MoMA Acquires 23 Digital Fonts into the Collection

On Monday, The Museum of Modern Art (my employer) announced the acquisition of 23 digital fonts into the museum’s collection. This sort of thing may raise a few eyebrows as the acquisition of the @ symbol did some months ago, but that discussion is far too exciting to cover in a blog post. Personally, I’m focusing on the fact that something as beautiful as Hoefler’s Didot or as innovative as Matthew Carter’s Bell Centennial is in the same collection as Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Vincent Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. I’d say this is welcome praise for some brilliant artists. Congratulations!

Here’s a few images of my favorites. Also below is a full list with links to great descriptions by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design. Note: I’ve seen Kate Carmody, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design and Sam Sherman, Designer, Department of Advertising and Graphic Design, working really hard on this project. Great work everyone.

• American Type Founders OCR-A (1966)
• Wim Crouwel New Alphabet (1967)
• Matthew Carter Bell Centennial (1976-78)
• Matthew Carter ITC Galliard (1978)
• Erik Spiekermann FF Meta (1984-1991)
• Zuzana Licko Oakland (1985)
• Jeffery Keedy Keedy Sans (1991)
• Erik van Blokland and Just van Rossum FF Beowolf (1990)
• Barry Deck Template Gothic (1990)
• P. Scott Makela Dead History (1990)
• Jonathan Hoefler HTF Didot (1991)
• Neville Brody FF Blur (1992)
• Jonathan Barnbrook Mason (1992)
• Matthew Carter Mantinia (1993)
• Tobias Frere-Jones Interstate (1993-95)
• Matthew Carter Big Caslon (1994)
• Albert-Jan Pool FF DIN (1995)
• Matthew Carter Walker (1995)
• Matthew Carter Verdana (1996)
• Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones Mercury (1996)
• Matthew Carter Miller (1997)
• Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones Retina (1999)
• Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones Gotham (2000)