Michael Harvey was a designer’s designer, revered by other graphic artists and letter carvers, but little known outside those hallowed circles.
This exhibition at Suffolk’s Lettering Arts Centre hopes to change that, as it brings together Harvey’s collected works; from myriad book jackets and digital fonts to his letters carved into stone.
Harvey, who died in 2013, started out as a stone carver in the 1950s, working under Eric Gill’s first apprentice, Joseph Cribb. Although he was highly influenced by Gill, Harvey was also inspired by wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter Reynolds Stone, and was his assistant in the 1950s. German font designers Georg Trump and Hermann Zapf were other important influences.
From the 1960s to the 1990s his career was dominated by book jacket design – he produced around 1,500 elegant typographic offerings for publishing houses including Hodder & Stoughton, MacMillan, Chatto & Windus, Hamish Hamilton, Methuen and The Bodley Head.
In later years, Harvey designed a number of well-regarded digital fonts for the likes of software company Adobe, but the notebooks and drawings featured in the show at the artistic rural hub of Snape Maltings demonstrate that drawing was always at the front of his mind.
'Drawing frees the hand from the demands of the broad-edged pen, the sign-writer’s brush,' Harvey wrote in his 2012 memoir, Adventures with Letters. 'The pencil is neutral. Eye and mind are in control.'
The graphic mastery on display includes myriad book jackets, digital fonts, and his letters carved into stone
The exhibition hopes to expand Harvey's legacy further than the design community, where his work is revered
Harvey, who died in 2013, started out as a stone carver in the 1950s, working under Eric Gill’s first apprentice, Joseph Cribb
Although he was highly influenced by Gill, Harvey was also inspired by wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter Reynolds Stone, and was his assistant in the 1950s
German font designers Georg Trump and Hermann Zapf were other important influences
From the 1960s to the 1990s, Harvey’s career was dominated by book jacket design – he produced around 1,500 elegant typographic offerings for publishing houses including Hodder & Stoughton, MacMillan, Chatto & Windus, Hamish Hamilton, Methuen and The Bodley Head
In later years, Harvey designed a number of well-regarded digital fonts for the likes of software company Adobe...
... but the notebooks and drawings featured in the show demonstrate that drawing was always front of mind for Harvey
Pictured: Some of Michael Harvey's 1500 book jacket designs, available to rifle through at the exhibition
INFORMATION
’Michael Harvey: In His Own Words’ is on view from 25 March – 28 May. For more information, visit the Lettering Arts Centre’s website
Photography: Frank Barrett
ADDRESS
The Lettering Arts Centre
Snape Maltings
Near Aldeburgh
Suffolk, IP17 1SP
-
Living light: can the Light Phone III help you reclaim precious time without losing out on life?Light hope their new Phone III contains just the right amount of tech to live a life free from digital distraction. We put their minimal handset to the test
-
Mika Cars wants to build the Mino, a sporty, ultra-compact electric two-seater for the open roadAn evolution of Mika’s Meon electric beach buggy, the little Mino is an ultra-light EV with big-car aspirations
-
Beck on his orchestral shows: 'It's something that can't be simulated by AI'Following two nights at London's Royal Albert Hall, Wallpaper* meets Beck and conductor Edwin Outwater to hear how the pair brought to life Beck's back catalogue with an 80-piece orchestra
-
Taschen’s sexy record covers are hitting all the right notesTaschen has been through 50 years of album art for its latest tome, ‘Sexy Record Covers’
-
‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960sA new photography book from The Anonymous Project showcases its subjects when they’re dressed for best, posing for events and celebrations unknown
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Era-defining photographer David Bailey guides us through the 1980s in a new tome not short of shoulder pads and lycraFrom Yves Saint Laurent to Princess Diana, London photographer David Bailey dives into his 1980s archive in a new book by Taschen
-
Inside Joan Didion’s unseen diary of personal relationships and post-therapy notesA newly discovered diary by Joan Didion is soon to be published. Titled 'Notes to John', the journal documents her relationship with her daughter, husband, alcoholism, and depression
-
Carsten Höller’s new Book of Games: 336 playful pastimes for the bold and the boredArtist Carsten Höller invites readers to step out of their comfort zone with a series of subversive games
-
Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TVStefano De Luigi's monograph Televisiva examines how Berlusconi’s empire reshaped Italian TV, and subsequently infiltrated the premiership
-
How a sprawling new book honours the legacy of cult photographer Larry Fink‘Larry Fink: Hands On / A Passionate Life of Looking’ pays homage to an American master. ‘He had this ability to connect,’ says publisher Daniel Power
