Art Deco

Art deco grasps its inspiration from other art period such as art nouveau and the art and crafts movement. Art deco focuses on all aspect of design including jewelry, architecture, furniture, fashion, magazines, books and posters. All of which share the basic style of Art deco. This movement was developed in between the two world wars and incorporates geometric and linear forms. Much like pictorial modernism, art deco involves this concept of simplified forms and the idea that less is more. The artist involved during this time like the French designer Cassandre would distort reality while using space to create an effective simplified composition. The art deco style is also know to represent what was happening during the time period. Depictions of women smoking and war posters are seen because this is what was going on during the time. Typography is a huge part of Art deco as the sans serif font slowly became the font of modernism, art deco designers would create interesting arrangements of type creating a unique composition. Jan Tschichold manipulated weight and placement of type to add to his image. The best way to go about simply defining Art deco is to say it is a form of art that includes a simplistic view on reality. For example in art deco, instead of drawing a human eye designers would replace it with a simple dot. Art deco is modernism and involves the idea of new form, and materials being used.

My only question is why Art Deco stopped being the popular form of art…what events led designers to step away from this form of art?

Pictorial Modernism

Pictorial modernism is very much focused on the advertisement side of design. This art form was discovered and used throughout the early decades of the 20^th century. One of the first groups that began this form of pictorial modernism was the Beggarstaff advertising company founded by James Pryde and William Nicholson. This style of advertising is best described as being simple forms. Plakastil was the first movement of pictorial modernism and is considered to be what started the new art form. The flat colors and simple design is what pictorial modernism was all about. Bernhard was the German designer made famous for his priester advertisement that simply used two matches underneath the bold face type. In Switzerland there was another form called sachplakate which borrowed some ideas from plakastil but also developed its own style know as Basel realism. This form of realism was a new way of advertising that involved a intense style of realism made from lithographic prints. War posters had a lot to do with this era because it fell in between the two world wars. One of the most famous propaganda poster designers was Ludwig Hohlwein. He was Hitlers personal designer, and truly capture the essence of this art form by using this concept of less is more to create simplified compositions.

How come in pictorial modernism we don’t see these geometric shapes that were involved in the influences of modernism such as cubism and futurism…etc.?

Influences of Modern Art

Modern art can be described as just that…modern. It was a style of art that pushed itself away from traditional forms and motifs. In general Modern art can be looked at through the numerous styles that were discovered during the period. These new techniques and styles evolved from the radical social, political, and cultural change that occurred during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and Expressionism all are new styles that are discovered and make up this period of art. Cubism steps away from traditional art and pushed for more geometric planes to be used. Pablo Picasso is known as the founder of this style. Picasso had a huge fascination with objects from African tribal art because of this use of geometric forms. Cubism can also be described as being a depiction of an object that is drawn simultaneously from all angles, creating the unique distortion of reality that gave cubism it’s fame. Futurism was meant to capture the mood of speed and noise. The influence for this style came from war, the age of machines, speed, and anything involving modern life. Artist that pursued this style would use typography to help capture emotion, for example they would use italics to emphasize speed and bold face type to symbolize power and violence. Dadaism is another one of these modern art forms that broke through during the early 20^th century. It was a reaction towards what happened in WWI and sought complete freedom from traditional art or any guidelines. Mainly used to protest war, Dadaist would often use collages and photomontages to portray the artist’s ideals. Also Dadaism brought this concept of using type as characters, creatively using letters to tell a visual story. Surrealism developed around the unconscious mind, and dreams. Anything that goes against realism can be seen as surrealism. The last important style to emerge out of this time period is expressionism. Expressionism is meant to capture emotion. This was done by using contrasting colors and using loose, expressive lines to create an image/feeling. Overall this period of art pushed for artist’s to be more creative and to think outside the box.

My one question about this period is whether or not these artists ever got immediate attention, or if the modern art was seen as garbage during the early stages?

After Class-Genesis of the 20th century

After listening to the presentation on the beginning of the 20th century, I was able to comprehend the type of style that acts as a backbone for the movement and every design to come out of the genesis of the 20th century. This period in art is recognized by its unique combination of geometric organization and flowing organic lines. 

One of the main influences of the time was Frank Lloyd Wright. He was an architect/ graphic designer that brought the idea of organic organized form, where negative space was truly utilized in every composition. When Wright would design a building he would design both exterior and interior so that both would flow together. He often looked at parts of a whole and how they all work together to make a finished product. Next came "the Four" from Glasgow school of art. These four Scottish students were influenced Lloyds ideas and they continued to push the style. Their work would often involve strong vertical lines that were combined with delicate organic lines that flowed off. Not everyone was fond of this new style, in fact the Vienna secession was due to the fact that art students from the Kunstlerhaus resigned because of how disgusted they were with these new abstracted ideas. From this secession came Ver Sacrum, which was a magazine that incorporated all new forms of art. It was a forum for new techniques and styles to be shared internationally amongst designers.

