Culture
Words by Michel Wlassikoff
Deberny & Cie’s “Giraldon”
In a response to the competition with the George Peignot foundry and their publishing of artists-designed typefaces, the Deberny foundry published “Giraldon”.
In a response to the competition with the George Peignot foundry and their publishing of artists-designed typefaces, the Deberny foundry published “Giraldon”.
In 1907, the Deberny foundry published an alphabet designed by Adolphe Giraldon (1855–1933), a rather academic illustrator, who had a great reputation in his time, collaborating with L’Estampe moderne , Paris-Noël or L’Illustration and many illustrated books.
The two main French foundries, George Peignot and Deberny, compete with each other even in the choice of artists who contribute to the creation of types to which they give their names. The “Giraldon” are a way of responding to Grasset, then Georges Peignot will turn to Bellery-Desfontaines, painter and lithographer who worked on the decoration of the Panthéon, for a typeface born in 1911. The two main French foundries replicate each other in a still very Art Nouveau register, without further committing to technical or aesthetic innovation.
Document : Deberny & Cie, Les « Giraldon ». Caractères, initiales et ornements. 1907.
École Estienne library
