Elbert Hubbard
observed in 1908 in what became one of history’s finest definitions of art. Hubbard was writing at the dawn of an unusual new art form, where in artists were appropriating a new thing a trailblazing technology to find a new way of making art.
-
-
The product and legacy of that is what graphic design scholar Barrie Tullett explores in Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology (public library) a fascinating chronicle of “the development of the typewriter as a medium for creating work far beyond anything envisioned by the machine’s makers,” embedded in which is a beautiful allegory for how all technology is eventually co-opted as an unforeseen canvas for art and political statement.
Barrie Tullett
-
Typewriter Art
A Modern Anthology
Barrie Tullett shows how the typewriter became a tool for creative and political expression, far beyond its original purpose.
Inside the typewriter
The typewriter is designed to be used in a very simple way. A piece of paper is inserted into the back of the platen. As a key is pressed, a typebar strikes the ribbon to make an impression on the paper. The carriage is manually returned, the paper advances, and the process repeats until the page is full.
Begining of a success
The first practical typewriter was patented by Charles Thurber in 1843 but never manufactured. The Hansen Writing Ball, debuted in 1870, was the first produced model, but commercial success came four years later. Like the bicycle, the typewriter played a key role in women's emancipation by opening up new job opportunities and offering a tool for uncensored political expression.
Secretari-art
The surviving pieces from this period of typewriter art’s history were created by people with a background in secretarial studies rather than art. Although we have no historical detail about their lives, their artistic education would presumably have been limited to what they had been taught at school, and the representational vernacular.
Untitled by Flora F.F. Stacey
1898
A first price received
“Some years ago, seeing a prize offered by a phonographic paper, [Stacey] entered for the competition, and has since applied herself enthusiastically to the idea.”
Let competition begin
“Flora Stacey, an Englishwoman, has done some remarkable work at machine drawing, and out of her experiences, which have been without competition, some facts helpful to contestants … may be given.”
The Original Art-Typing Piece
The first edition of Pitman’s Typewriter Manual, published in 1893, included several examples of typed ornaments that a typewriter operator could use to embellish his or her work. The anonymous plate from the 1893 manual is now considered the first recorded example of “art-typing.”
Queen Victoria
Otto Von Bismarc
Unknown Artist, Published in
The History of the Typewriter
@-------- (1909)
--------@