The names sandblasted into the dark granite of the Vietnam War Memorial were set in Hermann Zapf’s Optima. The elegant, humanist font is tightly leaded in all upper case. It’s sublime, perfect.
The “black gash of shame” inspired bitter controversy when it was unveiled to the public. After so many years of quiet weeping and so many thousands of rubbings taken from the lettered granite, the dispute is forgotten to such a degree that it’s difficult to believe that there was ever a loud backlash against it.
We can all thank Maya Lin for defending her creation from Henry Hyde, James Watt and the many other philistines who would have turned the wall into just another war monument.
Posted by textwrapper
