbibliothek dedicated an exhibition to him and the HGB from February 21 to April 30, 1991. At the Leipzig TypoTage 2005 he appeared again as a guest speaker .

Fonts

• Shape and function of typography , with Albert Kapr, Leipzig 1973

Designed works (selection)

• Heinrich Heine . Germany - a winter fairy tale, Leipzig 1958
• 1764–1964 - Two Hundred Years of the Leipzig School of Book Art, Leipzig 1964
• 7th art exhibition 1965 of the VBKD, Leipzig district: painting, graphics, sculpture, hand drawings and studies, illustrations and book art, commercial graphics, craftsmanship, design: October 2nd – 10th. November 1965 in the Messehaus am Markt , Leipzig 1965
• GDR: colored impressions from the German Democratic Republic, Leipzig 1974
• Franz Fühmann , The steaming necks of the horses in the Tower of Babel, Der Kinderbuchverlag Berlin, 1978
• Helmut Scherf, J. Karpinski, Thuringian porcelain with special consideration of the products of the 18th and 19th centuries. early 19th century, Leipzig 1980
• Heiner Vogel, picture sheet, paper soldier, dice game and wheel of life - folk graphics for children from five centuries, Leipzig 1981
• Five fables by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert and Abraham Gotthelf Kästner in five typographical images, Leipzig 1989
• Leipzig School - Painting / Graphics / Photography: Teachers and graduates of the Leipzig School of Graphics and Book Art - an exhibition of the Leipzig School of Graphics and Book Art, Leipzig 1990

credentials

• Anneliese Hübscher, Walter Schiller and the tradition of book art at the Leipzig University of Graphics and Design, Lectures Badische Landesbibliothek 31, Karlsruhe 1991
• Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990. Volume 2: Maassen - Zylla. KG Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 .
• Martin Z. Schröder, silent book artist - On the death of typesetter and typographer Walter Schiller, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 3, 2008

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Schiller in the catalog of the German National Library