After class, art deco

Art Deco was a movement in the early 20th century, after WWI but before WWII. It has many names but its name mainly derives from the Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Indutriels Modernes. It's very into Egyptian, Oriental, Aztec and Assyrian motifs. Went through art Deco, saw some extra examples with a modern twist such as a Dark Knight poster in art Deco style. We talked a little about possible cover ideas but only slightly. I turned in an idea for a thesis since my draft was completely wrong. It's a possibility for a paper but it's hard.

The most interesting thing I learned from the day is that Broadway is the best font to represent the era.

Why did carlu use serifs for his poster type?

Art Deco

Art deco was supposed to be the buildings of the future with very dynamic, sleek, colorful geometric patterns. It started in the 1920s-1930s and a lot of these images are associated with Jazz music.
"The Dawn of Deco: History of Art Deco Architecture". About.com: Architecture. http://architecture.about.com/od/artdeco/ss/artdeco.htm March 30, 2010.

Art Deco is a often known for its furniture, jewellry and architecture more than its pictures, it seems. People wanted something modern and functional to fit the time and Art Deco became that. They used non-traditional materials like marble, steel and expensive wood. Furniture was made out of expensive woods for the rich people but there was also metal furniture for the middle class people.
"Art Deco - The Modern Style". All Info About Art and Antiques.
http://artantiques.allinfo-about.com/weekly/features/artdeco.html March 30, 2010

Instead of Art Deco, the term Modernistic or 1925 style was used. Famous Art Deco artists consist of, but are not limited to, Tamara de Lempicka, Adolphe Mouron (Cassandre),
"Art Deco". Museum Quality.
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/artdeco.htm March 20, 2010

After Class, 15

We went over Suprematism, Constructivism by Laura, and De Stijl by Joslyn. We reviewed some questions from past blogs. Russian Suprematism was started soon after the overthrow of the Russian Czar. Constructivism was similar but more structured. De Stijl was from the Netherlands and Theo Van Doesburg was the head of the movement.

Question: These are very interesting movements but why is it rare to see these techniques anymore except in an art museum?

Before Class, Chapter 15

Supremastism and constructivism started in Russia after WWI around 1920. Russia had just executed their Czar Nicholas II and his family and civil war and the Red Army was taking over. Kasimir Malevich started suprematism. He'd worked with cubism and futurism and he created an elemental geometry of abstraction that was new and nonobjective. He sought the supreme expression of feeling, with no practical values or ideas or promised land. He believed the core of the art experience is through the color and form. The movement was moved forward with the revolution, and art as a whole was given a new social role.

An early attempt for the constrivists was with Aleksei Gan with his 1922 broschure, however the real idea was examplified by El Lissitzky.  He was a painter, architect, graphic designer and photographer who profoundly influenced the course of grpahic design. He was a major influence on PROUNS (projects for the extablishment affirmation of new art), which introduced three dimensional illusions that receded behind the picture plane and projected from the picture plane. In 1921 he went to Berlin and the Netherlands and found De Stijl, Bauhaus and Dadists and other constructivists.

De Stijl was started in the Netherlands in 1917. Theo Van Doesburg was the founder and joined by other artists. They worked with abstract geometrics and sought equilibrium and harmony in art. Many of these works had reduced visual  vocabulary, primary and neutral colors, straight horizontal and vertical lines, flat planes, and a lot of rectangles and squares. They believed beauty and purity in art.  Van Doesburg used De Stijl techniques in architecture, sculpture and typography. Van Doesburg saw Dada as De Stijl's opposite. While Dada would tear down the old order, De Stijl rebuilt it but in a new form.

After Class, chapter 14

I was the presenter that day. We went over the cubism, futurism, dada, expressionism, and photo exposure manipulation as a review. We also had a mini-quiz on the chapter. It was a good thing I had my notes for the presentation. I tried not to talk too fast and made sure the slides were on a little bit for people to write things down.

Question: In 14-4 of the book on page 270, why does the girl look so scary with her mysterious hat of flowers?

After class, chapter 13

Jen was the presenter today, but we didn't print the chops and cylinders like we were told, it was forgotten. Instead there were chocolate kisses. We went over Futurism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism and photography with exposure experimentation. Surrealism is my favorite because of the fantastical illusions but Dada seems the most interesting in terms of contrast and excitement. Cubism and Futurism are my least favorites because they're the ones i've seen the most of.

The most interesting thing I saw was about the urinal that was put in as a Dadaist sculpture and won.

Question: Why does most expressionist images I've seen have a sad or nostalgic feeling to them?

