# Wendingen & Amsterdam School Typography

> The graphic language of Wendingen (1918–1932), monthly of the Amsterdam architects' society Architectura et Amicitia, and its editor H. Th. Wijdeveld: the Amsterdam School's brick Expressionism in print. Wijdeveld built heavy capitals and meanders from compositors' brass rules and centred them in thick rule frames on square, Japanese-sewn pages; invited artists drew the covers. The School also built such capitals in brick and on bridge nameplates. Avant-garde covers, such as El Lissitzky's Proun (1921 no. 11, out 1922) and Vilmos Huszár's De Stijl design (1929), sit outside the house style.

- Period: 1918–1932
- Where: Western Europe
- Origin: Amsterdam: Wendingen, the monthly of the architects' society Architectura et Amicitia, edited and designed by the architect H. Th. Wijdeveld (sources differ on whether he stayed editor after 1925; he still set the interior typography in 1929), published by De Hooge Brug in Amsterdam (1918–1923) and C. A. Mees in Santpoort (1924–1931)
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Wendingen style, Amsterdam School graphics, Dutch Expressionist typography
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/wendingen/

## How it works

- Build display letters and ornament from the material at hand: piece brass rules, bars and blocks from the type case into heavy, rectilinear capitals, or lay them in the bricks of the facade, and let the joins between the pieces show.
- Centre the page on a single vertical axis and lock the title inside massive black bars and stacked rule borders, like the facade of a building.
- Print in black plus one warm colour, such as burnt orange, red or gold, on cream paper, in flat solid fields.
- Make the publication itself an architectural object: a square page, covers in a double-square format based on the proportion of the Japanese tatami mat, double leaves printed on one side only, folded and sewn in the Japanese manner.
- Devote each issue to one maker or theme, from Frank Lloyd Wright to seashells and crystals, give its cover to an invited artist or architect, and hold the photographs and plans inside on calm pages framed by the same rule work.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Classical text block](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/classical-text-block/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (defining)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Tight setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/tight-setting/) (characteristic)
- [Stencil](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stencil/) (occasional)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Jewel & metallic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/jewel-and-metallic/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (defining)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (defining)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (defining)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (characteristic)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Diagram & data](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagram-and-data/) (occasional)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (characteristic)
- [Luxurious & glamorous](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/luxurious-and-glamorous/) (occasional)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (occasional)

Avoids: Whiplash line, Dynamic asymmetry, Diagonal axis, Flush left, ragged right, Script, Gradients, Photomontage, Collage & layering, Eclectic mixing

Palette: #efe6d2, #141414, #c4561e, #b8913a, #8e2a1e, #8a8478

Typefaces: H. Th. Wijdeveld's capitals and meanders assembled from compositors' brass rules and type-case pieces (Wendingen title pages; posters of 1929 and 1931), Architectuur NF (Nick Curtis, Nick's Fonts, 2006), a digital revival of the rule-built letters of Wijdeveld's 1925 Frank Lloyd Wright issue, with his meander ornaments, The Amsterdam bridge-nameplate letter of about 1930, attributed to Anton Kurvers, since digitised more than once, Hand-drawn, lithographed cover lettering by the invited cover artists, such as Michel de Klerk, Jan Toorop and Hildo Krop

