Typography: Typorama

Typorama is an exhibition of Philippe Apeloig’s graphic design work at Les Arts Décoratifs, from November 21, 2013 to March 30, 2014. Design Boom has some excellent photographs of the exhibition.

This past summer I was contacted twice, by representatives of Les Arts Décoratifs, regarding my photograph of the Garden Cafeteria sign, which was posted February 14, 2013. On June 20, Cécile Niesseron requested a scan of the photograph. On July 8, Ameline Thomas asked for my birth date.

While preparing the exhibition catalogue, someone had researched Jewish culture in New York City. The Garden Cafeteria was a meeting-place for some of the Jewish intellectuals, beginning in the 1940s, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Place Matters has a 23-paragraph article on the history of the Garden Cafeteria. (Click “read more” for the complete article.) The Jewish Museum has a photograph of the cafeteria.

This research was associated with Apeloig’s poster, “Radical Jewish Culture: Scene Musicale, New York”. Below is the description, in French, from the Typorama catalogue, followed by a Google translation. (The English edition is available from Thames & Hudson.)

En 2010, le musée d'Art et d’Historie du Judaisme a présenté l’exposition “Radical Jewish Culture” consacrée au label new-yorkais de musique expérimentale du meme non. Ce groupe de compositeurs et d’interpretes a inventé une musique hybride qui jette un pont entre l’avant-garde et la tradition. Ses influences vont de la musique klezmer a Lou Reed, en passant par Steve Reich.

L’affiche donne l’impression d’être le cliché d’un graffiti du Lower East Side a Manhattan, quartier des premiers émigrants juifs a New York, puis lieu de prédilection des compositeurs et de nombreux artistes. Aujourd’hui transformé, il conserve néanmoins quelques éléments des enseignes des nombreuses boutiques et lieux de culte. Sur beaucoup d’immeubles, les vielles lettres ont été recouvertes de nouveaux éléments des communautés hispaniques et chinoises qui s’y sont installées. Ces murs et ces façades ornés sont devenus les témoignages vivants du passage du temps et des cultures.

Sur l’affiche, on découvre des notations du compositeur John Zorn, le leader du Radical Jewish Culture, qui tiennent a la fois de l’écriture musicale et du graffiti. Des lettres très arrondies conçues comme des pochoirs ont été dessinées pour évoquer la musique expérimentale, rappelant également les enseignes lumineuses d’autrefois. Les noms des artistes, composés en petites capitales jaune flou, sont disposés un peu partout dans le canevas formé par le titre.

In 2010, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism presented the exhibition “Radical Jewish Culture” dedicated to the New York experimental music label of the same name. This group of composers and performers invented a hybrid music that bridges the gap between the avant-garde and tradition. His influences range from klezmer music, Lou Reed, through Steve Reich.

The poster gives the impression of being the picture of Lower East Side graffiti in Manhattan, a neighborhood of the first Jewish immigrants in New York and a favorite place for many composers and artists. Now transformed, it still retains some signs of many shops and places of worship. On many buildings, old letters were covered with new elements of Hispanic and Chinese communities who have settled there. These walls and the ornate façades have become living witnesses to the passage of time and cultures.

On the poster, notations of composer John Zorn, the leader of Radical Jewish Culture, which both songwriting and graffiti are found. Of stencils designed as very rounded letters were designed to evoke experimental music, recalling the old neon signs. Artist names, in small yellow capitals are arranged around the outline formed by the title.

Composer/musician John Zorn was profiled this summer in the New York Times. Zorn’s music label is Tzadik and he wrote about Radical Jewish Culture.

Here are scans of the catalogue cover and pages 202 and 203. The image of the Garden Cafeteria photograph is about the size of a credit card.

(Next post on Wednesday: Peace and Joy)