Th e Indépendant, a Typeface as Period Document
Descrição do Produto
Quærendo 37 (2007) 1-
www.brill.nl/qua
The Indépendant, a Typeface as Period Document Katrien Van Haute Campus Sint Lucas, Gent, Belgium
Abstract The Indépendant is a modish display type from which was cast in Brussels by Etablissements Plantin, the Belgian branch of the Dutch company ‘Lettergieterij Amsterdam’ (Amsterdam Type Foundry). The typeface was designed by G. Collette and J. Dufour, probably by using matrices that were engraved in the Netherlands. It is the only hot-metal typeface which was created in Belgium in the twentieth century and the history of this design provides an interesting point of departure for the historiography of graphic design in Belgium during the interwar period. Because nothing is known about the designer duo Collette and Dufour and there exist no other typeface creations of theirs, it is sometimes suggested that the Indépendant might be based on a German source of inspiration. Research has shown that sure enough it is an original design, to which Henry van de Velde also reacted enthusiastically. By referring with its name to the hundredth anniversary of the national independance, the Indépendant set itself up as a concept specific to Belgium. However, the typeface fits into a much larger picture and is linked up with the international predilection for reduction and standardization of the modernists. But more than anything else the Indépendant is an art deco typeface which sought to conquer the market by responding to a generally felt need for heavier display types which had arisen in the late twenties both in America and in Europe. The Indépendant was however not an innovating design, but the typographic transformation of a trendy letter form which had been in existence for a longer period of time in other contexts and disciplines. Not surprisingly, it soon passed into disuse. Keywords display type, type design, art deco, Belgium, history of type foundries, Etablissements Plantin, graphic design, Jos Léonard, Henry van de Velde
The Indépendant or the ‘Onafhankelijke’ is the only Belgian typeface which is recorded in Lewis Blackwell’s popular survey, th century type. It is a prominent display type from which is reproduced in the book using a Lewis Blackwell, th century type: remix. (London ), p. . © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,
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brightly-coloured print from the promotion folder with which it was launched (illus. ). Because the author describes the typeface as a ‘highly stylized face [. . .] from the Amsterdam Type Foundry, designed by G. Collette and J. Dufour’, the suggestion is created that it concerns a Dutch production but actually it is a Belgian design. It is also an established fact that the typeface was cast in Brussels at Etablissements Plantin, a branch of the ‘Lettergieterij Amsterdam’ but there is a great chance that the matrices of the Indépendant were engraved in the Amsterdam parent company. This modish typeface soon passed into disuse but it remains of special interest because it is illustrative of the typographic situation in Belgium during that period. The story of this design is so closely entwined with the country of origin that its study provides a surprising point of departure for the historiography of graphic design in Belgium during the interwar period. A few months after the Indépendant had been launched, the trade journal La Chronique Graphique devoted an article to this new typeface. It explains how it was released on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Belgian independence and that its name refers to the celebration of this event. The journal believed that there would be a large potential market for this product, for, as it was argued, the Brussels typographer Herman Dillens had already won a gold medal at the ‘Exposition Nationale du Travail’ with a design that had been set in Indépendant. Moreover, shortly after its release the typeface was purchased by the newly founded ‘Institut supérieur des arts décoratifs’ (isad) of Henry van de Velde. ‘C’est là une sorte de consécration que les maîtres les plus fervents de l’esthétique moderne ont conférée à l’Indépendant’, argued the editors of La Chronique Graphique. Within the Belgian context the release of a new typeface was a remarkable event. After all, it was already thirty years ago that a typeface by a Belgian type designer had been launched. This was Georges Lemmen, who around Later on Indépendant was included in a type specimen book of Etablissements Plantin. Spécimen de caractères ‘Plantin’: supplément. (Brussels, Etablissements Plantin, c. ). Amsterdam University Library, Special Collections, collection of type specimens LP BE EP / G x. The typeface was available in sizes , , , , and . Etablissements Plantin had been founded in September as a Belgian subsidiary company of Amsterdam Type Foundry (formerly N. Tetterode) and was established in the Jerichostraat, the present Antoon Dansaertstraat in Brussels. There were close contacts with the parent company. With thanks to Mathieu Lommen who pointed this out to me. La Chronique Graphique, revue mensuelle des arts et industries du livre et des branches connexes (Affiliée à l’Union de la Presse périodique belge), (), no. , p..
