The National Ballet of Canada – script wordmark, Al Elliott, c1963
Notes
Al Elliott was a master of the English Roundhand, a formal script that had reached its fully developed state in the 18th century. By the mid-20th century, a new generation of lettering artists – many working in New York – had transformed the style from a written script into a drawn one, often embellished with decorative swashes.
In April 1963, Elliott joined The Headliners, the photo-lettering division of Cooper & Beatty. Although the studio already had top-tier lettering artists on staff – including Alex Hobson – Elliott’s arrival was seen as a major addition. In the early 1970s, he left to freelance from his home studio, during which time he designed two scripts, Neo-Balladeer and Neo-Charade, for Headliners International.
Elliott was the lettering artist of choice for a number of Toronto’s leading designers, including Allan Fleming and Jim Donoahue. It is likely that this wordmark for The National Ballet of Canada was commissioned by Fleming. – Rod McDonald
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Artifact
Article Data
Category
Date
Title
Description
Hand-Lettered Wordmark
Flourished Roundhand script
Credits
Region
OntarioLanguage
English
Holding
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