‘The Graphic Works of Ben Shahn’ invitation – Cooper & Beatty, Allan Fleming, 1957

In September 1957 Allan Fleming was only 28 years old when he joined Cooper & Beatty, the leading typesetting company in Canada, as Type Director. This invitation for an exhibition of the graphic work of the renowned American artist Ben Shahn is one of the earliest pieces he did for C&B. Fleming had already developed a sophisticated typographic style and designers receiving this invitation would have quickly spotted that.

The Shahn exhibition opened on September 11 so Fleming did not have much time to produce this invitation. Although he could easily have typeset and printed the invitation himself it is much more likely that it was done internally by a C&B compositor. Fleming’s layouts were meticulous and anyone working from them would have had little trouble knowing what he wanted. The close fitting of the two colours required considerable skill, both in preparing the registration of the type forms and in printing. The interior of the invitation is a basic typeset listing of the artwork of Shahn that was being displayed.

As long as Fleming was Type Director, the C&B logo never appeared on any of the invitations for visiting artists and designers – the emphasis was always on the artist. Over the years C&B held exhibitions of the work of many of the world’s leading designers and every year they also brought in the exhibition of the annual Type Directors Club show from New York. C&B became a hub for the leading typographers, art directors and designers in Toronto.

Additional reading about Allan Fleming

• In 2008, the DA (The Devil’s Artisan) devoted two issues to the life and work of Allan Fleming. / Guest editor: Martha Fleming, (daughter). Editor: Don McLeod.
• DA, A Journal of the Printing Arts, Number 62, Spring/Summer 2008 / Allan Fleming’s Many Worlds Contributing editors: Brian Donnelly, Judy Donnelly, Margaret Locke, Randell Speller, Andrew Steeves. Contributors: Devin Crawley, Martha Fleming, Andrew Steeves, Robert Tombs.
• DA, A Journal of the Printing Arts, Number 63, Fall/Winter 2008 / In Allan Fleming’s Archives. Contributing editors: Brian Donnelly, Judy Donnelly, Margaret Locke, Randell Speller, Andrew Steeves. Contributors: Donna Braggins, Devin Crawley, Brian Donnelly, Martha Fleming, Carol Paine, Ken Rodmell.