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02.24.16

Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand | Audio

Magic on the Page

Michael and Jessica talk about the work of Matthias Buchinger (1674–1739), a specialist in micrography who was born without legs or arms. He was 29 inches tall and had 14 children with his four wives.

How did Buchinger manage to make his art? Seeing his works on paper in Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger’s Drawings from the Collection of Ricky Jay (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through April 11) is like “seeing him doing these tricks before your eyes,” Michael says:

The paper is the proof of it. It's one thing to hear these claims, and it's another thing to stand at the Met in front of one of these pieces and see it as he did them at the time.

Also mentioned:

John Quiggin, Doing more with less: the economic lesson of Peak Paper

Matthias Buchinger: The Greatest German Living by Ricky Jay

Beyonce, Formation

Alvin Eisenman bio

Umberto Eco: How to Travel with a Salmon; The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana; From Internet to Gutenberg; “We Like Lists Because We Don't Want to Die”

Thanks to Mohawk Fine Papers for sponsoring this episode. Join the 70th Anniversary celebration of Mohawk Superfine by sharing details about your favorite Superfine projects using the hashtag #dearSuperfine on Twitter or Instagram.

Machine Room Cohoes, Mohawk Mills Inc, August 17, 1954

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More from Michael Bierut + Jessica Helfand

Episode 127: Fear and Longing
Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters; Hrishi Hirway and Mike Errico; The Quiz Broadcast; Shakespeare and Co. Project

Episode 126: Screens and Dreams
Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration; Unorthodox; My Brilliant Friend; The Affair; Anil Dash on the dangers of social media; Anna Wiener on Silicon Valley; quarantine dreams

Episode 125: Zoom Aesthetics
Zoom aesthetics and COVID-19; Kyle Chayka on minimalism; Deborah Berke on shared spaces; Jessica Salfia’s poem “The First Lines of Emails I’ve Received While Quarantining”; Megan O’Grady on artistic recluses

Episode 124: That Thing You Do
Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David

Episode 123: Closing Doors, Opening Doors
Looking at COVID=19: Flattening the curve, Washington Post designers Harry Stevens on visualizing social distancing, Alissa Walker on how dots are people, Stephen Sondheim at 90

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