Theosophy and lettering

Internationally, Art Nouveau saw artists experimenting with letters, often exuberant in form. Model books aimed at sign painters, lithographers, and other craftsmen came on the market, particularly in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, making these letterforms available for copying. The more expensive ones were printed lithographically in many colors. In the Netherlands, Amsterdam had its own Art Nouveau variant. This rational “Nieuwe Kunst” (New Art) was fueled by the theosophical movement then in vogue. The designer-architects Karel de Bazel and Mathieu Lauweriks were leading representatives. Klaas van Leeuwen (1868–1935) also moved in these Amsterdam circles and in 1907 he published a lettering book that was geometric in concept. The reactions to it in the press were not entirely positive. New developments in the field of calligraphy and lettering made his Letterboek voor den teekenaar en ambachtsman seem outdated soon after its publication. This the story of something that was dismissed but is now a coveted portfolio of weird.