Karlgeorg Hoefer

Biography

Lettering, type design. Born 6 February 1914 in Schlesien. 1930-34: apprenticeship at Rauhen House, Hamburg, as a typesetter. 1934-6: military service. 1937-9: trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Offenbach a.M., under Ernst Engel; shortly before the war he worked as an assistant in a Potsdam printing firm. 1939-45: military service ; Soviet prisoner of war. 1946-79: taught lettering and applied lettering at the Werkkunstschule (Kunstgewerbeschule, presently Hochschule für Gestaltung: School of Design), Offenbach. 1981-8: conducted summer calligraphy workshops in the USA. 1982: founded calligraphy workshop in Offenbach. 1987-95: chairman, Calligraphy Workshop Klingspor in Offenbach, during which time he continued courses and summer classes. Hoefer’s typefaces: Salto, 1952; Saltino and Saltarello, 1954; Monsun, 1954; Fibelschrift, 1957; Prima, 1957; Permanent, 1962; Zebra, 1964; Stereo, 1968; Bigband, 1974; Omnia, 1990; San Marco, 1990; Sho Roman, 1991; Notre Dame, 1991; Elegance. Hoefer received the Silver Citizens Medal from the City of Offenbach, 1989, and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1993. Died 8 October 2000.

Writings by

  • Das alles mit einer Feder, Brause, 1953
  • Kalligraphie, gestalte Handschrift, Econ, 1986 (new ed.: Augsburg: Bechtermünz, 1993)
  • Memoirs, 1999 (found at Google: Hoefer: ’Live Story’) and www.kghoefer.de/English/KgHoefer_Family).

Writings about

  • Hans Adolf Halbey, Karlgeorg Hoefer: Im Auftrag der Vereomogung, Offenbach a.M.: Freunde des Klingspor-Museums, 1963
    • Larry Brady, ‘Karlgeorg Hoefer’, Calligraphy Idea Exchange, v. 4, no. 3, Spring 1987, pp. 33-40
  • Gottfried Pott and Herbert Maring (eds.), Schriftkunst Letter Art: Karlgeorg Hoefer, Hardheim: Die Kalligraphe Edition, 1989 (includes essays by letter designers)
    • Mary White, review of KH’s Schriftkunst Letter Art, in Calligraphy Review, 1990, v. 8, no. 1, pp. 5, 60
  • HAH, 1991
  • Gottfried Pott, ‘Schriftkunst’, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 2000, pp. 231-56, esp. p. 243
  • Alfred Finsterer (ed.), Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, Stuttgart: Verlag Julius Hoffmann, 1952., 1952, pp. 81, 87
  • showing of Monsun, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Aug. 1956, p. 54
  • Modern German Book Design , 1959, p. 8
    • Lawrence Brady, ‘Karlgeorg Hoefer 1914-2000’ (obituary), Letter Arts Review, v. 16, no. 1, 2001, pp. 58-61 Otmar Hoefer, ‘The typefaces of Karlgeorg Hoefer’ (Karen LaMacchia, tr.), baseline 36, 2002, pp. 17-24
  • www.linotypelibrary.com.
  • showing of Salto, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1952, p. 56

Exhibitions

  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M., 1963, 1984, 1994, 1996, 1999
  • Scandinavia, 1966
  • Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, 1975
  • San Francisco, 1982
  • Berkeley, 1983
  • ITC Center, New York, 1990
  • Deutsche Ledermuseum, Offenbach a.M., 1998 (with wife Maria Hoefer).

Collections

  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M.