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. Jos Léonard (Studio Plantin), design from a folder promoting l’Indépendant, . Amsterdam University Library (J.A. Lane & M. Lommen, Dutch typefounders’ specimens (Amsterdam ), no. ). had designed an art nouveau-like typeface for the ‘Prachtausgabe’ of Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra. He had done this in close cooperation with Henry van de Velde, the designer of the book, but the commission itself came from the German art collector and patron of the arts Count Harry Kessler. This also partly explains the fact why Lemmen’s typeface was cut and cast in Leipzig. Georges Lemmen was given the commission in and only in January did Kessler receive the finished designs. Jane Block, ‘Boekdesign bij Les Vingt. Het werk van Lemmen, Van
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The Designers Hardly anything is known about the designer duo G. Collette and J. Dufour, not even their full first names are known. Yet it can be assumed that they were not professional type designers, as George Lemmen was not either. In the scarce documents reporting on the release of the Indépendant the designers’ names are usually not even mentioned. At the most there is a reference to ‘the draughtsmen’. The author of the article in La Chronique Graphique also remains very vague when he writes about a typeface ‘créé et dessiné par des artistes belges’. In this connection there is an interesting (but undated) letter written by the graphic designer Jos Léonard to his friend Roger Avermaete. Apparently Avermaete had found out somehow that Henry Van de Velde was supposed to be the initiator of the type design and had asked his colleague whether this information was correct. ‘Of Van de Velde verantwoordelik [sic] is voor ‘Indépendant’ weet ik niet’, Léonard writes him back, ‘. . . De tekenaars hiervan zijn (of zouden) zijn G. Collette en J. Dufour [. . .]. Ik antwoordde u niet eerder daar men mij een letterproef beloofdet [sic] van Berthold Berlin waarvan de ‘Indépendant’ zou afgeleid zijn. Echter kreeg ik deze niet te zien.’ [Whether Van de Velde is responsible for the ‘Indépendant’ I do not know . . . Its designers are (or are thought to be) G. Collette and J. Dufour . . . I did not reply to you earlier as I was promised a type specimen of Berthold Berlin from which the ‘Indépendant’ was said to have been derived. However, I did not get to see it]. Nevertheless, one might expect that Léonard and Avermaete, two protagonists of modern graphic design in Belgium, were well informed in the field of modern typography. Through his contacts with director Pierre J. W. de Velde en Van Rysselberghe tijdens het Fin de siècle’, in : Les Vingt en de avant-garde in België. Prenten, tekeningen en boeken [Exhibition catalogue Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Gent] (Gent ), pp. -. See also Vom Ornament zur Linie: der frühe Insel-Verlag bis : ein Beitrag zur Buchästhetik im frühen . Jahrhundert / hrsg. John Dieter Brinks, gest. Jürgen Seuss; Textbeitr. von John Dieter Brinks [et al.] (Assenheim ), pp. -. La Chronique Graphique, (), no, , p. . Jos Léonard (-) was an avant-garde Belgian artist from the circle around Paul Van Ostaijen and Jozef Peeters. By the middle of the s he started to build up a professional career as a graphic designer and typographer. Roger Avermaete (-) was besides a writer and a poet, for instance also the driving force behind the group Lumière () and the founder, together with Frans Buyle, Frans Smits, Fernand Geersens, Joris Minne and Jos G. Buschmann, of the ‘Vakschool voor Kunstambachten’ in Antwerp (). Antwerp, AMVC, L/|.
