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Friedrich Neugebauer - An Appeciation


caliken

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To say that Friedrich Neugebauer 1911- 2005 was a wonderful calligrapher is a bit like saying Rachmaninov could play the piano a bit. However high you praise his work and no matter how many accolades you afford him, it will never be enough.

 

His writing was superb and, quite frankly, on a different plane entirely from that of most other, mere mortals. It would be stupid to assert that no one could match his ability with the broad edged nib; such a view is bound to be subjective, but there can't have been many calligraphers with his combination of great skill with the pen coupled with the imaqination to create many alphabets under the general headings of Gothic, Roman, Italic and Uncial which were entirely of his own making and quite unique.

 

If you have an interest and liking for the various hands, look for his book "The Mystic Art of Written Forms - An Illustrated Handbook for Lettering" by Friedrich Neugebauer. In it, you will find an astonishing array of lettering examples which are quite different from any others, and all displaying great skill.

 

Gothic Blackletter was my first great passion for lettering, having first experienced it in text books at school in German classes. I've never lost my liking for the style and in this book, which I've owned for more than thirty years, I found various Gothic Scripts all displaying his great talent and imagination.

 

As his writing is copyright material, to illustrate, I'm posting this, my version of his Oblique Fraktur.

 

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd289/caliken_2007/Neugebauer901.jpg

Edited by Ken Fraser
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Thanks for this posting. Such astonishing talent always amazes me. I appreciate so much someone's ability to make writing an art form. It also reminds me that I need to improve my handwriting at someting like 10 to the power of infinity. :)

Edited by pennut
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