Authors

Discussion

Formed in 1948 through the amalgamation of several private firms, VEB (“Volkseigener Betrieb”) Typoart was the official, state-owned type foundry of the German Democratic Republic. Located in Dresden, Typoart was charged with both the artistic design of typefaces, and their mechanical production via rapidly-evolving technological means. Typographical design blends industrial labour and abstract creative expression. This makes it an ideal subject through which to examine the creation of a socialist design sensibility. Albert Kapr, Typoart’s artistic director from 1963-1987, understood the dual potential of typography as the union of form and function and sought to promote it as an artistic medium that could communicate ideological messages.

This mission was not bounded by geographic or political borders, in large part due to pre-Communist cultural networks, the ongoing use of Western-made equipment, and a stated desire to spread socialist values through typography. Through international exhibits and book fairs, personnel exchanges, and the design of fonts for many alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Gurmukhi, Tamil), Typoart expanded its reach well beyond the GDR, the Bloc, and indeed the wider socialist world. This paper will investigate the history of VEB Typoart with particular attention to its international projects, reconstructing the process by which the firm used the aesthetics of internationalism to promote socialist ideology through typography.