Odyssey by Christopher Anderson
Christopher Anderson (b. 1970) is an American photographer and member of Magnum Photos. Two-time winner of the World Press Photo award, he first got known for his pictures from zones of armed conflict like Afghanistan and Iraq. The project shown here, however, stems from a different, artistic vein of the author. The series Odyssey takes us on a poetic ride through black-and-white images on the threshold between the real and the imaginary. While depicting human figures and landscapes, they take a step into graphic abstraction.
On the occasion of their exhibition, Stanley/Barker, a London-based publisher specializing in photo books, issued the pictures in a limited edition of 750 hand numbered copies. It is luxurious in its format, the printing quality, the paper and the layout: each spread is only used on one side. This way each photograph gets its own, ample space.
The whole book only contains few words and thus little typography. But the choice is remarkable. The typeface used is Kessler, designed by Alaric Garnier and published by Production Type. Its name refers to Harry Count Kessler, a pivotal figure around 1900 who linked the British Arts and Crafts Movement to the part of the German scene that strived for artistic renewal. It was Kessler who gave the 23-year-old Eric Gill* one of his first commissions, the calligraphic design of titles for his Großherzog Wilhelm Ernst Ausgabe of German classics.
Alaric Garnier stumbled upon Gill’s first sketches for this alphabet in a 1958 issue of the Monotype Recorder (pdf) and picked up on it in 2013. Over the course of four years, he amended the Kessler typeface with lowercase letters, extended it into different size-specific cuts, and added italics. Today, Kessler is a comprehensive serif family with sixteen styles for applications ranging from Text to Super Display.
*) Production Type is conscious of the contentious aspect of publishing a work that is in some way connected to child rapist Eric Gill. While we believe Production Type addresses design needs for discerning users, we also want to be held accountable for our choices. For this reason, proceeds of Kessler’s licensing are transferred to L’Enfant Bleu, an association providing protection, care, and information to children victims of ill-treatment. Creating a virtuous cycle, both chronologically and economically, is what we aspire in making Kessler available for licensing.
