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  The Wolfsonian–FIU is a museum that explores the inventive and provocative character of the modern world. Through objects and design, we reveal how the past influences the present and shapes the future.

Gridnik: Wim Crouwel and Modern Typography

December 1, 2008–March 31, 2009
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

Gridnik: Wim Crouwel and Modern Typography honored the 80th birthday of contemporary Dutch designer Wim Crouwel by presenting his tremendous body of work through the lens of The Wolfsonian’s collection of European graphic design. An artist, designer, educator, and museum director, Crouwel was referred to affectionately as “Gridnik” in the 1960s for his dedication to the grid as a way to create visual order and structure. His designs embrace and reflect the impact of new technology, specifically the computer, on the construction of fonts and the production of graphic works. The juxtaposition of Crouwel’s work with The Wolfsonian’s collection created a dynamic interplay between the present and the past, offering fresh ways to experience the old and new.

The selected early twentieth-century works on display—all examples of The Wolfsonian’s graphic design holdings—reflected many of the design preoccupations later seen in Crouwel’s posters, catalogs, stamps, and calendars: the shift from an organic to a more geometric style, the implementation of the grid as a design foundation, and the use of technology (literally and figuratively).