Before Class, Chapter 13

Between 1900-1920, a lot of social, political, cultural and economic change was occuring. Cubism is one of the most common modern art movements that came up with Pablo Picasso being a renowned cubist. He used ancient Iberian and African tribal art for inspiration to the human forms he drew. In cubism, figures are drawn through geometrics and the classical human bodies are broken up. Sometimes the subjects are seen in more than one view while in the same picture. By 1913, Cubism evolved into "synthetic cubism" which meant the figures weren't really meant to be figures just signs. Juan Gris was a famous artist of this technique. His influence helped the development of geometric art. It's said his art was the half-way point between art based on perception and art realized by the relationship of geometric planes. Cubism changed the course of painting and graphic design. It became a catalyst for experiments that pushed art toward geometric abstraction.

Futurism was started by Flippo Marinetti when his "Manifesto of Futrism" was released on February 20, 1909 in Le Figaro.His piece shocked the public with its enthusiastic talk of war, the machine age, speed, and modern life and started a revolutionary movement. In 1913, Giovanni Papini published Lacerba and Marinetti's typographic revolution piece in Italy and brought typography into the movement. Free, dynamic, and piercing words were given the velocity of stars, clouds, airplaines, etc. Noise and Speed was expressed in the futurist poetry. The idea behind all this was that writing and/or typography could become a concrete and expressive visual form that had been a sporadic preoccupation of poets. Some popular names in this style are Lewis Carroll, Stephane Mallarme, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Futurist painters were influenced by the Cubist painters, but they tried to express more emotion and energy in their work. A famous architecture in this style was Antonio Sant'Elia who constructed based on technology and science and designed based on the unique demands of modern life. Futurism was a major influence in other art movements for its violent, revolutionary techniques.

Dada was considered the most ani-art movement. It was a reaction to the bloodshed of WWI and had a strong negative and destructive element. It's said the artists and writers were concerned with shock, protest and nonsense. The movement was sponteanous and started by Tristan Tzara who edited the periodical "DADA" in 1917. Dada is supposedly given its name from randomly opening a German-French dictionary and picking the word dada which means a child's hobbyhorse. Marcel Duchamp join in the movement and became the most prominent visual artist. Cubism and Futurism were his inspirations which expressed freedom and extreme emotion. Dada was supposed to be a mockery of art, but a few pieces became profound graphic design pieces. In Germany, Kurt Schwitters created a branch of Dada called "Merz" from the term "kommerz (commerce)". Merz was mostly collages in the beginning but Schwitters included poetry, along with constructivist elements. Spontaneous chance allowed Dadists to strip typography design from the usual elements and continued the cubists concept of letterforms.

Surrealism is like a drug trip. Things that appear real have a fictional feel about them. Artsits said it was "more real than the real world behind the real" which feels like surreal statement in of itself. The world of intuition, dreams and the unconcious real was explored by Freud and shown in the art. Surrealism wasn't a cry against war, nor an anti-art. It was a way of thinking, knowing, feeling, and doing life. It could free people from the social and moral conventions. Surrealism gave an example of liberation of the human spirit, pioneered new techniques and showed fantasy and intuition expressed in visual terms.

Expressionism was a depiction of subjective emotions and personal responses, organized in Germany after WWI. Shapes and colors were exaggerated or distroted and symbolic content was important. Lines and colors were intensified. Germans expressionists created 2 groups, Die Brucke (the bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (the blue rider). Die Brucke wad figurative paitnings and woodblock prints that were a statement of alienation, anxiety and despair. Ber Blaue was about having an object that had perceptual properties that could convey feelings but didn't have a subject matter in them. Both groups consciously looked for new ways to expres in art. Eventually the movement moved into theatre, film, and literature. Expressionism influenced graphic illustration, poster art and had an emphasis on social and political activism. Popular themes were children, unschooled artists, non-european cultures and tribal arts.

Photography was also influenced from the new movements. Francis Bruguiere explored multiple exposures, opening the way for potential light recorded on film to use for poetic expression. His photos played with light and shadow. Alvin Coburn did a lot of kaleidoscope paters which he called vortographs. Man Ray was another photographer who started with Dadaism and surrealism, but moved into photography and used the darkroom manipulation. he was hte first to explore the potential for solarization.

After Class Chapter 12-2

We reviewed Thursday's presentation by Amanda Heintz, and went over Prank Pick and the Undergroundin London today. We saw Amanda's resume, cover letter and thank you notes. It was a very short class, only a half hour. We ended with handing in 4 pages of our graphic notes.

The most interesting thing I learned was that Pick was the main influence in the Germans moving away from blackletter type after many decades of using it.

After Class, chapter 12-1

We started out with a mini quiz on what we already read from the the Genesis of the 20th Century and reviewed the past several eras. We learned about Frank Lloyd Wright and the beginning of the 20th Century art. We learned about Glasgow school and the Austrian Sezessionstill movement.

I think the most interesting thing I learned was that Frank Lloyd Wright designed wallpaper. I understood he did more than just architecture but I never thought wallpaper would be his thing.

