Die Weisheit des Soldaten 1942

This book cover, "Die Weisheit des Soldaten" by Bruno Herbert Jahn, is like a quiet whisper from the past. The faded tan of the paper feels almost like skin. The red gothic script is bold, and the thin black drawing of a soldier's backpack in the center has something very poignant about it. The texture makes you want to reach out and touch it. It's smooth in some places, almost worn away, and rougher in others, like you can feel the fibres of the paper. The way the ink sits on the surface, sometimes bleeding a little, tells a story of its own. Look at how the corners of the cover are worn, the color is a little darker where people might have held it. The contrast between the bold gothic typeface and the delicate drawing of the backpack is striking, and I keep thinking about how art is all about embracing these kinds of contradictions. It reminds me a bit of some of Kurt Schwitters' collages. They were both making things in a fractured world, trying to find meaning and beauty in the everyday.