Hendrik Werkman

Hendrik Werkman, born in Groningen, Holland in 1882, was a printer, typographer, painter and printmaker. He is best known for his asymmetric typographic compositions and for his experimentation with letterpress printing techniques. He also printed without the press, a technique he called ‘hot printing’. In Graphic Design: A Concise History, Richard Hollis wrote: “Werkman’s uninhibited graphic invention has been an inspiration to graphic designers anxious to introduce an obviously ‘creative’ effect.” Like Piet Zwart, Werkman used type as collage. From 1923–26 Werkman created and printed an experimental typographic magazine, The Next Call. During the German occupation of Holland in World War II he ran an underground press and produced 40 issues of a subversive broadsheet, The Blue Barge. In 1945 he was executed by the Nazis, only two days before the liberation of Holland. Much of his work was destroyed at this time.