Csaplár Ferenc szerk.: Lajos Kassák / The Advertisement and Modern Typography (1999)
Ferenc Csaplár: Kassák the Book and Advertisement Artist
ume of poetry, Ecce Homo , printed in early 1924, which were decorated with black and red geometric figures and geometrically shaped headings, may be considered the "extreme" version of typography attempting an artistic effect. 4 8 In the second half of the 1920s, Kassák's typographical style became more economical and more restrained. This can be most clearly observed in the graphic form of his journals, Dokumentum (Document ) and Munka {Labour), which he started in Budapest. Continuing the practice he had followed in type-setting Ma, Kassák designed a new cover for each issue but used the same title all the time. Nor did he change the header on the title page. He differentiated the issues of Munka not with new cover graphics but with a different colour besides the black. While every column of the 1927 issues of Dokumentum was topped by a rule, the only similar typographical figure in Munka was below the left-hand side of the columns of odd pages, which together with the conjoining magazine title formed the only decorative element. Another sign of composure, economising on typography, was the use of only lowercase type in titles. The exclusive use of lowercase type gained currency in avant-garde typography in the wake of Jan Tschichold's works and the theses he propounded in his article "Elementare Typographie", which was published in Typographische Mitteilungen in 1925, as well as the theoretical and practical work of László Moholy-Nagy and Herbert Bayer, who were both involved in Bauhaus. The most effective medium of the innovation proved to be the magazine that was started by the Bauhaus group after its move to Dessau, the issues of which were typeset by Moholy-Nagy. It was no mere coincidence that Kassák published Tschichold's "Elementare Typographie" as soon as he could, indeed, in the very first issue of Dokumentum in December 1926 and that Herbert Bayer's essay, ("The Tools of Typography and Propaganda"), 4 9 was in the first number of Munka, which came out in September 1928. Kassák's interest is also shown by the fact that he published a review of Tschichold's book entitled Die neue Typographie, which had come out in June 1928, as early as the January 1929 issue of Munka. 5 0 Gallerie Forthcomin[g], the 1920's collage on paper, 360x260 mm Galerie Gmurzynska, Köln 73
