FROM THE ARCHIVE VAULT: LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Most of the written words we see and read today aren’t actually written: they’re typographic. Without Type: The Dynamism of Handmade Letters, a new exhibition drawn from the Archive's rich collections, showcases a parallel world—that of the making of letters and words by hand. From illuminated manuscripts to psychedelic posters, from pen calligraphy to vector lettering, Without Type evokes striking and unexpected aesthetic echoes among letterforms created across time periods and geographies. The diversity of shapes and styles on display is testament to the endless creativity that can stem from the simple act of making letters by hand.
This full-color 58-page catalog features high-fidelity reproductions of lettering artifacts from diverse disciplines, created by artists including Jessica Hische, El Lissitzky, Sister Corita Kent, Eric Carle, and William Addison Dwiggins, plus many more. An introduction by exhibition curator Rob Saunders and associate curator Kate Robinson explicates the philosophy behind the show and behind Letterform Archive's active acquisitions program.