Hupp was born in
Düsseldorf,
Kingdom of Prussia, the fourth of five sons of the engraver Carl Heinrich Hupp. His father made him learn engraving as his profession, and, shortly after finishing his education, he moved to
Munich in 1878. From 1891 till his death, Hupp lived in the suburb
Oberschleißheim. From the painter
Rudolf von Seitz he learned many styles of painting, and when he met the architect
Gabriel von Seidl he received several contracts to paint wall and ceiling
frescos. Hupp's main field of work was heraldry, painting more than 6,000 coats of arms and writing books on heraldry. His
Wappen und Siegel der deutschen Städte, Flecken und Dörfer (
Coats of Arms and Seals of German Cities, Places and Villages Besides painting existing coats of arms, he also created many designs for municipalities which were applying for new arms. Possibly his most important coat of arms was the 1923 version for the state of
Bavaria, which, however, was replaced with a new version after
World War II. The first typographic works of Hupp were made in 1883. His first typeface,
Neudeutsch, was published in 1899 by Genzsch & Heyse. He created several further typeface later, such as
Hupp-Gotisch,
Hupp-Fraktur, and
Hupp-Antiqua. However, as his typefaces were not designed for standard uses, they did not spread much, and are nowadays mostly forgotten. None of them were ever converted for use in
phototypesetting, though some have been made available as digital fonts. Other significant works of Hupp include metal works for
Speyer Cathedral in 1904 (which also gained him the title professor in 1906), the cover of an
astronomical clock donated to the city of Munich, beer steins, and the company logo of the
Spaten brewery. Though Hupp was undoubtedly an artist, he himself did not claim to be one, preferring to say that he was simply using the technique of an artist, but failing to have the creativity of one. ==The
Constance Missal==