Probably the best single-volume reference to the typographical avantgarde is Herbert Spencer's "Pioneers of Modern Typography", which has a lot of material on the Futurists, El Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Kurt Schwitters and his "solid poetry", and the like.

http://youworkforthem.com/product.php?sku=P0351

If you don't have one of the permutations of Lewis Blackwell's "20th Century Type", that's a pretty good overview of modernism in the West, but as it's a survey that covers an entire century, its coverage is short.

I think most of the really interesting stuff back then happened in Central and Eastern Europe anyway. I don't know how easy it is to find contemporary histories in Russian on that stuff (although given how heavily the Soviets coopted Futurist style, it might not be that tough), but I think you're in a great place.

Thank you very much!

While not about fonts Blast (reprinted by Black Sparrow press) was the journal of the Vorticists and features their typography. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0876855214/qid=1107959911/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_11_3/202-5409682-6082234
Tim

Jakob Erbar was, IMHO, one of the first type designers to express 20th century modernism, with his condensed sans (1922):

http://www.linotype.com/7-380-7/jakoberbar.html

His Koloss (1923) is quite modern, with a little bit of art deco, but not as much as Morris Benton's Broadway (1925).

http://www.linotype.com/188/broadway-family.html

All these types preceded the definitive modernist type, Futura, which was released in 1928 (although first proofed as early as 1926), Bernhard Gothic (1929), Nobel (1929), and Kabel (1928).

There are other ways of defining avant garde, rather than following this "modernism" thread.

In the first two decades of the 20th Century, Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts were two art movements which were precursors of Modernism, and which produced radical typefaces which were avant garde in the sense of challenging the status quo. However, their advances weren't followed into the mainstream, as were those of modernism.

>the influence of avantgaurde (expecially abstract) art on the acidental fonts

Not much: de Stijl artist Theo van Doesburg's "square" lettering (from c. 1912?) was not made into a typeface until the digital era. Square fonts were made in the 1930s (eg Agency Gothic), but there's no connection to Doesburg's work.

This one is quite good:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0929445090

Something like this.

Thanx for the lincs andanswers. Maybe you know some links where Ican find some handdrawn fonts, mabe some modernist posters or bookcovers.

wow, that's really beautiful!