ALBERS AND MOHOLY-NAGY: FROM THE BAUHAUS TO THE NEW WORLD
edited by Achim Borchardt-Hume, et. al.
Albers and Moholy-Nagy: From the Bauhaus to the New World captivates readers with the work and the lives of two of Modernism’s greatest innovators, Josef Albers and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Full-color photos hinting at the depth of each artist’s work fill the pages along with brief, but insightful looks into the lives and travels of each artist and their individual arrivals in the United States.

The retelling of Albers journey from teaching at Bauhaus in Nazi-controlled Germany to teaching at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina and beyond is both reflective and a bit humorous. “Albers himself had to cope with a range of criticism, much of it due to a misreading of his work. … ‘I remember when the Bauhaus exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened: very late. 11 or 12 when all were gone except a few from the Bauhaus. Gropius, Bayer, Anni, me. Appeared Frank Lloyd Wright. In a Havelock [a cloth covering the back of the neck] and Wagnerian velvet cap (with a challenging older lady) telling us very loud, ‘You are all wrong.’ And who was it later saying: ‘Frank Lloyd Wright?—He is always frank, and not always right.’” Of Moholy-Nagy, the editor notes, “It is the great diversity and broad scope of Moholy’s life and work that set him apart and make his accomplishments so remarkable. His early conviction that he was destined for great things may have made it easier for him to move from one place to another. He recognized that the vision that guided his career was tied to people rather than places.” The book . nishes aptly with a collection of the two artists’ own writings and a chronology of their lives and work.
$60.00, hardcover, 192 pages, Yale University Press

POEMS AND DRAWINGS by Josef Albers, introduction by Nicholas Fox Weber
Coinciding with the upcoming exhibition, Albers and Moholy-Nagy: From the Bauhaus to the New World (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; November 2, 2006-January 21, 2007), a third edition of Poems and Drawings by Josef Albers is being offered by Yale University Press. A total of 500 books were released initially in 1958. A decade later a second edition was released with few variations from the first edition. For those newly indoctrinated into Albers work, this third edition provides insight into the man, his art, and his playful wit, as well as some new poems. “The new publication also provides the occasion to make public for the first time some poems by Albers that until now have been unpublished,” informs the introduction. “These delicate stanzas have, in fact, been almost completely unknown, because they stem from a very private episode of the artist’s life.”

The introduction goes on to explain that the newly released poems resulted from one of the (many and widely-known) dalliances from his marriage while vacationing in New Mexico. “As does most of his poetry, the lines of verse to the beguiling woman in New Mexico show the playful and tender side of Albers— and his mischievous streak. They exhibit the fancifulness as well as the ardour that lie beneath the cool veneer of his art of the period.” Known for his perfectionist drive, Albers weaves his poetry with his art, moving readers with each line. “I am holding a flower, in my hand, and know not, what to do, Should I but see, this flower, or keep it, cherish it, It is a flower, and I am only I, Forgive me God, for taking it.”
$19.95, softcover, 80 pages, Yale University Press

BODY TYPE: INTIMATE MESSAGES ETCHED IN FLESH by Ina Saltz
“As I interviewed subjects,” explains regular STEP contributor Ina Saltz in her foreword to Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh, “I discovered that reasons for getting tattooed ranged from whimsical and impulsive to profound and deeply considered. Some tattoos were motivated by personal tragedy, others by joy. Whether tattoos were obtained to excise personal demons or to mark a rite of passage, these personal revelations fascinated me, and so the book became a different journey than the one I expected.” The introduction peeks at the history of tattooing, traditional tattoo lettering, and techniques. With a standout graphic design and typography background, Saltz’ original intent was to focus on the letterforms of the tattoos. However, what transpired is a thought-provoking look at artful messages, typographic choices, and the lives of those who wear their hearts where everyone can see.

“Certainly, the process of producing this book transformed my sensibilities, dispelled many of my stereotypical notions, altered the ways in which I interacted with others, and sparked insights about the human condition,” says Saltz. “Because of my desire to tell the tattoos’ stories in the voices of those who chose them, the captions for the tattoos are mostly written in the first person.” The book contains 200 full-cover photos with captions from each person on his tattoo. Here are just a few:

Second star to the right and straight on till morning (back, right shoulder): “The quote from Peter Pan means a lot of different things; the reason I got it was so I could find my way back to Neverland … meaning that I never want to lose the part of myself that has a childlike wonder.”

Forgiven (left forearm): “When I was sixteen, my mother killed herself, so I got the word hatred burned on my arm because she left me alone and I hated her. A few years later I forgave her, and I had the word hatred covered with the tattooed sleeve, replaced with the word forgiven and dropped out of the sleeve.”

There is nothing worse than insignificant words (right arm): “I have a masters in fine art … I’m also in a band and I write songs. This tattoo is a lyric in a song I wrote about being verbally abused by my stepfather. It was pretty much a spontaneous decision; I took about one day to think about it. I wanted the tattoo in Courier.”
$19.95, hardcover, 192 pages, Abrams Image (an imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)

