Exhibition logotype for ‘Men of Letters’ – a joint retrospective celebrating the lives and work of two of the lettering world’s great unsung heroes, my father, Tony Forster and his former student and life-long friend, Phill Grimshaw. It was possibly the most extensive exhibition of hand lettering and calligraphy ever displayed in the UK.
Tony Forster was described by Tony DiSpigna as “The Herb Lubalin of England”, While TDC medal recipient, Colin Brignall, hailed Phill Grimshaw as “One of the best display typeface designers of recent times.”
Most of the work displayed had remained largely unseen, as it was not produced digitally. In fact most of the work had been filed away in plan chest drawers and storage boxes for many years. The exhibition revealed their sketches, mock-ups, final artworks, original calligraphy pieces, typeface designs and original posters. All produced by hand. It was over a decade in the making and was an extremely rare opportunity to see some of the incredible pre-computer methods used to create typographic and lettering works by two masters of their craft.
The exhibition was staged in collaboration with Anthony Roocroft, Penny Ogden-Grimshaw and The University of Bolton’s School of the Arts, which was originally the independent college where Tony taught and Phill was a student.
Further work by both artists are being shared on Instagram on the following links: