Ancient & Modern

201 Whitecross Street
London EC1Y 8QP
020 7253 4550
mail@ancientandmodern.org
www.ancientandmodern.org
Wed-Sat 12-6 or by appt
Tube Old Street, Barbican

Ancient and Modern is a gallery situated on Whitecross Street. Its location is rich in history - it was the site of one of London's oldest street markets; it is close to where the remains of William Blake are; and at the South end was the site of William Caslon’s typefoundry which opened in 1737. We used Caslon to form the gallery’s logotype. Caslon was also one of the first fonts used by the Church for its publication ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’. We wanted to create an identity that references history but that also has a modern feel, so we balanced Caslon with a more contemporary monospace font.
We thought it was important that the design has character, and elegance, but is not over-powering, allowing the artist's work to communicate firstly, but we did want it to echo the historically aware, research-based curatorial approach of the gallery.Some people have interpreted the gallery title literally and thought we might be showing antiquities along with contemporary works, but we just liked the name. We are more interested in the idea of English Modernism in the 1920s, ’30s and '60s when there were possibilities to think creatively on a grander scale.’