Bauhaus Typography at 100 — In-Person Curator Tours

Join us for an intimate chat with one of the curators of Bauhaus Typography at 100. This gallery walk-through is a unique opportunity to gain insight into the materials within and thought processes behind Letterform Archive's inaugural exhibition.

, curated by Rob Saunders and Henry Cole Smith, will feature typographic work by Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Herbert Bayer, and Joost Schmidt, along with others whose innovative contributions are often overlooked, including women such as Friedl Dicker.

Few design movements have shaped contemporary typography quite like the Bauhaus. Founded in 1919 by German architect Walter Gropius, the school embraced the tools of mass production in the creation of radical new art.

Bauhaus Typography at 100 explores the school’s unique legacy in graphic design through artifacts of its own making – its books, magazines, course materials, product catalogs, stationery, promotional fliers, and other ephemera – as well as objects created by its many characters before and after the time of the school. The exhibition draws a throughline from the Bauhaus’s iconic style to the shape of typography today.

Hank Smith, Collections Assistant (he/him), found his passion for book arts while studying at Reed College (BA in English) and working with fellow writers, collectors, and literary archivists, including David Abel of Passages Bookshop. As a writer of poetry and a bookmaker himself, Hank’s love of language is simultaneously bound in meaning and aesthetics. That’s evident not only in his care for the material at the Archive, but also his own poetry. When not spending time with the written word he’s projecting it from the stage at a reading.

Rob Saunders, Executive Director, Curator, and Publisher (he/him), is a designer, teacher, publisher, and management consultant, who has collected graphic design and letterforms for over 40 years. Rob began his career teaching at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Tufts University, while serving freelance clients and agencies, before founding a book publishing enterprise that included Alphabet Press (graphic design), Picture Book Studio (children’s books), and Rabbit Ears Books (book/audio packages), which was eventually acquired by Simon & Schuster. Prior to founding Letterform Archive he served as a creative and marketing consultant with clients in the hospitality, technology, and financial industries.

Host or Publisher Letterform Archive