Moholy-Nagy and the new typography

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In 1929, Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau hosted the “New Typography” exhibition, featuring László Moholy-Nagy, a prominent designer who had recently moved from Dessau. He created a room titled “Wohin geht die typografische Entwicklung?” (“Where is typography headed?”), showcasing 78 wall charts that traced the evolution of the “New Typography” since the early 1900s while speculating on its future. These charts combined Moholy-Nagy’s own designs with advertising prints from fellow Bauhaus artists. The “New Typography” movement of the 1920s revolutionized graphic design, departing from tradition to establish a modern advertising aesthetic grounded in artistic principles. It emphasized standardized typefaces, industrial DIN norms, and values like legibility and clarity, reflecting the ideals of constructivist art. This publication marks the first comprehensive presentation of Moholy-Nagy’s rediscovered wall charts from Berlin’s Kunstbibliothek. Esteemed authors contribute to this alphabetized collection, exploring concepts from “A” for “Asymmetry” to “Z” for “Zukunftsvision” (“vision of the future”). Through these pages, the typographical innovations of the 1920s avant-garde are vividly revived, inviting readers to engage with a rich world of ideas.