Jan van Toorn

Jan van Toorn is one of the most significant and influential Dutch graphic designers to have emerged since the early 1960s. While graphic design often does little more than give unthinking visual form to the status quo, Van Toorn focused on meaning rather than smooth stylistic expression and developed critical alternatives to the usual design world conventions. Van Toorn aligned himself with the reflexive tradition of art and communication exemplified by Brecht and Godard. Projects such as Van Toorn's posters and catalogues for the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and his long-running series of calendars for the printing firm Mart.Spruijt are powerful demonstrations of graphic design used as a means of commentary and as a tool of critique. This extensively illustrated monograph charts the development and explores the ideas of a figure whose highly original and often controversial body of work poses a lasting challenge to anyone involved in visual communication.