Before class, Chapter 12

Frank Lloyd Wright is a huge name for architecture. He believed space was the essence of design and took his the Japanese architecture and design for his buildings. He believed they were a model for harmonious proportion and visual poetry. He also created furniture, graphics, fabrics, wallpapers, and stained-glass windows. Headmaster Newbery, Charles Mackintosh, J. McNair and Frances Macdonald became known as "The Four" and but also known as the Glasgow School. They developed a unique style of originality and symbolic complexity. Designs of the Four are identified by symbolic imagery and stylized form.

On April 3, 1987 the Vienna Secession occured. At first it was about the refusal to allow foreign artists to participate in Kunstlerhaus exhibitions but eventually the clash of traditions vs. new ideas became the main issue. Benchmark posters for the secession showed the evolution of the French-inspired floral style to the new Glasgow School inspirted work. At first Vienna was the center for creative innovation. Gustav Klimt was a huge figure during this time, and referred to Greek mythology with Athena vs. the Minotaur. Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring) was published between 1898-1903  and was a new style. It was a smaller, square formant and had hard vigorous lines with hand lettering and printed in color on a colored background.

The German architect and designer Peter Bhrens became major. He sought typographic reform and used a grid system for his layouts. He tried to start the sans-serif typography. In 1904 a huge change in his work occured after Mathieu Lauweriks joined the Dusseldorf faculty, which he was a part of. He had very geometric patters with circles in squares and such.

In 1890 the world's first underground electric railway system opened in London. Frank Pick was a huge figure by this time.

After Class Chapter 11

Art Nouveau was presented as starting very french but spreading through the rest of the European Countries very quickly. A great way to think of Art Nouveau is the Moulin Rouge poster since Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec designed the first Moulin Rouge poster and made an appearance in the movie. The Germans had Jugendstill while the Art Nouveau travelled all over, including America.

The most interesting thing I learned that one can be famous like Alphonse Mucha for just the Sarah Bernhardt picture from mere luck

Before Class, Chapter 11

Ukiyo-e came from Japan and was a huge influence on the Art Nouveau style. The term Ukiyo-e means "pictures of the floating world" and defines Japan's Tokugawa period. Ukiyo-e combined emaki and decorative arts and used a lot of woodblock prints. Hishikawa Moronobu was considered the first master of the ukiyo-e prints. Other great artists include Okumura Masanobu, Suzuki Harunobu and Kitagawa Utamaro but the most renowned artist is Katsushika Hokusai who made 35,000 works in 70 years. Hokusai started his career making "yellow backs", cheap yellowish looking novelettes, and soon started illustrating for major novelists. Since he was 20, he illustrated over 270 books, including several of his art such as Hokusai Gashiki and Hokusai Soga.

Ando Hiroshige was the last master of the japanese woodcut of the time. He inspired the European impressionists with his spatial composition and transient moments of the landscape. In the late 19th century western mania called for a Japonisme movement. It wanted everything Japanese to stream itno Europe including books on the Japanese art and ornaments.

Art Nouveau was an international style during 1890-1910. This style included all aspects of design from architecture, furniture, fashion and graphics. Art Nouveau is a term from a gallery in Paris meaning "new art". Nikolaus Pevsner's Pioneers of Modern Design was one of the first to really show off the art nouveau style. Art Nouveau was a transitional style from the historic styles that dominated design. The symbolic subject matters became birth, life, grown, death and decay. These complex ideas allowed contradiction in interpretations. Some say it's an expression of the decade while others say it's a reaction against retroagression and materialism of the era. Graphic designers and illustraters tried to make art a part of every day life and was able to make a much higher quality of visual communication.

Jules Cheret and Eugene Grasset played huge roles in the transition between Victorian to Art nouveau styles. Jules Cheret used the Arts and Crafts movement to start a new respect for the applied arts. Cheret is supposedly the father of the modern poster. Around 1870s, Cheret moved from the victorian style and started simplifying his designs and increased the major figures and letters. In 1890, Cheret was named to the Legion of Honor by the French government for making a new branch of art which the needs of commerce and industry needed. After he retired to Nice, the Jules Cheret Museum opened to preserve his work. The first to rival Cheret was Grasset. He studied medieval art and loved exotic oriental art. A noteworth achievement was the Histoire des quatre fils Aymon (Tales of the Four Sons of Aymon) in 1883 which was designed and illustrated by Grasset. The design is important for its total integration of illustraions, format, and typography. He ultimately made wallpaper, fabric designs, stained glass windows, typefaces and printer's ornaments.

