Helmut Salden, lettertekenaar en boekverzorger exhibition
Exhibition poster / front of flyer.
Huis van het Boek | Museum Meermanno is a Hague-based museum dedicated to “the hand-written and printed book of the past and present.” In 2018, the museum opened a small but elaborate retrospective of the work of book designer Helmut Salden (1910–1996). The exhibition was named lettertekenaar en boekverzorger (“letterdrawer and book designer”) in Dutch, and “a prolific lettering artist” in English – all lowercase in both languages. In a room on the top floor of the museum, the prolific career of Salden was presented by showing correspondence, sketches and comps for book covers from his archive.
For the exhibition poster and flyer for the exhibition, Antwerp design studio Catapult chose the flared Brasil Medium, using its lively tabular figures. This typeface was designed and published by Salden’s nephew Georg Salden in 1973 as a headline typeface, and later expanded as a text type family in multiple weights.
The exhibition and its catalogue were designed by Catapult and Anke Broeren, using a different combination of typefaces. Trinité by Bram de Does is used from the lettering on the walls to headlines and English-language body text in the catalogue. A condensed style of Fakt by Thomas Thiemich (not yet released as a retail typeface at the time) is used for Dutch text in the catalogue and on the cards with explanatory notes and information in the exhibition display cabinets.
The exhibition catalogue cover repurposes a book cover by Salden, replacing his lettering by what looks like Albertus Nova, slightly modified to obtain a lowered contrast.
Flyer, verso.
Entrance of the exhibition room, opening night.
Quote by Salden: “my need for order and subtlety in my work arises from the chaos in my life.”, set in Trinité No. 2 Italic. The No. 2 series comes with medium length ascenders and descenders.
Exhibition cover.
Spread from the exhibition catalogue.
