The Bauhaus (1919-1933) has marked history. This school was animated by some of the most significant Twentieth-century artist-designers, from Gropius to Kandinskij, from Itten to Moholy-Nagy, not related to an unambiguous approach. However, the idea of the Bauhaus, which innervated the debate and the practice of the project in Europe and in the USA (and beyond) for decades, has resulted into some kind of International Style which, in typography, corresponds to the Universal typeface of Herbert Bayer (1925). This article aims to highlight how the universal typeface, that today represents the ‘style’ of Modernity, was in the beginning innovation in its purest: a configuration aimed at effect, to achieve maximum result with minimum effort, both from an economic and technical-productive, and from a functional point of view, readability and visual perception; and how the most interesting aspect is not the form itself – reproposed, equal to itself, for almost a century – but its underlying design principle.

Il Bauhaus (1919-1933) ha segnato la storia. Questa scuola fu animata da alcuni degli artisti-progettisti più rilevanti del Novecento, da Gropius a Kandinskij, da Itten a Moholy-Nagy, non riconducibili a un approccio univoco. Eppure, l’idea del Bauhaus, che ha innervato il dibattito e la pratica del progetto in Europa e negli USA (e non solo) per decenni, si è risolta in una sorta di International Style che, nella tipografia, corrisponde al carattere Universal di Herbert Bayer (1925). Il presente articolo mira a evidenziare come il carattere universale, che raffigura per noi oggi lo ‘stile’ della Modernità, fu in principio innovazione allo stato puro: una configurazione volta all’effetto, al massimo risultato col minimo sforzo, dal punto di vista sia economico e tecnico-produttivo sia funzionale ovvero leggibilità e percezione visiva; e come il dato più interessante non sia la forma in sé – riproposta, uguale a se stessa, per quasi un secolo – ma il principio progettuale che la sottende.

Russo, D. (2019). Carattere Universale. Innovazione senza Stile. AGATHÓN(5), 137-144 [10.19229/2464-9309/5152019].

Carattere Universale. Innovazione senza Stile

Russo, Dario
2019-01-01

Abstract

The Bauhaus (1919-1933) has marked history. This school was animated by some of the most significant Twentieth-century artist-designers, from Gropius to Kandinskij, from Itten to Moholy-Nagy, not related to an unambiguous approach. However, the idea of the Bauhaus, which innervated the debate and the practice of the project in Europe and in the USA (and beyond) for decades, has resulted into some kind of International Style which, in typography, corresponds to the Universal typeface of Herbert Bayer (1925). This article aims to highlight how the universal typeface, that today represents the ‘style’ of Modernity, was in the beginning innovation in its purest: a configuration aimed at effect, to achieve maximum result with minimum effort, both from an economic and technical-productive, and from a functional point of view, readability and visual perception; and how the most interesting aspect is not the form itself – reproposed, equal to itself, for almost a century – but its underlying design principle.
2019
Russo, D. (2019). Carattere Universale. Innovazione senza Stile. AGATHÓN(5), 137-144 [10.19229/2464-9309/5152019].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10447/367278
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