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Oly it is more than likely that Jos Léonard was well acquainted with the new types that were released at Etablissements Plantin. In he was even given the direction of the newly founded Studio Plantin, a graphic atelier where the proof printings and the publicity of the type-foundry were designed and executed. Actually, it was in this function he made the beautiful promotion folder from which Blackwell used a leaf as illustration of the Indépendant. The letter illustrates the lack of clarity existing right from the beginning around the authorship of this typeface. The confusion with regard to Henry van de Velde is entirely understandable. Van de Velde was an artist with an international reputation and he was known to be looking forward to the creation of a homegrown Belgian typeface. On December he wrote to the director of the type-foundry: ‘Je vous félicite chaleureusement pour cette réussite. Elle est complète. Ce caractère répond à tout ce que la publicité moderne peut exiger d’un pareil caractère. Il est frappant, lisible et toutes les lettres sont parfaitement équilibrées entre elles’ (illus. ). That Van de Velde’s enthusiasm was sincere, is evidenced by the fact that he immediately purchased the typeface for his institute and also had it applied for the new stationery of La Cambre. The Plantin firm made grateful use of this commendation to promote the Indépendant with its customers. In the advertisement leaflet it is again explicitly stated that the Indépendant was cast in Belgium and distributed in France, Germany, the Netherlands and in the Scandinavian countries. The fact that some people assumed that the Indépendant was an adaptation of a German jobbing type of the Berlin publishing house Berthold, must be seen against the background of an increasing internationalization of type design during that period. It had become quite common practice that in Belgium printing was done with American, German, Dutch and French typefaces. On the one hand, these fonts were supplied by distribution houses of (foreign) typefaces and on the other hand there were larger firms where types were cast by using imported matrices. Since in December the Amsterdam Type Foundry, the parent company of Établissements Plantin, had started to cooperate with Berthold, in Belgium too there were more German typefaces in circulation than was previously the case. This was not
Antwerp, AMVC, L/D: document reporting on the appointment of Jos Léonard. Bertrand Guégan ‘Belgique’, in: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, (), no. , p. . Jeremy Aynsley, ‘Art Deco Graphic Design and Typography’, in: Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton & Ghislaine Wood, Art deco - (London ), p. . For instance, Vanderborght distributed typefaces of among others Stempel from Frankfurt and Van Loey-Nouri was the Belgian representative of the French firm Deberny & Peignot.
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. Henry Van de Velde and Jos Léonard (Studio Plantin), letter of recommendation. Namur, ‘Fonds Godenne’, archive deposited in Moretus-Plantin University Library, not yet catalogued.
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always noticeable right away in the type specimens of the firm. Some typefaces were taken over and subsequently resold under their original names, others were given a new name. Sometimes the typeface was adapted, like the Berthold Grotesk, which, after it had been redrawn by S. H. de Roos in was released by Amsterdam Type Foundry as Nobel. To undertake a search of the source of inspiration of Collette and Dufour seems a hopeless task at first sight; in the Amsterdam University Library alone hundreds of German type specimens from this period are preserved. Moreover, it is often difficult to date them. On the other hand each typeface that has been released in Germany since can be traced by consulting the Handbuch der Schriftarten. Eine Zusammenstellung der Schriftgiessereien Deutscher Zunge nach Gattungen geordnet edited by Albrecht Seeman and supplemented with annual additions. A German precursor of the Indépendant is not to be found in this work. If Établissements Plantin cast the type design of Collette and Dufour in their own premises with matrices after their own design, it was in effect doing something which not only differed from the usual procedure followed by Belgian type-foundries, but was also atypical for the firm itself.
Art Deco It seems as if the Indépendant had to fill a general demand for heavier display types which had arisen in the late twenties both in America and in Europe. For this reason a typeface like Sphinx, a nineteenth-century French didone featuring an extreme contrast between the thick and thin strokes, was retrieved from the dust and put on the market. In addition, this period also saw the creation of many new type designs that caught on well and can be classified in the general category of art deco letters. The Indépendant has its place in this series. But how can one describe the typical art deco characteristics? The existing type face classifications do not provide for a separate category fitting these Typefaces such as Bristol (Berthold, ) or Carlton (Berthold, ), both derived from their American ancestor Broadway (Morris Fuller Benton, ATF, ), were taken over and distributed under their original names; the Fette Merkantil-Kursiv ( J. D. Trennert & Sohn, ) for instance was resold in the Netherlands as Italique-Robuste. Handbuch der Schriftarten. Eine Zusammenstellung der Schriftten der Schriftgiessereien Deutscher Zunge nach Gattungen geordnet (Leipzig -). As from summer the ‘digital Seemann’ can be consulted on the Internet. Sphinx (Déberny et Peignot, ).
