Cover Page for the Periodical Népművelés (Public Education)

The tree, as the symbol of life, was a popular motif of the organic Art Nouveau style. It appears on the most vafied works of art, including coverpages. The coverpage of the periodical Népművelés shows an ornamental composition of scrolls, sérrates, broken and bent lines arranged in a tree-like motif that springs from a buckle decorated with simple zig-zag lines and hearts. A point of interest of this cover page is that the peculiar style of the ornamentation, which floats between a linear quality and geometric angularity, is also used for the lettering. Through this, the printing master and teacher of graphic arts Ferenc Helbing attempted to create a harmony between the decoration and the text.