A Seventeenth Century Script

Elaine Witton workshop
23-24 November 2019

​Day 1 
Elaine’s inspiration for this workshop began when, through a family connection, she was given a box containing the calligraphic samples and work of Ismar David (1910-1996), a prolific German calligrapher, type designer, illustrator, architectural designer and educator. Elaine was attracted to a script which David simply labelled  “a seventeenth century script”. 
David had trained in the decorative arts in Berlin in the 1920s and early 30s, emigrated to Palestine in 1932 to undertake a book design project. He stayed on another 20 years before moving to New York in 1952, living there until his death in 1996.  He is remembered for amongst other things, designing a Hebrew typeface.  Further information about the life and work of Ismar David can be found on the Ismar David Archive at www.shunammite.com/idea
The workshop began with each participant tracing the lower-case letters of the exemplar, having made their own choice of nib.  The class then split into small groups to carefully examine the exemplar. We noted the pen angle, the shape of each letter,  the several alternatives for each letter, the white space (negative space) in counters and loops, the exaggerated ascenders and descenders, the appropriate x height, inconsistencies in slopes or shapes, the fine straight hairline uprights, contrasting bold downstrokes  and so on.  We had much to choose from as David had provided both a flowery, spidery version, and a more chunky, more dense version of the script. David had suggested that the script could be used with either a pointed pen or a broad nibbed pen.

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