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characteristics. When Patricia Frantz Kery describes Broadway – a kind of archetype of the art deco display face which served as a basis for Carlton, Bristol and Savoy for instance – she calls it an elegant variant of the austere (German) sans serif. For her the extreme contrast between the thick and thin strokes is its chief characteristic form. Indeed, the art deco letters are usually sans serif typefaces featuring marked and abrupt contrasts between the light, slanted elements and the heavy, straight parts, but this is by far not always the case. That is why the most distinguishing feature is not the contrast of strokes, but the eccentrically placed horizontal midline, the ‘dislocated midline’, which is manifested in practically every letter form. The design of Indépendant also has this peculiar asymmetry which makes it more organic, more sensual and more decorative than its constructivist counterparts. At the same time the letters also look quite austere, not only because they are sans serifs. Collette and Dufour clearly attempted to build up each letter form, both upper case and lower case, as much as possible on the basis of elementary geometrical forms, a design strategy in which the Bauhaus experiments still resound. This predilection for reduction and standardization can also be found in quite a lot of display types which were seeking to conquer the market around . With Paul Renner’s Futura Black or Jan Tschichold’s Transito for instance, the letters are dissected in an almost mathematical way into triangles, circles and bars. The traces of the dissection knife have been left in the letter body, so to speak. With the Indépendant the standardization is less explicitly elaborated and perhaps it can be found especially in the treatment of the enclosed forms; nearly every counter (the area within the letter) is a small circular hole of equal size. Because the counters are so small, the design becomes very dark and heavy. Nowadays the typeface would be described as ‘ultra bold’. It is known that in Deberny et Peignot wanted to merchandise Cassandre’s Bifur as the greatest typographical innovation of the century, but the experiment seemed too sophisticated and too mechanical. This was the reason that the Bifur typeface was rejected by the public (of printers). How innovat-
Priscilla Lena Farias used this terminology in her lecture ‘On Converging Typeface and Architectural Style’ during the Design History Society Conference ‘Design and evolution’ in at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering in Delft. Futura Black (Bauer, ); Transito (Amsterdam Type Foundry, ). Not only was the form quite daring, from a typographical point of view Bifur also created extra complications. This was because it was also available in a version that had to be executed in
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ing and original can a type publishing company be or does it want to be? In comparison with contemporary display faces such as Transito or Bifur, the Indépendant does not have that distinct ‘laboratory character’. It came into being after a much more natural process. This is because art deco letters had already taken root in Belgium for a longer period of time. From the twenties onwards this kind of lettering turned up everywhere in various contexts and disciplines. It could be seen in drawn lettering on covers of books and magazines, on posters, in advertisements, on enamelled advertisement signs and even on tombstones. Architects also gladly made use of it for the lettering of modern buildings and pavilions. In spite of the fact that a perfect sans serif like Futura is often considered to be the supreme typographic expression of modernity, these architects preferred the characteristic art deco type design. However, in these cases the word ‘typography’ is a misnomer, at the most one can speak of ‘lettered letters’ or ‘drawn letters’. The texts were created entirely manually, either painted, brick built or executed with tiles. Thanks to the execution in lithography, the poster artists could also claim greater artistic freedom for themselves but in this period they usually ended up with the typical art deco idiom. Thus the Indépendant was the typographic transformation of a typical art deco face which had been in existence for a longer period of time, but it was exceptional that this kind of occasional alphabets also developed into a usable typeface. Besides, it is striking how frequently the Indépendant was combined with a drawn variant. A beautiful illustration of this combination can be found in the cover design of the first issue of Kunst en Opbouwen from (illus. ). This design, which was made under the supervision of Henry Van de Velde, also shows that it was not particularly difficult to copy the Indépendant in drawing. Grateful use was made of this possibility to stretch the ‘M’ at the top across the length of three lines. two colour press runs. The critics were however not entirely negative in their opinion. Of the three typefaces designed by Cassandre commissioned by Deberny et Peignot (Bifur (), Acier () and Peignot () the Bifur was the most successful one. In countries where the modern movement had a wider impact, the reaction to Bifur was generally more positive. A balanced reconstruction of this story can be read in the unpublished paper by Wibo Bakker, Il faut suivre la mode: de totstandkoming en de receptie van het lettertype ‘Bifur’ tussen en , under the supervision of Prof. Jeroen Stumpel, University of Utrecht, . Futura (Paul Renner, Bauer, ). After Fred Smeijers, who speaks of ‘lettered letters’ as opposed to ‘typographic letters’. Fred Smeijers & Robin Kinros, Counterpunch: making type in the sixteenth century: designing typeface now (London ), pp. -.
