IAKOV CHERNIKHOV GALLERY
"DESIGNING CLASSIC FONT"
In 1945 Chernikhov began a research project which was initially conceived as a manual for architects introducing the rules of type drawing. Interested by this subject, Chernikhov found a wealth of Russian writing and type graphics that he collected and systematized within some years.
From the letter of Iakov Chernikhov to Stanislav Zemtsov, dated 22/06/1950:
«My dear friend, I'm very much into modular design of a classic font now. First I only wanted to write a work on architectural types but when I found fantastic material in the works of classics of architecture and painting such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Piranesi, Alberti, Serlio, Dürer, Pacioli, Tori, Giorgione and many others, my work gradually evolved to embrace wider topic.
We don't have any research on the subject in Russian but we have a true wealth of Russian writing. I managed to find the materials on civil type from the times before Peter the Great's reform. The font set up by Peter the Great is one of the most valuable Russian creations. Russian baroque, Elizabethan font, Russian Empire style, etc. represent such rich and perfect material that it was about time to give it a proper mathematical explanation. To present day I succeeded in it by using Module-Part and Second».
From the letter of Iakov Chernikhov to Stanislav Zemtsov, dated 22/06/1950:
«My dear friend, I'm very much into modular design of a classic font now. First I only wanted to write a work on architectural types but when I found fantastic material in the works of classics of architecture and painting such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Piranesi, Alberti, Serlio, Dürer, Pacioli, Tori, Giorgione and many others, my work gradually evolved to embrace wider topic.
We don't have any research on the subject in Russian but we have a true wealth of Russian writing. I managed to find the materials on civil type from the times before Peter the Great's reform. The font set up by Peter the Great is one of the most valuable Russian creations. Russian baroque, Elizabethan font, Russian Empire style, etc. represent such rich and perfect material that it was about time to give it a proper mathematical explanation. To present day I succeeded in it by using Module-Part and Second».
Iakov Chernikhov's work outgrew its limits and was transferred in the domain of basics of font graphics. To construct fonts, Chernikhov used certain parts of the theory of architectural forms which has many things in common with font forms complying with the same rules. Being a brilliant graphic artist, Iakov Chernikhov realized a universal graphical analysis and laid the exact geometrical basis for font drawing. The system of module metrics developed by Chernikhov can be used, with slight modifications, for all types, even those which do not seem to have anything common in their typeface.
The author had been planning to finish his research work by 1951. He was able to prepare 171 table on "Analysis of module design of a classic font" (most of the work was drawn by his daughter from first marriage Vera Chernikhova). The work done was only a third of the planned set of research which had to comprehend all types of the world including the most exotic free face ones.
The book "Designing the fonts" (Moscow, 1958) with a foreword and commentary by N.A. Sobolev was published after Iakov Chernikhov's death and contained 22 tables reproducing the most important and interesting Russian and Latin types of different historical periods beginning from the XI century.
The author had been planning to finish his research work by 1951. He was able to prepare 171 table on "Analysis of module design of a classic font" (most of the work was drawn by his daughter from first marriage Vera Chernikhova). The work done was only a third of the planned set of research which had to comprehend all types of the world including the most exotic free face ones.
The book "Designing the fonts" (Moscow, 1958) with a foreword and commentary by N.A. Sobolev was published after Iakov Chernikhov's death and contained 22 tables reproducing the most important and interesting Russian and Latin types of different historical periods beginning from the XI century.
