MOCT

PRESENTS THE WORK OF A.M. CASSANDRE

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY

A.M.

CASSANDRE

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.M. Cassandre was born as Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron on January 24, 1901, in Kharkov, Ukraine. Born of French parents, Cassandre eventually settled in Paris in 1915. The blooming artist studied at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the independent studio of Lucien Simon and l’Académie Julian. Throughout his life, he pursued many career paths and was well-known as a graphic designer, painter, poster artist and stage designer. After completing his education, Cassandre moved to his own studio in 1922 in Paris. It was there that he began signing his works with the pseudonym “Cassandre.” Inspired by cubism and surrealism, Cassandre created the first poster that exemplified his unique style in 1923. This work, called Au Bûcheron, was created for a cabinet maker. In 1926, Cassandre co-founded the advertising agency Alliance Graphique and began experimenting with typography. Cassandre designed the famous advertising typeface Bifur, which was printed by Deberny & Peignot in 1929.

He later created the sans-serif typeface Acier Noir in 1935. Between 1933 and 1935, Cassandre began painting for the theater and was also was given teaching positions at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and later at Rue Férou in Paris. Cassandre created his first all-purpose typeface, Peignot, which was exhibited at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris.

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Carolingian minuscule was the direct ancestor of blackletter. Blackletter developed from Carolingian as an increasingly literate 12th-century Europe required new books in many different subjects.

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Italics begin to be used as way to fit more words onto a page, saving the printer money. Today, we use italics as a design detail or for emphasis when

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Nicolas Jenson created Roman Type, inspired by the text on ancient roman buildings. It was far more readable than blackletter, and caught on quickly.

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William Caslon created a typeface which features straighter serifs and much more obvious contrasts between thin and bold strokes.

Today, we call this type style

John Baskerville created what we now call Transitional type, a Roman-style type, with very sharp serifs and lots of drastic contrast between thick and thin

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Firmin Didot and Giambattista Bodoni created the first ‘modern’ Roman typefaces (Didot, and Bodoni). The contrasts were more extreme than ever before, and created a very cool, fresh look.

Vincent Figgins created Egyptian, or Slab Serif – the first time a typeface had serifs that were squares or boxes.

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William Caslon IV created the first typeface without any serifs at all. It was widely rebuked at the time. This was the start of what we now consider Sans Serif typefaces.

During this time, type exploded, and many, many variations were being created to accommodate advertising.

Frederic Goudy became the world’s first full time type designer, developing numerous groundbreaking typefaces, such as Copperplate Gothic, Kennerly, and Goudy Old Style.

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ABOUT THE MUSEUM

The Broad is a contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, the museum offers free general admission and presents an active program of rotating temporary exhibitions and innovative audience engagement. The Broad is home to 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide, and welcomes more than 800,000 visitors a year.

The 120,000-square-foot building features two floors of gallery space and is the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library, which has been loaning collection works to museums around the world since 1984. Generous support is provided

by Leading Partner East West Bank. Which has been loaning collection works to museums around the world since 1984. Generous support is provided by Leading Partner East West Bank.

COLOPHON - about this brochure

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MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY TYPOGRAPHY

21 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012 www.themuseumofmoderntype.org