After Class-Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is considered the first international movement of design. It began in France and means new art, and that is exactly why this movement began, because the French believed it was about time for art to transform. This movement involves the collision of many different types of styles, it is a very imaginative type of design as well as very organic. This decorative styling and the push to transform art led to art being made a part of everyday life rather than art being seclusive. Overall this movement is what created the push away from victorian design into modern design. New materials were being used during this period like lithograph print making, which is done by using stone a grease to etch an image that becomes a template for a print that can be reused. Toulouse-Lautrec was a french designer that made posters using the Lithograph print making process. He was inspired by both the asian woodblock prints and impressionism. Outside of france the movement began to grow but each country would create their own version of what Art Nouveau is, yet they all contain some common aspects of design. For example English style art nouveau involved powerful black shapes and abstracted pen lines that utilized negative space. In Belgium and the Netherlands, Henry Van de Velde strayed from painting and began to design furniture and buildings which helped make this period of art truly seen in everyday life. Art nouveau brought back this idea of an artistic license that allowed artists to expand on their creativity, giving birth to new ideas.

Before Class-Chapter 12

Chapter 12 is all about the genesis of the twentieth century. At the turn of the century artist and writers alike began to go against traditional ideas in search of new techniques and new design ideas. Much like art nouveau, the genesis of the 20th century goes against classical motifs and pushes the boundaries of design. One of the more influential artists of the time was Frank Lloyd Wright and his new take on architecture. He pushed away from the organic, curvilinear style of Art Nouveau and  focused his attention on rectilinear design patterns with an emphasis on spatial organization. This type of style influenced a group of people known as "the four" that came out of the Glasgow school of art. These Scottish artist were named Charles Rennie Mackintosh, J. Herbert McNair, and two sisters Magaret and Frances Macdonald. These four designers continued to use geometric shapes in a unique combination with floral patterns that organized the compositions in a unique manner were negative space became one of the main focuses of the design process. The same type of geometric organization and flowing organic designs that "the four" embraced influences most of the designers in the early 20th century. For example an art director by the name of  Talwin Morris made contact with "the four" taking the style of their work and pushing it further into the world of mass communication, thus making the style even more prevalently seen during the time period. 

Most of the artist after this time continued to play around with the unity of geometric organization, and organic lines until a German designer named Peter Behrens played a unique however large role in creating a type of style for the 20th century. Behrens was also known as "the first industrial designer" due to his designs for street lamps and teapots. One of his main objectives as an artist was to reform typography with a huge emphasis on using sans-serif as a way to accomplish clean organization of his layouts. Behrens is known as being the first person to use sans-serif type in a book as running text. This led to sans-serifs being used throughout most of the 20th century. The type allowed for designers to achieve great contrast by using only one type family by changing the weight of the type itself. During this time Behrens becomes involved with other German designers and is involved with this group called Deustche Werkbund, which means German Association of Craftsmen. This association brought the ideas of technology and art together. By doing so the design world which just recently moved away from mechanical design to handcrafted products, reverted to machines once again. However unlike the industrial revolution the artists that used machines in the 20th century, artists like Behrens, combined the quality of handmade crafts with the precision of mechanical devices.

The most interesting aspect of this time period is that it took until the 20th century to utilize the sans-serif type.

I am curious as to what machines were being used to create some of the prints made by Behren and his fellow German designers?

Before Class- Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is a period in design that brought a new light to graphic design as a whole. Its popularity was profound throughout the late 19th century. The period was mainly created due to the mass trade that was occurring between Europe and Asian cultures such as Japan. This trade between Europe and Japan led to a European fascination with oriental art, and , more specifically an interest in a traditional Japanese art form called ukiyo-e. Japonisme is a term that is used to describe this sudden infatuation with oriental art in the Western culture.

This influence led to the creation of the Art Nouveau period that started in France. The term art nouveau came from the name of a art gallery in Paris calle Salon de I'Art Nouveau. The style of art nouveau is highly decorative and incredibly bold in color and imagery. This is considered a transitional period in art that aided in starting the modern movement. The designs of this period puched away from old ideas but still utilized techniques from the past, not only in graphic design but in all factions of art including architecture and fashion. Art Nouveau, stemming from an oriental influence, borrowed this fascination with nature. Because of this almost all forms of art nouveau contain a very organic and natural feel.

In Paris there was two graphic artists that helped push the transition from Victorian design. There names were Jules Cheret and Eugene Grasset. One of the main reasons why this art form flourished in Paris is because the french government lifted the restrictions on what could be printed, so no longer were there any rules or guidelines to prevent an artists creativity. Cheret broke away from using typographic letter presses and began to use lithographic printmaking method. This method gave the finished product stunning coloration, but it was Cheret's compositions that really pushed away from Victorian design. He got rid of the intricate details used by Victorian artist and simplified his work while enlarging the scale of his images.