Known for: H. Th. Wijdeveld, covers and typography of the seven Frank Lloyd Wright issues of Wendingen (series 7, nos. 3–9, 1925–1926), gathered as The Life-Work of the American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (C. A. Mees, Santpoort, 1925; colophon April 1926), printed on one side of double leaves folded in the Japanese style; H. Th. Wijdeveld, poster Architectuur / Frank Lloyd Wright for Wright's exhibition that opened in Amsterdam on 9 May 1931, colour lithograph printed by Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, with letters and ornament built from printers' brass rules (Minneapolis Institute of Art, P.98.33.3); H. Th. Wijdeveld, poster Internationale Economisch-Historische Tentoonstelling (1929), letterpress, a mosaic of letterforms pieced together from printer's type-case elements in burnt orange and gold (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2001-7-1); J. L. M. Lauweriks, cover of the first issue (Wendingen 1918, no. 1), and Michel de Klerk, cover of no. 2 (1918); H. Th. Wijdeveld, the Eileen Gray issue (Wendingen vol. 6, no. 6, 1924); Piet Kramer with Michel de Klerk, the words 'de dageraad' built from bricks into the facade high on the western corner of the De Dageraad housing complex, Burgemeester Tellegenstraat, Amsterdam (1923), letters whose shapes follow the limits of the bricks; Amsterdam Public Works department, the identical nameplates of the city's named bridges (designed around 1930), lettering attributed to Anton Kurvers, who also drew the Wendingen cover of the public housing issue (1923, no. 7)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Art Nouveau](https://stylogeny.com/styles/art-nouveau.md) (1890–1910)
- Influenced by: [Japonisme](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japonisme.md) (1860–1910)
- Influenced by: [Vienna Secession](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vienna-secession.md) (1897–1918)
- Influenced by: [Arts & Crafts Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/arts-and-crafts.md) (1860–1920)
- Alike in its design choices: [Vyaz (Ornamental Slavonic Lettering)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vyaz-lettering.md) (c. 1230–present), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [London Transport Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/london-transport-design.md) (1908–1966), 52% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Square Kufic (Bannāʾī)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/square-kufic.md) (c. 1100–present), 52% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bulaq (Amiriyya) Naskh Book Printing](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bulaq-naskh-printing.md) (1822–1956), 50% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Glasgow Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/glasgow-style.md) (1890–1914), 50% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Neoclassical Book Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/neoclassical-typography.md) (1757–1830), 49% alike

## Sources

- Wikipedia, 'Wendingen' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendingen)
- Wikipedia, 'Hendrik Wijdeveld' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Wijdeveld)
- Minneapolis Institute of Art, H. Th. Wijdeveld, 'Architectuur / Frank Lloyd Wright', 1931, P.98.33.3 (https://collections.artsmia.org/art/40321)
- Caitlin Condell, 'For the Love of Letterpress', Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 10 May 2015, on Wijdeveld's 1929 poster, 2001-7-1 (https://www.cooperhewitt.org/2015/05/10/hendricus-theodorus-wijdeveld-letterpress-printing/)
- Smithsonian Libraries, 'Wendingen: Vol. 4: No. 11 (1921)' (https://library.si.edu/donate/adopt-a-book/wendingen-vol-4-no-11-1921)
- Canadian Centre for Architecture library, 'The life work of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright' (record of the 1948 A. Kroch and Son reissue, with the original Mees colophon 'Holland April MCMXXVI') (https://www.cca.qc.ca/en/search/details/library/publication/214316339)
- Kasper van Ommen, 'Wendingen', De Boekenwereld 15 (1998–1999), p. 131, with Wijdeveld's account of the first model, via DBNL (https://dbnl.org/tekst/_boe022199801_01/_boe022199801_01_0023.php)
- Museum Het Schip, Platform Wendingen (https://amsterdamse-school.nl/en/about-wendingen/about-wendingen-the-name-and-architectura-et-amicitiae)
- Peter Blum Gallery, 'Wendingen: A Journal for the Arts, 1918–1932', press release (2008) (https://peterblumgallery.com/exhibitions/wendingen-a-journal-for-the-arts-1918-19322/press-release)
- Nick's Fonts, Architectuur NF, MyFonts (https://www.myfonts.com/collections/architectuur-nf-font-nicks-fonts)
- Underware, Safari Typo Amsterdam (2017), chapters 'Brick lettering & house numbers' and 'Bridge type' (https://underware.nl/publications/safari_typo_amsterdam/general/Underware-Safari-Typo-Amsterdam-2017.pdf)
- Display, bookstore listing, 'Wendingen Journal: The Paintings of Diego Rivera, 1929 [Cover Design: Vilmos Huszár]' (https://bookstore.thisisdisplay.org/products/wendingen-journal-the-paintings-of-diego-rivera-1929-cover-design-vilmos-huszar)
- 1stdibs, dealer listing, 'Wendingen, Issue 11, Cover by El Lissitzky, 1921' (https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/wall-decorations/prints/wendingen-issue-11-cover-el-lissitzky-1921/id-f_1649292)
- M. F. Le Coultre, Wendingen: A Journal for the Arts, 1918–1932 (Princeton Architectural Press, 2001)

---

From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Wendingen & Amsterdam School Typography”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/wendingen/