La Fronde
La Fronde is a research and creative group focused on feminist graphic and typographic archives. Based on the observation that feminist ephemera (particularly French) has been, and remains, insufficiently studied and disseminated. Taking into account the “turmoil” of our times (whether societal, ecological, economic, or humanitarian), the aim is to foster a culture of engagement, collective work, and attentiveness (through archives or by listening to one another). Nothing revolutionary, but deeply rebellious: it is about doing, being concrete, engaging in experimental creation—yet a creation that is shareable and legible to others.
Initiated by Marguerite Durand, *La Fronde*, a daily newspaper written, typeset, and administered exclusively by women, was published in 1897. A poster designed by one of France’s first female poster artists, Clémentine-Hélène Dufau, announced its launch by reproducing the typography of the headline. In this vein, the La Fronde research group works to collectively inform the public on a chosen theme through the medium of a newspaper and to rethink the tools and forms of graphic design.
First and foremost, the aim is to draw on history and engage with a body of feminist archives: gathering them, examining their forms, printing techniques, and above all the lettering, typographies, their composition, and layout. The aim is to explore the “rebellious” spirit of feminist written expressions and to harness this spirit to question the contemporary world.
La Houle
The first editorial project by ARC La Fronde is titled La Houle and addresses the topic of abortion. This year, ARC La Fronde is confronting materiality: while the journal founded by Marguerite Durand has become available to everyone as a digital resource, we have decided to dedicate this year’s theme to the question (or rather, questions) of domestic arts and housework.
Who uses print newspapers the most today? Housewives! “Newspaper. That’s a well-known grandma trick for effectively cleaning windows without leaving a streak. The idea is to use newspaper rolled into a ball instead of a rag. The advantage? This trick lets you make your windows shine at minimal cost and in a natural way! ” “Effective,” “inexpensive,” “natural,” or eco-friendly: so many imperatives and illusions that our digital age churns out… that it applies to housework, to design.
Group Activities
December 2024
Master class with Karine Bouchy (researcher on forms of writing) on “Parameters for describing handwritten inscriptions.”
November 2024
Visit to La Contemporaine in Nanterre, a documentation and research organization dedicated to the history of women and feminism.
International typography conference. Fonts and Faces #11 (Campus de la Fonderie de l’Image).
September 2024
Publication of the first issue of the journal La Houle. This inaugural issue is dedicated to abortion and the struggles to ensure access to it for all.
January 2024
Master class with Lucie Barette (historian of women’s magazines, 19th-century women writers and journalists, and Marguerite Durand) on the book *Corset de papier*, published by Éditions Divergentes.