PAULA SCHER – TYPE IS IMAGE

In the organizer's words:

THE NEW COLLECTION - THE DESIGN MUSEUM,

PINAKOTHEK DER MODERNE, MUNICH

With "Paula Scher. Type is Image", Die Neue Sammlung - The Design Museum is showing the first solo exhibition of the American graphic designer in Germany.

Paula Scher is considered the most influential graphic designer of her generation. Since the 1970s, she has stood for innovative and uncompromising design. Her designs have influenced generations of designers. In 1991, she became a partner in the New York branch of Pentagram. She has received over 100 awards for her work, including the AIGA Medal, the U.S. National Design Award and the Type Directors Club Medal. Most recently, she was honored with the title "Personality of the Year" by the German Design Award in 2023.

Typography is always at the heart of Paula Scher's (born 1948) work. She develops characters and letters that communicate like images. Through shape, size, alignment and color, they convey their messages even before they are read. In this way, Scher creates motifs and images that are immediately memorable. Paula Scher's repertoire of typographic forms seems inexhaustible and is often inspired by a lifelong passion for collecting, especially historical and marginal typefaces.

With "Type is Image", Die Neue Sammlung continues its tradition of inviting important contemporary designers to create a site-specific installation. Paula Scher has accepted this invitation with a walk-in exhibition that allows the public to immerse themselves in her world. From the floor to the walls to the hanging letters and posters, visitors are surrounded by Paula Scher's works. Even the display cases are supported by letters. This creates new perspectives and interesting interactions from every angle.

In this unique spatial installation, Paula Scher's work can be experienced in a very special way. The exhibition shows commissioned works from Scher's beginnings to the present day. From the appearance of the Public Theater in New York to the campaign for Rockaway Beach after the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to her room and façade designs, the entire spectrum of Scher's appearances becomes visible.

In addition, free works are on display in which the designer reveals herself as an attentive, courageous and humorous observer and commentator of her time. This includes, for example, her brochure on "useless information" from 1992, in which she reacted both critically and ironically to the oversupply of freely available advice.

Visitors to the exhibition can trace the graphic designer's working process in large, typographically designed display cases. For the first time, original preliminary drawings and drafts of Paula Scher's iconic designs are on public display, such as the template for "The Many Styles of Paula Scher", in which she explores female types, stereotypes and attributions in 13 variations of her self-portrait.

Paula Scher has been interested in hand-painted maps for around 20 years. Here, too, the main focus is on writing: Geographical information is conveyed through the arrangement and form of place names. In doing so, Paula Scher questions the apparent objectivity of maps and deliberately draws imprecise and subjective plans of the selected regions. One such map also forms the basis of the exhibition. Paula Scher designed it especially for the presentation in the Neue Sammlung.

Price information:

10 euros | reduced 7 euros | Sunday admission 1 euro | day ticket 12 euros