Gerd Arntz

As a politically engaged graphic artist and designer, Gerd Arntz (1900-1988) portrayed the world in wood and linoleum cuts. During the 1920s, he conveyed his critiques of social unjustice and the rise of Nazism in Germany in such a simple, direct style that anyone was able to understand his images, regardless of their education and nationality. This prompted the Viennese philosopher and social scientist Otto Neurath to ask him to design the symbols for his International System of...
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As a politically engaged graphic artist and designer, Gerd Arntz (1900-1988) portrayed the world in wood and linoleum cuts. During the 1920s, he conveyed his critiques of social unjustice and the rise of Nazism in Germany in such a simple, direct style that anyone was able to understand his images, regardless of their education and nationality. This prompted the Viennese philosopher and social scientist Otto Neurath to ask him to design the symbols for his International System of TYpographic Picture Education (ISOTYPE). During his long career, Arntz designed more than 4,000 symbols and figures. Today their influence is everywhere--in pictograms featured on objects ranging from traffic signs to Gameboys, and in information graphics. This overview of Arntz's life and work gathers his Isotype designs and elucidates the system and its historical context. It includes a selection of his political prints and other rare visual material that has never previously been published. With contributions from Flip Bool, Gert Dumbar, Mieke Gerritzen, Nigel Holmes, Max Kisman, Paul Mijksenaar and Erik Spiekermann, this book was winner of the Best Dutch Book Design award for 2010.