The New Typography in Scandinavia

The history of modernism in typography is too often told through a limited number of familiar pieces of work, with the emphasis on a small cast of central and eastern European characters. Through thorough research into contemporary accounts, and by not concentrating solely on the avant-garde, Trond Klevgaard opens our eyes to Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish designers whose work in the mid-20th century was international in inspiration but decidedly Scandinavian in application. This book brings a much-needed northern European perspective to the history of the ‘new typography’. -- Paul Luna, Emeritus Professor at the University of Reading, UK Klevgaard explains the publishing environment in which New Typography took shape in Scandinavia. We come to understand the “domestication” of modernist typography not as a misunderstanding of its more well-known Central European prototypes, but rather as a sensible adaptation to the varying interests of publishers, tradespeople, readers, and organizations there. Well researched and clearly written, this study will open many eyes to typography rarely seen outside of the region. It also demonstrates how the histories of social organizations and of industrial structures, no less than the histories of ideas and of visual forms, are key to understanding the history of modernist design. -- Craig Eliason, Professor of Art History, University of St. Thomas, USA