In July 1925 these ideas ignited like a bomb at the Bauhaus. Attempts at a new uniform typeface were launched. The business papers of the school - all this has long been known - appeared without capital letters under protests of the public, but masters and pupils kept them throughout their lives.
At the instigation of Herbert Bayer (Bayer to Wingler, 1963):
»I persuaded Gropius to introduce a system of writing in lower case only at the Bauhaus.”«
Gropius agreed - but apparently not without teeth grinding. The eradication of the capital letters was based on »extreme friends of standardization«, Gropius said in a lecture reported by a paper in 1926. He called the »fight against capital letters« the »hobbyhorse of pupils«.
His objections will have ended similarly to dissents between Moholy-Nagy and him: »But I don't want to interfere with your typographical intentions, otherwise unity will be lost.«
W. Gropius to L. Moholy-Nagy on 1925, criticism of the sentence in Bauhaus Book 4
”
Ute Brüning: Lecture for the Goethe-Institut/Forening for Boghaandværk, Copenhagen, 2002/18
Further information in German: Bauhaus books. Graphical synthesis - synthetic graphics.
it is inconsistent in language usage to write differently than to speak. we don’t speak big sounds, that’s why we don't write them either. and: doesn’t one say the same thing with one alphabet as with two alphabets? why does one merge two alphabets of completely different characters into one word or sentence and thereby make the written image inharmonic? either large or small. the large alphabet is illegible in the typesetting. therefore the small alphabet. and: if we think of the typewriter, the limitation to lower case characters means great relief and is time saving. and if we think further, it would be simplified by switching off upper case characters.
bauhaus journal 1.1926
”
”
we write everything in small letters, as we save time.
also: why 2 alphabets, if one achieves the same? why capitalize, if you can't speak big?
bauhaus dessau: motto on the letterhead
herbert bayer:
why we write everything in small letters
”
a
a-z
we write everything in small letters, as we save time.
also: why 2 alphabets,
if one achieves the same? why capitalize, if you can't speak big?
bauhaus dessau: motto on the letterhead
as is inconsistent in language usage to write differently than to speak. we don’t speak big sounds, that’s why we don't write them either. and: doesn’t one say the same thing with one alphabet as with two alphabets? why does one merge two alphabets of completely different characters into one word or sentence and thereby make the written image inharmonic? either large or small. the large alphabet is illegible in the typesetting. therefore the small alphabet. and: if we think of the typewriter, the limitation to lower case characters means great relief and is time saving. and if we think further, it would be simplified by switching off upper case characters.
bauhaus journal 1.1926