DESIGNING PORNOTOPIA: TRAVELS IN VISUAL CULTURE by Rick Poynor
From the man who brought the world the anthology Obey the Giant comes a new anthology complete with Poynor’s compelling arguments in his concise style. “As a collection of essays,” notes Poynor, “Designing Pornotopia does not set out to offer a single, unified argument. Like its predecessor Obey the Giant, it is a set of interlinked observations and reflections on contemporary visual culture intended to question and provoke. Pornotopia can perhaps be viewed in a more general sense as a metaphor for a system of relations between people and for the way we see ourselves and each other. Many of these essays focus on the body as a vulnerable personal space where social pressures and impulses converge and inscribe their imperatives.” Poynor dares to envision “A World Without Ads.” As most of our readers livelihoods depend primarily upon a world filled with ads, you may be feeling your shoulders tense and hairs rise on end. Added to this is Poynor’s look at contemporary designers’ works and some extremes. “My view of the changes documented here is often critical,” explains Poynor, “but caught in the thick of them with everyone else I make no claim to have all the answers. Some developments that I find to be matters for concern appear to leave others untroubled. That in itself gives pause for doubt. Whatever misgivings we might harbour about the direction and pace of social change, only time will tell whether people find a positive way to assimilate or overcome these trends, or whether things will turn out for the worse, though the signs are not encouraging.” Feed your brain, self-reflect, whatever your pleasure or pain, this book supplies a few sparks for potential combustion.
$24.95, softcover, 208 pages, published by Princeton Architectural Press

THE T-SHIRT: A COLLECTION OF 5OO DESIGNS by Luo Lv and Zhang Huiguang
Pull out your favorite tee and reminisce about all you’ve accomplished while wearing said shirt: stories you love to share, those you dare not share, and those you care to forget. Wear it with pride as you flip through The T-Shirt: A Collection of 500 Designs. In the book, learn the legend of the T-shirt, T-shirts’ “Idol Power,” and art duplication as well as design elements and techniques for creating these works of art. One chapter of the book decries tees as “Mobile Posters,” which certainly it can be argued they are. The story of the T-shirt begins, “The word T-shirt originated from the letter T and the word shirt. In the 17th century, workers unloading tea boxes from boats in the harbor of Annapolis, Md., used to wear a short-sleeved shirt whose shape evoked the letter T. … In 1913, the U.S. Navy approved the T-shirt as part of its uniform. The Industrial Revolution paved the way for the technology that allowed the mass production of T-shirts, and soon, T-shirts became part of the uniforms of soldiers, workers, and sailors. By 1920, the word T-shirt appeared in official U.S. dictionaries.” Noting T-shirts’ worldwide popularity, “At the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin, the Taj Mahal, or the Potala Palaca, T-shirts are the first souvenir tourists choose. … On the Great Wall of China, you can find T-shirts with such slogans as ‘One is not hero if he has not been to The Great Wall;’ … From Amsterdam’s Pilate, Egyptian Sphynx, and Thailand’s elephant, T-shirts are de rigeur tourist uniforms.” The authors tie the copy with strong photos that share the history and universality of the T-shirt.
$35.00, softcover, 400 pages, published by Rockport Publishers

1,000 ICONS, SYMBOLS & PICTOGRAMS by BlackCoffee
The authors of 1,000 Icons, Symbols & Pictograms aptly titled introduction, “Why this is important?” ask the reader to “Picture yourself in an airport, in a foreign country. You’ve just landed. You don’t speak the language. You don’t know the culture. You are, in effect, lost. Despite the language you speak or where you’re from, first aid is first aid, food is food, luggage is luggage, and transportation is transportation. Without this symbolic language, you would be confused and bewildered and may never find your way.

“Icons, symbols, and pictograms may be the purest form of visual communication,” continue the authors. “They transcend the boundaries of language and culture to convey a concept quickly and effectively. In selecting the works to be featured in this book, we sought out simple, elegant solutions that communicated information clearly—something we call simplexity. … We hope that you also leave this book with a new appreciation for the world of icons, symbols, and pictograms.”

With the book’s value placed at the start, readers may find navigating the book a bit like your first arrival at an airport. Locate the signs so you can make your way to your destination. The book is primarily organized by designer/firm, though not alphabetically. For topical reference, turn to the back of the book. Fortunately, a book such as this can be easily traversed from rear to front, not so when lost in an airport.
$40.00, softcover, 320 pages, published by Rockport Publishers

AN A-Z OF TYPE DESIGNERS by Neil Macmillan
“Unlike earlier times, when their predecessors had some control over end use, the real fruition of type designers’ ingenuity is now largely dependent on the ability and sensitivity of others. Thus, as increasingly sophisticated software applications encourage exciting, stimulating and innovative typography at best, and anarchic abuse of base values at worst, the role of the educator in typographic communication becomes more significant. It is positive, then, to note that many of the type designers featured in this book also teach the subject,” explains author Neil Macmillan in his introduction for An A-Z of Type Designers. Primarily a reference guide to more than 275 typographers and their fonts, the book also features eight essays by contemporary typographers that instruct the reader on: fonts as self-expression ( Jonathan Barnbrook), LettError (Erik van Blokland), font piracy (Clive Bruton), typeface revivals ( John Downer), global text and type design ( John Hudson), nationality and type design ( Jean Francois Porchez), corporate typography (Erik Spiekermann), and the initial steps of designing type ( Jeremy Tankard). The essays provide some real meat to this reference guide.

“Several of the issues confronting the type designer today are informatively addressed in the essays by successful exponents of contemporary type design that open this book. Each of the contributions reflects the passion of the author for the subject, the same passion that inspired the earliest advances in written communication. This passion for letter forms, as my foray into the lives of type designers past and present has confirmed, is the common factor that drives the majority of those featured in this book in their quest to redefine the letters of our alphabet,” says Macmillan. The AZ entries are illustrated by examples of the designers’ work taken from posters, private press editions, magazine covers, book designs, and rare archival specimens, and include the field’s most renowned designers as well as some of the lesser-known designers whose contributions to typography are substantial.
$35.00, softcover, 208 pages, Yale University Press