Black Artists exhibition poster
Contributed by Herb Lubalin Study Center on Aug 10th, 2020. Artwork published in
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Filmsense, by Seymour Chwast of the Push Pin Studios, in use here on an exhibition poster designed by Cris Gianakos.
The exhibition Black Artists was held at the Visual Arts Gallery at the School of Visual Arts from May 12 through May 29, 1970. The guest director was Warren L. Harris. It was sponsored by United Black Artists of the School of Visual Arts. The show included the artists: Abdullah Aziz, Romare Bearden, Ernest Crichlow, Nicholas Davis, Elton C. Fax, Tom Feelings, Sallie Fleming, Warren L. Harris, Bill Howell, Archie Jefferson, Raymond Miles, Otto Neals, Ademola Olugebefola, Elwood White, Hale Woodruff, Clarence E. Young.
2 Comments on “Black Artists exhibition poster”
Newsense is Adrian Candela’s loose interpretation of Filmsense.
It’s rather loose indeed. To be honest, it doesn’t succeed in capturing the feeling of Filmsense. Here’s a resetting of the letters featured in the use above, for direct comparison. Note that Filmsense came in two variants, A and B. While the poster uses the more detailed A, Newsense follows B.
The wide L causes spacing issues, letters like K (but also A, C) are not as elegant as in the original, T is overly complex, and the diagonally sheared R introduces an element that’s alien to Filmsense, and rather related to Zeppelin (or Lux).
Several of Newsense’s glyphs are way too wide – a beginner’s mistake that’s commonly found in geometrically constructed typefaces – with full semi-circles in X or Y, and an m that’s almost double the width of the original’s glyph, disturbing the word rhythm. Transitions from straight to round are bumpy.
I don’t think Filmsense had an alternate i with square dot. There definitely was a round one, with concentric circles that are also echoed in the alternate E as well as A F H, and which are a characteristic trait of the face. Also, the x-height of this interpretation is all over the place, see k g h.
I understand that Newsense is a freebie made available under a Creative Commons license, and I’m reluctant to slate something that’s obviously a labor of love. I’m just saying that it’s far from being a full-fledged digital version of Filmsense.