Ismar David envisioned something special when he designed the David typeface in the early 1950s: a Hebrew family of type in three styles – upright, italic and sans serif – with each in three weights. David’s design was the antithesis of early twentieth century Hebrew typeface styles, which tended to be heavy and ornate. His work revived the essential components of ancient Hebrew letters and modernized them with subtle curves and clearly differentiated forms.
The David typeface was licensed to Intertype Corporation in 1954, to be made into matrices for its hot-metal line casting machines. The family as released, however, had just two styles, an upright and an italic, each offered in only two weights. Thirty years later, the upright style of David was licensed to the Stempel Foundry in Germany for use in its phototypesetter. Shortly after that, when Linotype purchased Stempel, it also acquired the David typefaces. Although Linotype has an active multilingual script development program, the David typefaces have not been made into digital fonts – until now.
The David Hadash™ (“New” David) typeface family, as originally intended by Ismar David, is now available from Monotype Imaging through an exclusive license with the designer’s estate. Helen Brandshaft, who had worked with Ismar David for many years, painstakingly restored the iconic family of type. She comments, “His work is unmistakable, lively, exciting to look at, endlessly varied and timeless.”
The typeface family released by Monotype Imaging offers the full complement of Ismar David’s designs. David Hadash is made up of three stylistic sub-families: David Hadash Formal, David Hadash Script, and David Hadash Sans. Each of these is available in the three weights of regular, medium, and bold. When asked about the design process for the revival, Brandshaft continued, “David Hadash Formal is based on large scale drawings Ismar David made in 1984, for phototypesetting. David Hadash Script is based on the original concept drawing, proofs, and extant full-size drawings of a handful of characters from the early 1950s. And David Hadash Sans is based on lsmar David’s concept drawing and also on his later rendering of a sans alphabet.”
Originally devised as a companion to the Formal style, David Hadash Script has a beauty and grace all its own, which allows it to be used as a stand-alone design. While forward leaning and lively, it does not match any existing cursive styles of Hebrew script. Ismar David created an eminently readable hybrid style by inclining the forms of David Hadash Formal while blending in some features of the Rashi style of lettering. David Hadash Script can be considered the first truly italic typeface for Hebrew script.
Although the proportions of David Hadash Sans are similar to those of the Formal style, its visual tone is strikingly different. David Hadash Formal looks as if it had been written with a broad-point pen, while the Sans, in contrast, gives the impression of being chiseled in stone. Rounded forms in the Formal turn angular in the Sans. The effect is an informal Hebrew style that is suitable for both ancient and contemporary sensibilities.
In addition, David Hadash Biblical is a version of the Formal style that supports all the complexities of Biblical Hebrew, complete with vocalization and cantillation marks.
References
Ismar David Electronic Archive
http://www.shunammite.com/idea/
Rochester Institute of Technology (Cary Library)
Exhibition:http://library.rit.edu/cary/exhibitions/ismar-david-%E2%80%93-blaise-pascal
Collection: http://library.rit.edu/cary/collections/work-ismar-david
Book: The Work of Ismar David
http://www.amazon.com/Work-Ismar-David-Helen-Brandshaft/dp/0975965123 http://carypress.rit.edu/publications/books/work-ismar-david.html
Comments on the designs of Ismar David
Typophile Forum: http://www.typophile.com/node/75930
Tipografia Ivrit: http://tipografiaivrit.blogspot.com/2010/02/ismar-david.html
Biography
http://rogallery.com/Da