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Hofmann proposed that you
should live with him and
his wife?
Yes, in Ticino, the Italian
part of Switzerland. At first
I said,“No, I am leaving: my
family is here and we are going
to travel.” But he made such
a big fuss that I talked to my
mother and family.We were
traveling and touring to the
north, to England, and instead
we went south, to Italy, and the
southern part of Switzerland.
We went down there with
my mother and family to
meet his wife, Dorothea
Hofmann—Dorothea is one of
my most favorite women on
the planet, by the way.Ticino
was so beautiful,not at all like
Basel, which I liked, and it was
during the summer, which
was a special warm and balmy
season. He said,“Why don’t you
try it for a while?” That was it.
I got a chance to study with the
master privately there, so I did!
How long did you stay with
the Hofmanns?
Such a short time, only about
three months.Then I got a
telegram in our little village,
Gadero, inviting me to teach
at the Philadelphia College of
Arts [now the University of the
Arts]. I thought this telegram
was a mistake and I ignored
it.Then I got another one.This
was very confusing, and in
this little village it was a big
thing. I asked Hofmann about
this and he said,“Oh yeah, I
recommended you to teach
there.” I replied, ”Oh no, I don’t
want to teach, I’m not ready
yet, I am still a student.” He
replied, “Well, you can’t stay
here any longer.” I replied,“But
I don’t want to teach.” And he
said,“Oh yes, you will.” And so
he pushed me “out of the nest,”
so to speak. I didn’t speak to
him for years as it was so
hard for me to accept this
responsibility, and I thought he
wasn’t interested in me and my
work, so took it as an offense.
And so, off I went and taught
typography in Philadelphia. It
was ridiculous, because I didn’t
know very much myself, but
that is what happened, and in
retrospect, to my great fortune.
Did you work closely
with Weingart?
Yes, like everybody did in our
class. I was so unhappy and ill in
Basel, wanting to get out of the
school as quickly as possible.
I also took a painting class
while there. Basically all the
classes I took were Hofmann’s
class and typography with
Weingart. That was it. It was
helpful that Weingart really
liked me, so he made special
arrangements for me to work
in the type shop. I was a bit of
a teacher’s pet. Although I was
not technically very proficient,
I learned how to hand set type,
use a proofing press, and the
rest of my studies were very
experimental. He really started
a typo-revolution. It was all
very Dada and Constructivist
for me. The Dadaists and the
Constructivists used words and
“said” something more than
just the name and date of an
event: they took a position, were
political. I may be wrong, most
likely, but Weingart was, I think,
picking up on that tradition,
creating “narrative” with type.
He seemed to understand the
special “complexion” of our
class, and made it very playful
and open-ended.
(27)
April Greiman