Font Designer - Paul Renner

Paul Renner – born 9.8.1878 in Wernigerode, Germany, died 25.4.1956 in Hödingen, Germany – graphic artist, painter, type designer, author, teacher.

Studied architecture and painting in Berlin, Munich and Karlsruhe. Then worked as a painter in Munich. 1907-17: production assistant and presentation manager for Georg Müller Verlag in Munich. 1911: cofounder of a private school for illustration in Munich. 1925-26: head of the commercial art and typography department at the Frankfurter Kunstschule. 1926: director of the city of Munich’s Grafische Berufsschulen and from 1927 the Meisterschule für Deutschlands Buchdrucker.

1933: as arepresentative of the German Reich he is charge of the design of the German section at the Milan Triennale. Receives the Triennale’s Grand Prix. 1933: is dismissed from teaching. Works as a painter from 1934 onwards. Writes on topic pertaining to typography, lettering, graphics and color studies.

Fonts: Futura® (1928), Plak® (1928), Futura® Black (1929), Futura® licht (1932), Futura® Schlagzeile (1932), Ballade (1937), Renner™ Antiqua (1939), Steile Futura ®(1954).

Publication include: “Typographie als Kunst”, Munich 1922; “Kulturbolschewismus?”, Zurich 1932; “Die Kunst der Typographie”, Berlin 1948; “Das moderne Buch”, Lindau 1946; “Vom Geheimnis der Darstellung”, Frankfurt 1955.Phillip Luidl (ed.) “Paul Renner”, Munich 1978.

* TYPOGRAPHY – An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott (Editor), Bernard Stein, published by Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.