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Pump House Gallery is pleased to announce a presentation of early graphic design work carried out by Ken Briggs for the National Theatre.
During the first half of the 20th Century, theatre programmes were often poorly typeset and put together by printers. Later on, theatres subsidised by the state through the new Arts Council led the way in modernising their printed material and none more so than the National Theatre.
Working with the NT for a number of years from its opening in 1963 under its literary director Kenneth Tynan, Briggs challenged traditional typographic and layout design to striking effect for productions including Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and Hobson’s Choice.
Briggs initially used an austere 'Swiss Style' in his marketing material, choosing the Univers font for the programme texts, and Akzidenz Medium for the headings. Originating in Switzerland in the 1920s, this modernist style for printed design had its routes in Soviet Constructivism and Concrete Art. By the 1960s it had become an international style and was used in the UK by British Rail and Penguin books.
Briggs worked closely with printers and photoengravers to produce work up the exacting Swiss standards, sometimes printing black on black to create a strong contrast between titles and background shades. Along with other practical issues such as rethinking the size of the programme so that it could easily fit into both an evening handbag and a dinner-jacket pocket, Briggs also advised the introduction of advertising pages to cover printing costs, positioning them in a separate section from the editorial texts.
This selection of material from the 60s and 70s will include original programmes, screenprints, leaflets and other related ephemera from Ken Brigg’s time at the National Theatre.
This exhibition is running at the same time as Waiter Waiter, There’s a Sculpture In My Soup - Part II
