Tableau is a richly illustrated magazine about fine arts from all ages. The issue for winter 2024 makes use of IvyMode and IvyPresto for headlines, combined with Futura and Frutiger for text. The magazine logo is in ITC Franklin Gothic.

Cover of a book called Grains et issues by French writer and poet Tristan Tzara (1896-1963), first published in 1935. This edition was published in 1981 in Garnier-Flammarion’s paperback series. .

Arnold Böcklin is used for the author's name. Handel Gothic is used for the title of the book. It’s used with the short r that was available as alternate in the phototype version.

The band with the publisher name is written in Eurostile Bold Extended, outlined. The logotype of the publisher is in each corner.

The illustration is by Joan Miró and was originally made for the cover of another book by Tzara called l’Anti-tête (published by Bordas in 1949).

On the back cover the text is set in Futura. We can also see the same band as in the front cover.

The printing and binding of the book was made by Maison Mame in Tours, France.

In fall 2022, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca programmed a double exhibition about the work and life of Joan Miró (1893–1983).

One exhibition, El Miró de Son Boter, presents Miró’s paintings and sculptures made at his Son Boter studio. The second, Rif Spahni. Instant and memory, showcases images by photographer Rif Spahni of that studio.

The graphic design by Hastalastantas features Tomato Grotesk, mixed with handwriting by Miró.

Joan Miró: Women, Birds, Stars (호안 미로 : 여인, 새, 별) is an exhibition shown from April 29 to September 12, 2022 at the My Art Museum (마이아트뮤지엄) in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. The accompanying catalog was designed by Good Question.

To harmonize with the symbolic form expression of the work, Good Question used the geometric Ortank (lo-ol Type) as the Latin display font, with italics actively used to support the rough and dynamic impression of the work. The colors yellow, red, green, blue, and black match the wall colors for each section in the exhibition space. Plates of paintings hung on the wall were placed at the top of the pages, while plates of sculptures exhibited on the floor were placed at the bottom of the pages.

Ortank Text is paired with Sandoll Clair Sans for Korean titles. The articles are set in Clair Sans (Korean) and Filson (English), with Sandoll CT Sans Text and Ortank Display used for citations.

The exhibition entrance of Joan Miró – Birth of the World is covered in a dark blue celestial paint wash reminiscent of an inky cosmos – foregrounding the idea of the creation of the earth and the vast universe surrounding it.

In Miró’s signature work, The Birth of the World, he covered the ground of the oversize canvas by applying paint in an variety of ways that recall poetic chance procedures. On top of this he added a series of pictographic signs and symbols that seem more drawn than painted, transforming the broken syntax, constellated space, and dreamlike imagery of avant-garde poetry into a radiantly imaginative and highly inventive form of painting.

Visitors walk through the transformative threshold before entering into the brightly lit galleries, where they encounter some 60 paintings, works on paper, prints, illustrated books, and objects – made primarily between 1920, the year of Miró’s first, catalytic trip to Paris, and the early 1950s, when his unique visual language became internationally renowned.

The exhibition title, designed by Eline Mul and Damien Saatdjian, is set in De Vinne (Bitstream), and hand painted in a light cloudy grey on top of the dark blue walls. The directional typography leads you through the dark entryway, while the generous size of the letters highlights the playful personality of the type characters.

Other Library:

Moon and Space is a perfect example of that sense of reward the reader receives not only for continuing through the book, but for returning back to it again and again. Published in 1969 by Galerie Beyeler (which has ceased to exist and was replaced with the remarkable institution, the Foundation Beyeler), Moon and Space is among a family of exhibition catalogs from that era which are all magnificently designed. …

The designer is unattributed, however, I believe it is the work of op artist Victor Vasarely who was trained as a book designer and represented by Galerie Beyeler. It bears many signature marks of Vasarely’s designs from the large and playful typsetting of Univers, to the dancing text blocks and images across the page, and finally the liberal interchange of substrates throughout.

The exhibition itself, as one might surmise, was predicated on artists’ interrogation of the celestial and surreal. Such a theme is music to any designer’s ears and Vasarely surely did justice to such a poetic and open-ended concept. The cover, bizarrely, is actually an acetate wrap which has Joan Miró’s “dream painting” simply titled “Painting” (1927) printed on top. The rich blue hue is further complemented by the transparency and dimensionality of the acetate as its distance from the paper cover underneath varies and alters its intensity. Below the jacket and printed on the cover is a second painting, this time by Paul Klee, along with the title of the catalog in reverse contrast type. What I find so striking about this cover is the intentional distortion of the Miró and Klee. …

My best guess is that the title type comes from Strada, one of Walter Haettenschweiler’s designs in the Lettera series of alphabet source books. Strada, published two years previous in 1967, is different from the more popular reverse-contrast gothics of this era — Zipper and Sintex — in that it has a two-story ‘a’. (Beat Star also has this form, but is quite different). Moon and Space presents Strada as distorted, just like the art; it’s compressed even narrower than the source and given a perspective effect on some pages.

Read the rest of this excellent book design review at Other Library.

Strada, by Walter Haettenschweiler, as seen in Lettera 3, 1967.

Perla is a thoughtful choice for the branding of the Joan Miró exhibition Mauer, Fries, Wandbild / Wall, Frieze, Mural in Kunsthaus Zürich. Its circular, ball terminal motif and mix of upper and lower case characters reference Miró’s own lettering. The Didone style letterforms are a formal counterbalance to the gestural artwork, and were often used in Miró’s poster designs.