La Emblematica de Gerd Leufert.

La Emblematica de Gerd Leufert.

Concept and Graphic design by Alvaro Sotillo
Photographs by Paolo Gasparini

Published by Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas, 1984. First edition.

[Purchase: bdp]

La Emblematica de Gerd Leufert is an exceptional visual book. The book has few photographs by notable Venezuelan photographer Paolo Gaspirini (as illustrations), but its focus is graphic design. The book was produced and designed by Alvaro Sotillo, another key figure in Venezuelan world of art and design. Incredible work by Leufert brought together in a book format by Sotillo created a beautiful and visually powerful object.

Gerd Leufert was born in Memel, Germany (now Klaipeda, Lithuania). He moved to Venezuela in early 1950s and spent there most of his life. He was married to Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt), a modern Venezuelan artist and sculptor (who also moved to Venezuela from Germany). Leufert is considered one of the pioneers of graphic design in Venezuela, his work covered design, photography and art. He created identity for International Airport of Maiquetía, Logo for the Venezuelan Pavilion, N.Y. (World’s Fair, 1964), The Simón Bolívar University,Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas.

As Victoria de Stefano noted in her introduction, the works reproduced in this book are “the outcome of Leufert’s long interplay with signs in his game of expressing abstract concepts, from the dynamic, the organic, the exact, the inexact and transparent, to the not yet possible”.

This book earned the Goldene Letter price in Leipzig, as the most beautiful book in 1985. Álvaro Sotillo has also obtained the Gutenberg Price in 2005 for his trajectory as a graphic and layout designer.

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Video of the book by bdp