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. Hoger Instituut voor Sierkunsten Ter Kameren (supervised by Henry Van de Velde), cover design for Kunst. Maandblad voor oude en jonge beeldende, bouw en sierkunsten, , no. .
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Yet it is remarkable how often in Belgium too designers executed covers of books and magazines on the basis of drawn letters, even when no compelling reasons for this practice can be given. Examples can be found at all levels, also in the more popular literature. The letters on the cover designed by Jenny Teeuwen for a little book by Jozef Boon, have entirely been drawn in the spirit of Indépendant whereas the printer actually had the typographic version at his disposal, as is shown by the French title (illus. ). The fact that a book cover was seldom purely typographic at that time, indicates that the typographer’s trade was then largely separated from that of the graphic designer. In Belgium this even led to a certain aesthetic notion. In Alfons Marchant still wrote that ‘de geteekende teksten een schoone afwisseling geven met de typografisch gezette’ [the drawn texts provide a nice variation with the typographically set ones].
A National Typographic Identity The Interbellum was a period of internationalization, but at the same time also a period of increasing extremism and political polarization. This double-facedness in the social reality was also reflected in the typography. Simultaneously with the search for a universal alphabet, throughout Europe the tendency arose to create a national style. This trend could partly be explained from commercial considerations but partly also from a patriotic reflex. At times this resulted in contradictory situations. In the typographic world, the sans serif typefaces developed by Paul Renner or Jan Tschichold that were intended to be used across the linguistic and national frontiers, were soon associated with Germany and the German-speaking territory. To counteract this situation, in countries such as France attempts were made to create a national typeface that would have to become at least as successful. Actually, it was in this climate that Bifur came into being. In Belgium too there was a demand for a national type design. Even a modernist like Henry Van de Velde deplored in the continuing absence of a modern Belgian typeface. In his opinion this had detrimental consequences for the quality and prestige of the designed book in Belgium. That it should also be possible to make good books without modern Belgian typefaces was a
Alfons Marchant, Reklametechniek en gebruiksgrafiek (Antwerp ), p. . Bertrand Guégan, ‘Belgique’, in: Arts et Métiers Graphiques, (), no. , p. .
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. Jenny Teeuwen, cover design for Jozef Boon, Droomt van de daad! Spreekkoor voor de Vlaamsche katholieke meisjes (Sint Niklaas, Van Haver, ).
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discussion which only popped up later. Even though Henry Van de Velde reacted enthusiastically to the release of Indépendant, it was after all only an advertisement typeface and not the body type he was so eagerly looking forward to. When he needed a modern typeface he would opt for Futura, which he purchased shortly after its release in and which he preferred to use in its most experimental version. By referring to the national independence, the Indépendant set itself up as a concept specific to Belgium. The fact that it was a display type with which at the most a national identity could be created in the field of advertising, did not preclude that the design was able to meet certain nationalist feelings. By the same token, when Vox defended Bifur as a typographic milestone of France, he made no bones at all about the fact that Bifur was not a body type but a jobbing type which did not even exist in lower case forms and text sizes. Anyway, the entire discussion around Bifur, which had many supporters and opponents, was followed with great interest in Belgium by La Chronique Graphique, which reproduced various articles from the French press. It was in the same nationalist atmosphere and at the same time that the Indépendant was created and cast in Brussels. Anyhow, the Indépendant was much more popular in Belgium than in the Netherlands. The journal Typografische Mededeelingen for instance, which was published by Amsterdam Type Foundry itself, reproduced Indépendant only once, in , a year after its release. On the other hand, Transito got a lot more attention, not only upon its release, but also in later issues, for which it was frequently used in the lay-out of the journal. Was it only a matter of the superior qualities of a famous type designer or was there more to it? Was perhaps Transito, as a heavier display face, simply more appealing and did Indépendant maybe seem just a little too Latin for the Dutch public? At the
