Letterform Archive Introduces New Publication: Die Fläche (Facsimile Edition): Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911

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Sep 07, 2023, 08:00 ET

A landmark design periodical, brought to life in a complete facsimile edition
Hundreds of rarely seen and brilliantly colorful designs by leading lights of "Vienna 1900" and their students, all reproduced at original size
Three richly illustrated critical essays shine light on the path breaking women, lettering practices, and modes of teaching and creating that shaped its pages
The first of a new facsimile series from Letterform Archive Books, featuring impeccably reproduced editions of our favorite objects from the collection

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Letterform Archive's newest publication, Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911, is a facsimile reproduction of a landmark design periodical from one of history's most iconic art movements, complete with revelatory new essays and translations. Among the first and most ambitious modern graphic design periodicals, Die Fläche (German for The Surface) was launched in 1902 by luminaries of the Vienna Secession art movement, famed Wiener Werkstätte designers, and their students. Across fourteen colorful issues featuring work by over 100 creators—around a third of them women—an explosion of design methods, teaching ideas, and visual forms heralded a break from nineteenth-century conventions. With an aim to resurface every facet of modern life—from the smallest bookmark to the urban streetscape—Die Fläche introduced a vocabulary of expressive flatness that remains powerfully with us today.

Die Fläche (Facsimile Edition): Design and Lettering of the Vienna
Secession, 1902–1911, Letterform Archive, 2023 — Die Fläche (Facsimile Edition): Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911, Letterform Archive, 2023

Off the beaten paths of art and design history, Die Fläche holds countless surprises for contemporary viewers. Due to its scarcity, even enthusiasts of "Vienna 1900" have long been unable to explore its pages. This complete reproduction of Die Fläche—the first in a series of facsimiles from Letterform Archive—offers unparalleled access to this remarkable work, presenting and contextualizing it for a wide audience for the first time.

High-fidelity images of Die Fläche's 200+ pages, all printed in full color at their original size, feature designs by legendary artists such as Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, and Alfred Roller, as well as many less well-known innovators. The book opens with three in-depth essays on Secessionist designers, creative letterers, and women artists who shaped Die Fläche by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller. Translations of six cultural-critical essays from Die Fläche, penned by renowned author Joseph August Lux, engage debates over modern design and its methods.

Hardcover $75 | 13 ¼ × 8 ¾ inches | 312 pp + 32 pages on 4 separate 4-panel concertina fold-outs, 350 imgs | ISBN: 9781736863312

For more about Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911, visit lettarc.org/dieflache.

About Letterform Archive Books
Founded in 2015, Letterform Archive is a non-profit center for preserving and sharing the history of the graphic arts. Letterform Archive Books produces exquisite titles based on its collection of more than 100,000 artifacts, as well as bold new books on design, type, and lettering. Distributed worldwide by D.A.P. (Distributed Arts Publishers), the Archive's publications include Strikethrough: Typography Messages of Protest, Bauhaus Typography at 100, W. A. Dwiggins: A Life in Design, Morla : Design, and Only on Saturday: The Wood Type Prints of Jack Stauffacher. Upcoming titles include The Complete Commercial Artist: Making Modern Design in Japan, 1928–1930, Citizen Printer: The Social Justice Art of Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr., and Alphabet in Motion: A Pop-Up Book for Typophiles by papercraft virtuoso Kelly Anderson. Learn more at letterformarchive.org/publishing.