„Who´s afraid of Rudolf Koch?“ – Zoom Workshop for Friends of Calligraphy
June 19 & 26 - July 3 & 10, 2022

Who´s afraid of Rudolf Koch?
. for those who love gothic & for those who don´t yet .

You might already be a big fan of gothic and blackletter, but it happened to me that I didn´t like Rudolf Koch´s gothic work when I first saw it many years ago at the Klingspor Museum in Offenbach. I was especially shocked by his very expressive works and couldn´t believe that he is the same person who also designed famous typefaces like the Maximilian or the Wilhelm-Klingspor type. So, yes – I´ve been afraid of him.
But I also believe that the study of gothic and blackletter is very important for every calligrapher and person in love with letters. So, I began with my own research on Rudolf Koch as a person, lettering artist and craftsman. Come with me on a journey during which you learn more about the character of Rudolf and his ideas and thoughts, have a closer look at his career and work and after all, let all this be an inspiration for your own thoughts, ideas and work. We will go step-by-step through his instructions on blackletter-forms, look at some of his typefaces and then analyse his expressive gothic writing. All the new things you discover will flow into your own work. This is meant to be a trip into your own contemporary approach to gothic and blackletter. requirements:
You might already have some experience with gothic and blackletter or you don´t really like these letterforms, but are curious about this workshop or maybe you think, you should at least have some knowledge about gothic letterforms. I´m more than happy to have you all in my class! materials:
water glass, tissue, tracing paper, gum sandarac powder, pencil 2H, eraser, Schmincke gouache (opaque white, jet black, lemon yellow, vermillion red, ultramarine deep blue, chromium oxide green)
two things to know: 1. it doesn´t have to be Schmincke, but good quality gouache, 2. we need these colours to follow Koch´s way of colouring, but then also bring your favourite inks and gouaches
Brause broad-edged nibs, automatic pens ( and then again also bring your favourite writing tools), sketch-pad, some higher quality sheets of paper, like BFK Rives, Arches or Hahnemühle (145g – 250g)