Bertrand Guégan, ibid. and Fernand Baudin, ‘Het Belgische Boek’, in: Anderhalve eeuw boektypografie (-) in Amerika, Engeland, Frankrijk, Duitsland, Zwitserland, Italië, België en Nederland (Amsterdam ), p. . Henry Van de Velde had the Futura purchased for the printing office of La Cambre and he used it frequently himself when he designed a book. A nearly complete list of printing designed by Henry Van de Velde within the context of the isad is included in: Fernand Baudin, ‘La formation et l’évolution typographiques de Henry van de Velde (-) II’, in: Quaerendo, (), pp. -. Wibo Bakker, op. cit. (n. ), pp. -. Typografische Mededeelingen (-) was the monthly journal of Amsterdam Type Foundry. In the publications of Steven Heller and Louise Fili discussing art deco graphics, the Indépendant is even given a French label: S. Heller & L. Fili, Deco type: stylish alphabets of the
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same time the question arises whether there is anything typically Belgian about this letter, or was it only its name that appealed to the national pride? This is a difficult question to answer. Whichever way you look at it, the release was more than anything else a commercial project which – with the approval of a Dutch type-foundry – wanted to meet the wishes of its customers on the Belgian market.
The Typographic Possibilities and Limitations The Indépendant was quite suitable to create an appearance of modernity, but this trendy aspect was also its chief limitation. The heavy visual contrasts make the letters so dominant in the composition that they determine the atmosphere of the entire design. In the collection of type specimens of the Special Collections of the Amsterdam University Library two rare designs are preserved bearing the signature of Collette and Dufour (illus. ). Apparently the authors themselves intended them to represent a lavish and exuberant style of design. Jos Léonard, who as director of the above-mentioned Studio Plantin prepared a promotion portfolio to launch the Indépendant, demonstrated that it could have other uses as well (illus. ). He often used Indépendant in its pure version. Besides, the typeface has no need of illustrations or extra graphic figures. Some geometrical areas in black, red and grey suffice. By using text and ornaments more economically he achieved a much fresher and more restful result. But there is more to it than meets the eye. The fact is that Belgian designers were stuck between two different cultures and traditions and this situation also left its traces in these compositions. For instance, the austerity of Léonard’s designs is clearly more closely linked up with the northern concept of modernity, whereas in this respect Collette and Dufour show more affinity with French art deco. 's and ' (San Francisco ), pp. -; S. Heller & L. Fili, Euro Deco. British Modern. French Modern. Spanish Art Deco. Dutch Modern. German Modern. Italian Art Deco (London ), p. . They are signed (and perhaps fictitious) designs for the automatic two revolution cylinder press Babcock Optimus, which was distributed by Etablissements Plantin in Belgium. As far as is known these are the only creations that can be attributed with certainty to the designers themselves. In the twentieth century it happened more and more often that the designer of the new typeface was also responsible for the design of the type specimens. John A. Lane & Mathieu Lommen, Dutch typefounders’ specimens from the library of the KVB and other collections in the Amsterdam University Library with histories of the firms represented ([Catalogue of the library of the KVB, ]; Amsterdam ), p. .
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. G. Collette and J. Dufour, design from a folder promoting l’Indépendant, . Amsterdam University Library (J.A. Lane & M. Lommen, Dutchty pefounders’ specimens (Amsterdam ), no. ).
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a, 6b. Jos Léonard (Studio Plantin), advertising folder Expositions du Centenaire de l’Indépendance à Anvers et à Liège. Namur, ‘Fonds Godenne’, archive deposited in Moretus-Plantin University Library, not yet catalogued.
That the Indépendant was a well legible typeface – as Henry Van de Velde in his letter to Plantin maintained – depends of course on how you look at it. The pitch-dark word image and especially the uniformity cause a great loss to its legibility. Letters such as the ‘v’ and the ‘w’ can hardly be distinguished from one another and at some distance a word set in Indépendant looks like a series of black spots. Because the counters of these letters are so small, letter spacing is preferably very tight. In order to be able to create a justified text – a typically modernist type arrangement – both letter spacing and word spacing were sometimes made a little looser, but this definitely does not promote the legibility either.
