SYMBOLISM ARCHITECTURE INDEX OF PAPERS .

Walter Kaech RHYTHM AND PROPORTION IN LETTERING RHYTHMUS UND PROPORTION IN DER SCHRIFT Walter Kaech RHYTHM AND PROPORTION IN LETTERING RHYTHMUS UND PROPORTION IN DER SCHRIFT WALTER-VERLAG OLTEN UND FREIBURG IM BREISGAU English translation by Elizabeth Friedlander, London, with the collaboration of Paul Standard, New York. Ins Englische übersetzt von Elizabeth Friedlander, London, unter Mitarbeit von Paul Standard, New York Alle Rechte vorbehalten © by Otto Walter Ltd., Olten (Schweiz), 1956 Gesamtherstellung in den Werkstätten der Otto Walter AG Olten Der Text dieses Werkes ist gedruckt in der 14 Punkt Bembo-Antiqua CONTENTS Rhythm in Lettering 11 Contrasts of Form and of Movement as Rhythmical Elements 20 Pen Position and the Shaping of Space as Proportion 22 Mismeasurement at the Beginning of the 16th Century 33 Some Historical Facts about the Roman Capital Script 35 Proportion in Nature and in Art 63 The Proportion of the Golden Mean in the Capital Script 67 ILLUSTRATIONS Extended Rustic Capitals from the 3rd century (marble) Reproduction after the original rubbing. Museo Civico, Bologna 9 Examples of Italic hands from the 16th and 17th century Vicentino (Arrighi) 1522 15 Yciar 1566 16 Lucas 1577 17 Palatino 1576 18 Morante (el mayor) 1627 19 Pages written by the author: Uncials 25 Irish Round Hand 26 Carolingian Minuscules 27 Roman Capitals 28 Humanistic Hand (Littera Antiqua) 29 Chancery Hand 30 Spanish Hand (Bastarda) 31 Gothic 32 Roman Capital Scripts (Reproductions of rubbings) 39-61 Proportions as drawn in upon classical examples . 65-66 Proportions as represented in the Roman Capital Script 71-79 FOREWORD The technical age in which we live has cast a spell also upon lettering and one often meets with the erroneous view that lettering can exist only upon the foundation of technique and its requirements. Ever since the typewriter displaced handwriting, commercial scripts have been designed and when we consider the results we have continually to ask ourselves: Have these forms any artistic value or are they merely technical drawings? What about the idea that lettering is an artistic expression and that the shape of the letter is formed by the movement of the writing tool, and that lettering always was written and should be written? Writing and lettering are inseparable terms; not even the most perfect line made by the ruling pen can deceive us and no artistic performance is achieved by technical exactness alone. Recently I was asked which Sans Serif I would consider the ideal one and I could only answer that a Sans Serif does not deserve to be defined as ideal. Throughout the centuries periods of decadence in the cultural field have always been combatted by a return to the cultivation of earlier and better forms. We are tied by language to the cultural tradition in all that we undertake in the cultivation of the letterform. The recognition of this has never been denied. These earlier forms, however, have always been written and experience has shown that none of the attempts made during the Renaissance on the foundations of design has brought about any improvements from the aesthetical point of view. When fresh starts were made with this cultural effort, they never went far enough back. Already the Roman capitals on the base of Trajan’s Column show illogical, technical tendencies and therefore they are considerably less beautiful in appearance than some forms of the earlier Roman Capitals. The impossible practice of constructing lettering with the aid of geometry (with compass and ruling pen) has been in vogue since the beginning of the 16th century, as if the laws of structure could give to dead matter the living beauty of lettering. Thus mistakes arise which have acquired an appearance of truth through their very antiquity. The present essay on "Rhythm and Proportion in Lettering" goes back to the root of this matter and combats old and new sources of error. By investigating and clarifying the basic form from the beginnings of the Christian era, I shall attempt to show by illustrations the ideal proportions of letterforms. These we recognise only as we come to realise that form itself has its origin in movement. Walter Kaech

ANTI-MASONRY | ESSAYS & PAPERS | GRAND LODGE OF BC AND YUKON | HOME | LINKS | SITEMAP

© 1871-2024 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A.M. Updated: 2004/09/29 freemasonry.bcy.ca/symbolism/golden_ratio/kaech/index.html