VEB Typoart

VEB Typoart was the only type foundry of East Germany. It was a state-owned enterprise ("Volkseigener Betrieb") located in Dresden. The foundry's most influential art directors were Herbert Thannhäuser and Albert Kapr.

History

VEB Typoart was created by the government of the German Democratic Republic in 1948 through a merger of several nationalised type foundries, including Schelter & Giesecke. It was subordinated to Zentrag, a state enterprise coordinating all GDR printing activity. Typoart's principal mission was to create typefaces for Eastern Germany and other Eastern Bloc countries. It was frequently ordered to plagiarise Western typefaces that Zentrag could not afford to license.

In the course of German reunification, Typoart was privatised as "Typoart GmbH" in 1989 and went bankrupt in 1995. The copyright status of its typefaces remained uncertain, and some of them have been reissued in digital form by other type foundries.

Typefaces

Typoart's typefaces included:

• Super Grotesk by Arno Drescher, recreated as FF Super Grotesk and Bitstream Drescher Grotesk
• Publica, Supra and Minima by Karl-Heinz Lange
• Faust-Antiqua, Leipziger Antiqua, Magna Kyrillisch, Prillwitz Antiqua and Neutra by Albert Kapr
• Biga (1985) by Fritz Richter
• Stentor by Heinz Schumann

References

• Leslie Kuo "VEB Typoart: The East German Type Betriebsstätte". PingMag, .
• Grant Carruthers "Typostalgie". Eye Magazine, .
• Myfonts.com entry for VEB Typoart

External links

• Typowiki entry for VEB Typoart (with a full list of typefaces)
• Typoart-Freunde