What are the origins of the exuberant swash letters that can be found on the windows of many of Amsterdam’s most traditional bars? Who painted them? Was it a collective creation, or the work of a lone gifted letter painter? How old is the style?
For almost a decade Ramiro Espinoza thoroughly researched this lettering style and documented every surviving example in Amsterdam, Maastricht and Ghent in an effort to answer these questions and raise awareness of the importance of this little known chapter of the Dutch graphical tradition.
For almost a decade Ramiro Espinoza thoroughly researched this lettering style and documented every surviving example in Amsterdam, Maastricht and Ghent in an effort to answer these questions and raise awareness of the importance of this little known chapter of the Dutch graphical tradition.
In beautiful black and white, photographer Rob Becker documented all existing windows in Amsterdam, Maastricht and Ghent in order to capture the ambience and context in which the curly script flourished. His photos are not only a report of the topic in general, but they also form a true artistic homage to the Amsterdam ‘brown’ cafés.
The book (English - Dutch) is available at:
