Jaroslav Benda 1882–1970

Jaroslav Benda 1882–1970
Typographic designs and letterforms 

Jaroslav Benda is one of the most unique figures in the history of Czech type design. His extensive lifelong work is based on a strong and distinctive manuscript of original letterforms. Many of his works would become crucial for Czech Cubism and Art Deco. Equally important is his involvement in building the visual identity of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Unfortunately, Benda’s work fell into oblivion for many decades and a comprehensive biography of Benda has never been published. Until now! Nearly half a century after his death, we presented to the public the fruit of seven years of our work – Jaroslav Benda 1882–1970: Typographic designs and letterforms! Written by Petra Dočekalová & designed by Radek Sidun. Created for UMPRUM, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Here you can buy a copy of the book. 

Specification

The aim of this book is to introduce Benda as an admirable type designer, an excellent graphic artist, and a sensitive book typographer. The book is divided into two sections – the main text and an image catalogue, which maps all of his preserved typographic works. The main text focuses on an analysis of Benda’s letterings. The text is accompanied by recollections from his granddaughter and a complete list of his students at UMPRUM Prague. The first section of the book concludes with a chapter about how Benda rarely used his hand-drawn typefaces on book covers. A full-color image catalogue comprises the second half of the book. With an incredible 660 objects bearing Benda’s original typefaces, from the smallest ex-libris to huge marble slabs, the catalogue represents a living specimen of the letterforms on which Benda tested designs for his real typeface production.

We presented our book at Typecon Minneapolis 2019

Attendees at TypeCon 2019 were among the first to see in its entirety the vast scale of Benda’s distinctive typefaces and inventive solutions, which have become contemporary again from today’s perspective. You can recall the talk too: TypeCon Minneapolis / 2019 / Talk: Introducing Jaroslav Benda 

Thanks to our backers we have reached our goal — US $36,000 — to print an English edition of Jaroslav Benda 1882–1970: Typographic designs and letterforms! See the full campaign at Kickstarter or video below:

As a reward for Kickstarter Backers we created a set of nine silkscreen postcards (A6) featuring Jaroslav Benda’s most significant typeface designs, hand-printed by Jaromír Štoural at UMPRUM’s silkscreen workshop using the original Benda’s punch cuts, that were made between 1903–1948 for Jan Laichter’s publishing house. These punch cuts are still stored in Laichter’s house creating a unique collection.