A memory of Kurt

Kurt Weidemann 1922–2011
A memory of Kurt
by Uwe Loesch
I
n view of our amicable bonds it is rather hard for me to write an obituary
for Kurt. All the more so, as since his sudden death in the Alsatian Sélestad
on 30 March 2011, countless extensive appraisals of his personality and his
life’s work have been published the following day. Kurt would perhaps say:
Obituaries are nowadays quicker than death.

Kurt Weidemann was a polemical man, a master of aphorisms and words,
which always have to be balanced. "Wo der Buchstabe das Wort führt.
Ansichten über Schrift und Typografie" ("Where the letter leads the word.
Views on typeface and typography") was the title of one of his best
publications. Above all he was a sought-after speaker at congresses and
symposia at which, even in advanced age, he knew excellently to awaken the
interest of inquisitive students. Kurt was not only worshipped and admired,
but he was celebrated worldwide by innumerous young fans.
Mission-conscious as he was, one day he penned the Ten Commandments for
the designer. If you re-read them today you get the impression that Kurt
somehow wrote his own obituary. In the first Commandment it says: "Love
your profession like yourself and in such a way, that if you are reborn, you don’t
want any other profession, even if it is only for the purpose of mending what
you did wrong or what you hadn’t finished. Exchange every day of your life for
something meaningful. It is irretrievable. The Today can’t be retrieved in the
Tomorrow. Future and hope are a sequence of Today. In work lies the chance to
find to yourself."
In fact Kurt had a busy life in survival. In 1922 he was born into poor
circumstances in East-Prussia, he grew up in Lübeck. As enthusiastic volunteer
he participated in World War II and only narrowly escaped death in 1941. Via
the shock he lost his voice and had to regain his speech laboriously. From 1945
to 1950 he survived the Russian captivity in a stone quarry at the lower Wolga.
In 2002 he published with critical distance the impressions about those years,
straight and unadulterated in the book "Kaum ich" (Hardly me).
W
ith scarcely 30 years he began his "second life" with an
apprenticeship as typesetter in Lübeck and then studied book
design and typography from 1953 until 1955 at The Stuttgart State
Academy of Art and Design. From 1955 onwards he worked as freelance graphic
designer, advertising consultant and copywriter. From 1955 – 1964 he worked
as sub-editor and type director for the magazine "Der Druckspiegel". Together
with Aaron Burns he set up the International Center for the Typographic Arts
(ICTA) in New York City at the beginning of the 1960s. And he was the
president of ICTA from 1966 to 1972. In the year 1965 he was appointed
professor for information and graphic design practice at The Stuttgart State
Academy of Art and Design. The professorship had been established specially
for him and he taught there for twenty years. In 1975 he was admitted to the
AGI. At the beginning of the 1980s he participated in the foundation of the
WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar and taught there
from 1983 onwards. From 1970 until 1972 he was president of Icograda.
Furthermore he directed the Stuttgarter Künstlerhaus for 7 years. Apart from
lecturing at the WHU he taught from 1991, at the age of nearly 70, at the
Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

Kurt never liked to set up a "big shop" for corporate communication. For many
years an exceedingly punctual and loyal employee equally called Kurt worked
for him. The small, however fine studio in Stuttgart received important jobs
from well-known companies. Kurt and Kurt designed or redesigned the
corporate design of co-op, Zeiss, Merck, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler-Benz,
Deutsche Aerospace, Porsche und Deutsche Bahn. Furthermore he designed
books for the Büchergilde Gutenberg as well as for the publishers Ullstein,
Propyläen, Ernst Klett und Thieme. The "Biblica", "Corporate ASE" and the "ITC
Weidemann" are some of his most famous typefaces.
Because of his versatile activities as designer and consultant, professor and
author he was awarded with many prizes and honorary memberships, such as:
in 1995 with the Lucky Strike Designer Award of the Raymond-Loewy-
Foundation and a year later with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of
Germany.
In the book "Kurt Weidemann. Biografische Gespräche mit Heike Schiller &
Arne Braun" (biographical talks) he discloses also his private family-life. Kurt
was married twice. After the tragic death of his second wife he became "singleparent"
of his three children. With the exploration of his very eventful
biography it struck me that he had a full life in spite of all strokes of fate, so
that it is easy for me to say goodbye to him with greatest respect. I think all
members of the AGI will remember him with fondness.
— Uwe Loesch, President of the German AGI members