A casebound book cover that catalogues an abstract art exhibition for the Gagosian Gallery was a perfect fusion of art and craft, and a meeting of minds for Baddeley Brothers and Paul Neale, Creative Director with Graphic Thought Facility.
To Bend The Ear Of The Outer World is a catalogue to accompany an exhibition of contemporary abstract paintings held in Gagosian’s London galleries.
The challenge to find a cover design solution that is both reflective of the curator’s over-arching concept, and a democratic representation of the exhibited artists (not emphasising one over another) is to use type-only, and Paul contacted Baddeley Brothers with a very clearly defined brief using intaglio printing.
Intaglio is a classic technique using an engraved die which is then stamped onto the paper with ink to form a raised print (embossed) effect.
The exhibition’s curator, Gary Garrels, had taken the title from a line in a poem by the American, Frank O’Hara, which in turn lent itself to a poetic typographic treatment. The multi-coloured title provided an appropriate reference to the diversity of the 42 paintings in the show.
Paul said: “We’ve worked with Chris and Charles for many years now, and I knew they would be up for the ambition of the project.
“The number of colours (nine) and the size of the sheet presented specific challenges, and Baddeley Brothers thought it through, and came up with a way of producing the design that was practical to run and provided a consistent result. We engaged them very early, as we needed to know that the design was ‘producible’ before we had presented it to the client.
“To engrave such a large area of a book cover is quite surprising and makes quite a statement. Held in the hand, the front cover has nothing to look at except for the engraved type. It takes the eye and invites touch. The book’s recipients will have a high level of visual literacy. Though I wouldn’t expect many to identify the process as engraving, I’m sure it will trigger associations of tactility and a warm resonance with premium old-world print qualities.
Inky fingers approach
Baddeley Brothers’ commercial director Charles Pertwee said: “As Paul knows, we’re up for a challenge. This is probably one of the most difficult jobs we’ve undertaken.
“Due to the number of colours involved, we originally agreed to only use stock inks. However, on proofing the cover, the colours needed to have equal visual weight while being clearly different, so we employed an unscientific, but effective, ‘inky fingers’ approach. The result is a wonderful illustration of what die-stamping can achieve.”
And Paul adds that the widely-spaced letterforms and the quarter-bound case were both conceived with engraving in mind.
“Engraving is a process that we’ve returned to again and again over the past 30 years, making use of the process’s unique particularities: the deep transparent hues and the matt texture of the embossed surface. We have been particularly interested in finding a use for engraving outside of its traditional context of stationery. To find engraving on—or even inside a book—is a surprising thing. A modern thing maybe.
“Although the cover is very much a design, it seeks to transpose notions of art, as presented in the exhibition. Abstract painting has been around for over a hundred years, is still evolving, and has relevance today. It was intended that the catalogue design—and the use of engraving in this way—should echo that evolution..”
To Bend The Ear Of The Outer World runs from 1 June to 25 August at Gagosian Gallery, Davies Street, London.
Once a month, we put together a carefully-curated collection of our favourite articles that stimulated our senses enough to think of sharing it with you. We call this… ‘Feelogy’.
