Culture
Words by Michel Wlassikoff
Maximilien Vox, Défense et illustration de la lettre, Paris, Monotype, 1955
An illustrated brochure that aimed to embody Vox’s classification of typefaces, discussed at the Rencontres de Lure since 1953. This series of double-page spreads featured original commentaries by Vox alongside drawings symbolizing typeface families, with illustrations by artists of the time.
An illustrated brochure that aimed to embody Vox’s classification of typefaces, discussed at the Rencontres de Lure since 1953. This series of double-page spreads featured original commentaries by Vox alongside drawings symbolizing typeface families, with illustrations by artists of the time.
Under the title Défense et illustration de la lettre (Defense and illustration of the letter), the illustrated brochure designed by Maximilien Vox and produced by Monotype, aims to embody the classification of typefaces that Vox established in the early 1950s, and which had already been the subject of presentations and discussions at the Rencontres de Lure since 1953. Défense et illustration de la lettre was published as an insert in Caractère noël 1955, the annual printing magazine directed by Vox, which assiduously reported on the development of the Rencontres and the debates held there. It takes the form of a series of double-page spreads, each devoted to a typeface family. On the left, an original commentary by Vox. On the right, a drawing or composition symbolizing a family. The series opens with “Manuaires”, illustrated by Marcel Jacno with his own take on a text about Picasso and writing. The other illustrations were entrusted to artists familiar with the Rencontres de Lure, including Gourmelin, who would later prove to be one of the great French illustrators of the second half of the century. Two compositions were by Gérard Blanchard, Vox's future successor at the Rencontres, and one by Jean Garcia, another loyal Vox typographer.
Document: Signes archives.
