Die Weisheit des Soldaten 1942

So, Bruno Herbert Jahn made this cover of a book titled "The Wisdom of the Soldier" and look at how the red lettering sits on the brown paper, really letting you know the importance of these words. I wonder what Bruno was thinking as he carefully made his mark. Was he considering that an artwork is always also a document? An imprint of ourselves? The lettering feels both considered and playful and I feel how he carefully drew around the perimeter with a red frame to contain the meaning of the book within. I notice the bag illustrated in the lower part of the composition, a little bundle containing who knows what. Perhaps Jahn was pondering the tension between instruction and intuition when he made this work? I feel that he has created something very delicate and personal and that in turn opens a space for us to make our own meaning from it, even now.