In the Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography, op. cit. (n. ), Ruari McLean only discusses the Indépendant as an example of a typeface ‘with some built-in illegibility’.
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Consequently, the Indépendant remained a display face in the first place, even when it was available in text sizes and in lower cases. Frequently it was necessary to combine it with other typefaces, so that longer texts could be set. Jos Léonard for instance used Indépendant only together with sans serifs such as Nobel, Futura or Vogue and sometimes alternated it with another display type such as Succes.
The Display Letter as Ephemeral Phenomenon Because display letters usually take advantage of already existing trends, they are seldom innovating. The pace with which in the Interbellum new jobbing types were launched, was very high. Each year or at least every months Amsterdam Type Foundry would put a new (display) letter on the market. Under the title de l’opportunité des nouveaux caractères J. Cartier published an article in Chronique Graphique in which he vented his displeasure about this state of affairs. With this he said he was speaking on behalf of the Belgian printers. Quite unexpectedly, this text created an entire polemic. The French type-foundry Déberny et Peignot apparently felt very much targeted and published a vehement reaction in its own journal Courrier du Livre. Cartier, who refused to be intimidated, argued in a later issue of Chronique Graphique with equal zeal that there was an overkill of ever new jobbing types, whereas there was a shortage of satisfactory contemporary body types. Just as Henry Van de Velde did, he was looking forward to a modern letter which was suitable for contemporary printing. All in all, there were only few printers and designers who set to work with Indépendant. Fernand Baudin, a privileged witness after all, maintains that there were hardly any buyers for this letter. Even publications in connection with the centenary celebration have rarely been set in Indépendant. A folder,
This appears from the oeuvre catalogue of Jos Léonard which is currently being prepared by the author of the present article. Cf. Lane & Lommen, op. cit. (n. ), pp. -. The editors of Chronique Graphique, who apparently missed the point of the whole discussion, discretely observed in a footnote that Belgium was meanwhile well on its way with the creation of the Indépendant. ‘La création du caractère belge moderne L’Indépendant, par la Fonderie Plantin, nous paraît un premier pas réalisé en ce sens’, in: Chronique Graphique, (), no. , p. . Fernand Baudin (-) communicated this orally ( March ).
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. From a folder designed by Jos Léonard, promoting l’Indépendant, . Amsterdam University Library ( J.A. Lane & M. Lommen, Dutch typefounders’ specimens (Amsterdam ), no. ).
designed by Jos Léonard for Studio Plantin, is one of those exceptions. (illus. ). It was published on the occasion of an exhibition of Etablissements Plantin in Antwerp and Liège and the choice of the letter was obvious of course. But here again the awkward spacing also demonstrates the limitations of this typeface. Indépendant could not escape the fate of most display letters and soon passed out of use. After the Second World War it was not recast. Barely twenty years after its release M. H. Groenendaal reserved not more than a minor place for it in a collage with ‘vreselijkheden waarvan wij nauwelijks kunnen geloven dat ze in de voorafgaande constructief-zakelijke periode konden onstaan’ [abominations of which we can hardly believe that they could have been created in the previous constructivist businesslike period]. Only now and then Indépendant makes a reappearance, such as in De Aanslag op het modernisme, a publication in the style of a pamphlet, clearly meant to
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evoke an atmosphere ‘from bygone days’ (illus. ). More recently there is the digitized face of Indépendant by Nick Curtis from , who renamed it with some sense of humor into Jumbo Mumbo NF. Indeed, the modernist and futuristic connotation that originally attached to the letter, is far to seek here.
M. H. Groenendaal, Drukletters: hun ontstaan en hun gebruik, rd edn. (Amsterdam , p. .
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. Hennebert (design) and Luc Nagels (photography), //: DE AANSLAG op het Modernisme. L’ATTENTAT au Modernisme. Woning Maison Dr. De Beir , Dumortierlaan Knokke architect Huib Hoste. Sint Lukas Archief, Brussels .
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