The Rudolf Steiner Archive

52. The Artistic Side of the Book Trade

[ 1 ] At the meeting of the “Berlin Typographic Society” on November 19, Dr. Rudolf Steiner gave a lecture on the topic: “Artistry in the Book Trade.” The “Papierzeitung” reports the following about the lecture in its issue No. 96:

[ 2 ] The speaker gives a captivating account of the transformation that art in general underwent in the 19th century—and, along with it, the art of book design over the past ten years. Evidence of this can be found, for example, in a comparison of the magazines Fliegende Blätter and Jugend. The most significant works from the beginning of the century were printed with the worst typefaces on the worst possible paper. The books had plain, austere title pages. The finest example of this style is a title page for an original edition of Goethe’s Faust. The principles demanded of art today were already articulated by Gottfried Semper, who as early as the 1830s called for greater clarity and pointed out that art must spring from human need, that harmony must prevail between practical utility and execution, and that the greatest artistic achievement lies in achieving the utmost practicality alongside beautiful forms. The external form must reveal the purpose served by the inner content. The general decline of art in the mid-19th century, along with the lack of original ideas in the fine and decorative arts, has made everyday life more prosaic. Redner describes the art of the poster, which emerged in France in the 1870s, as the greatest advancement in graphic art during the 19th century, and welcomes the fact that the very best artists thus placed themselves in the service of advertising. Poster art paved the way for artistic book illustration, and a number of prominent publishing houses—such as Drugulin in Leipzig, Albert Langen in Munich, and Schuster & Löffler in Berlin—have, in collaboration with outstanding artists, created works that combine beauty, practicality, and, above all, a close connection between the external decoration and the content. The artist tasked with illustrating a book must familiarize himself with the content, but unfortunately there are still many among them who have no inclination to do so. (A large number of books on display, explained by the speaker, serve to illustrate the lecture in greater detail.) However, one must not overestimate the transformation that book art has undergone. It was not art that imposed itself on the book; rather, the bookseller demanded that books be designed in such a way as to draw attention to his products. Artistic expression has thus grown out of the struggle for existence.

[ 3 ] […] The second November meeting featured a lecture by Dr. Rudolf Steiner on “The Artistic Aspect of the Book Trade.” The speaker focused in particular on so-called “book decoration,” which had recently become somewhat intrusive, attributed this artistic movement to the architect Gottfried Semper, then touched on the great French poster artists before linking them to our modern cartoonists, and finally, by presenting a large number of works from a wide variety of publishing styles, showed his audience what is good and what is bad.