Frakturs
The certificates are hand lettered and are a original design
using many of the typical “Pennsylvania German” symbols. The
design was hand-painted then printed onto 11 X 14 inch
antique-colored parchment paper. All certificates are
hand-letter using the German text style of lettering.
The frames are custom made using a deep barn red wood.
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Wedding Fraktur
Hand lettered certificate printed onto 11 x 14 inch
parchment paper. Available framed and unframed.
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Wedding Fraktur
#F001
$60 framed
Wedding Fraktur
#F002
$35 unframed
Click here to customize
Fraktur. Paypal checkout will follow. |
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Birth Fraktur
Hand lettered certificate printed onto 11 x 14 inch
parchment paper. Available framed and unframed.
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Birth Fraktur
#F003
$60 framed
Birth Fraktur
#F004
$35
unframed
Click here to customize
Fraktur. Paypal checkout will follow. |
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Sampler
Fraktur
Hand lettered certificate printed onto 11 x 14 inch
parchment paper. Available framed and unframed.
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Sampler
Fraktur
#F005
$50 framed |
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Bless This
House
Fraktur
Hand lettered certificate printed onto 8 x 10 inch
parchment paper. Available framed and unframed.
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Bless This House Fraktur
#F006
$40 framed |
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Fraktur History
Fraktur originated in the 16th and 17th Centuries in
German-speaking lands of Central Europe-Germany,
Switzerland, and Austria. Basically, it is a combination of
two elements: (1) calligraphy (text) which is either type
set or hand-lettered, plus (2) illumination or illustrations
of these texts. The subject had religious symbolism, as seen
in the hymn verses and scriptures used.
During the period of 1750-1850 when Fraktur was a
flourishing art form practiced among the Pennsylvania German
settlers. The country schoolmaster was one of the greatest
producers of fraktur. Not only did he produce Vorschrift-the
very word means “set model” of calligraphy to be “copied” by
the pupil-but he often became the person to design or fill
in the baptismal certificates in his community.
Fraktur flourished for almost a century because it was
needed in the culture that produced it. It was a visual,
moral, and religious symbol of the individual’s relation to
the institutions within the folk culture-the church, school,
and the family.
As an art form, Fraktur was dead by the Civil War period.
The revolution resulted in Pennsylvania “Dutchman” migrating
in their Conestoga wagons westward to Ohio, and southward to
Virginia and North Carolina. The local reasons for the
decline can be found in the 19th Century disintegration of
the folk culture of the Pennsylvania Germans, particularly
the disappearance of parochial schools which had produced
the Vorschrift, and the shift to use of the English
language. |
Folk Art
by Chris Wert
409 Governor Drive
Shillington, PA 19607
610 775-7571
chriswertfolkart@aol.com
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Reading Eagle Internet Services |
