Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Jan Tschichold (born Johannes Tzschichhold, also known as Iwan Tschichold, or Ivan Tschichold; 2 April 1902 – 11 August 1974) was a German calligrapher, typographer and book designer. He played a significant role in the development of graphic design in the 20th century – first, by developing and promoting principles of typographic modernism, and subsequently idealizing conservative typographic structures. His direction of the visual identity of Penguin Books in the decade following World War II served as a model for the burgeoning design practice of planning corporate identity programs. He also designed the typeface Sabon.
Wikidata
Q455232
View or edit the full Wikipedia entry
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Getty record
Introduction
German avant-garde typographer developed an early interest in calligraphy through his father, who was a sign painter and designer. He studied at the Leipzig Academy of Book Design from 1919 to 1922 under Hermann Delitsch, and subsequently went to work in the design department of Insel Verlag. Exposure to Russian constructivism and the Bauhaus formed his early typographic style and theories. In 1925 he published his first treatise, "Elementare Typographie," in which he examined the typographic work of El Lissitzky. Tschichold defined the elements of asymmetrical typography, and advocated for the use of sans-serif typefaces. In 1928 he published "Die Neue Typographie, " further refining his theories. In 1933 he was expelled from Germany under the Nazis for creating "un-German" typography. He relocated to Switzerland where he continued to design and teach. In his third book, "Typographische Gestaltung," he turns away from "the new typography" as he comes to associate its rigid style with totalitarianism in general. At this point his work begins to resemble the classical and symmetric style that he had criticized in his youth. He remained in Switzerland for the rest of his life, except for three years (1946-1949) in London where he redesigned the Penguin paperback line.
Nationalities
German, Swiss
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Author, Designer, Teacher, Writer, Typographer, Graphic Designer, Photographer, Theorist
Names
Jan Tschichold, Johannes Tschichold, Ivan Tschichold
Ulan
500125556
View the full Getty record
Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

34 works online

Exhibitions

View all 21 exhibitions

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].