English Art Nouveau was mostly concerned with greaphic design and illustration vs. architecture and products. Aubrey Beardsley was called the "enfant terrible" of art nouveau. He was famous for only 5 years since he got famous at 20 and died at 26 of tuberculosis. A lot of his work copied William Morris's work which pissed Morris off a lot and thought of legal action. Everyone else though was encouraging of Beardsley and was even named editor of The Yellow Book, which was a London magazine-- not a book.  Beardsley later rival was Charles Ricketts, who was first a wood block engraver, who then became a designer for several pritning firms.

Other great designers include Georges Auriol, Tenri de Toulouse Lautrec and Theophile- Alexandre Steinlen, all of whom met Jules Cheret in person from a nighclub for artists and writers. Lautrec was the creator of the famous Moulin Rouge poster. Alphonse Mucha was originally from Czech but went to Paris at 27 with a great drawing tallent. He is famous for the Sarah Bernhardt poster and only got the job through luck for being at work on Christmas Eve.

During these this artistic era British and French influences came to America. Louis Rhead studied in England and Paris, moved to America, went back to Europe, studied Grasset's style and came back to America. Wiliam Bradley was a self-taught artist and was inspired by a lot of magazines, library books and artists like William Morris. Ethel Reed was the first American woman to achieve national recoginition as a graphic designer and illustrator. She started as a well known book ilustrator and poster designer at 18.

Belgium started their transtion around the 1880s, with the Cercle des XX (Group of Twenty) put on a show which included paitnings byGauguin and Van Gogh.Van de Velde was an architect, painter, designer and educator was able to combine Japanese Print, French Art Nouveau, English Arts and Crafts and Glasgow School. Even though he was prominent in the art nouveau style he wanted to continue to push forward the arts and crafts philosophy.

When Art Nouveau came to Germany it was called Jugendstill, youth style after a new magazine called Jugend (Youth) published in 1896. In its first year, Jugend gained 200,000 readers per weak and was covered in art nouveau ornaments and illustration. Otto Eckmann and Peter Behrens became widely known for large multicolor woodblock prints inspired by the French art nouveau and the Japanese prints. The Klingspor Foundry was the first German typefoundry to allow new fonts from artsits and in 1900 released Eckmann's Eckmannschrift.

After Class, Chapter 10

The Arts and Crafts age was presented by Heather and interesting enough, a lot of information, touched a bit on a character outside the book, Owen, but overall interesting. We also went through the last group, our group, of the timelines and we won due to all the pics in the right order and knowing stuff from the pics. It was great, I got a cookie (Oreo)

Question of the day: What would the people of the Arts and Crafts movement say about our modern day arts and crafts?

Before Class, Chapter 10

William Pickering (1796-1854) played a huge role in distinguishing between Graphic Design and Printing Production. He started as an apprentice, then a book seller, then a publisher. He made woodblock ornaments, initials, and illustrations and controlled format design, type selection, illustrations and more.Pickering watched over his printers carefully and established a good relationship with Charles Whittingham of Chiswick Press, who produced Pickering's books of prose and poetry. With Whittingham, Pickering revived Caslon type. Pickering's edition of Oliver Bryne's "The Element of Euclid" is a landmark book design. The images are printed with bright primary colors with woodblocks and the book's approach the learning was more permanent. The supposed leader of the English Arts and Crafts movement was William Morris. It was called the Arts and Crafts movement due to the nature of materials and methods of production and individual expression by both designer and worker. The philosophy of this movement was inspired by John Ruskin (1819-1900).

William Morris is also a key person, and in 1853 he went to Exeter College, in Oxford, where he met Edward Burne-Jones. Arthur H. Mackmurdo was inspired by Morris and after a trip to Italy, started the Century Guild in 1882. The Century Guild included Selwyn Image, illustrator, and Herbert R. Horne, writer, both of whom were also designers. The goal of the guild was to "render all branches of art the spehere, no longer of the tradesman, but of the artist." The group evolved a new design aesthetic by incoporating REnaissance and Japanese design ideas into their work. Their designs provided one of the links between the Arts and Crafts movement and the floral stylization of art nouveau.Thanks to the guild the Century Guild Hobby Horse began publication in 1884 as the first finely printed magazine devoted to just the visual arts. (Reminds me of today's modern "Layers" magazine) The Hobby Horse was made under Sir Emery Walker who was a master printer and typographer at Chiswick Press.

After Class Chapter 9

So even though I was absent on Friday I was still able to keep up. We reviewed chapter 9 and saw the different early cameras, they were pretty cool. I took studious notes on the Victorian Era student presentation example. Afterwards we got into groups to to order the pictures given. My group had script. We only had one question about the order of something and were able to identify most of the rest. I was glad I've kept up with the reading because I was actually able to identify and help my group with the ordering.

I suppose the most interesting thing I saw was the Brownie Kodak Camera. I put an ad for that as the weekly image (which we apparently didn't need) and then she showed us one in class. I had no idea she would so it was pretty cool to remember the ad and then see it in real life.

My question would be, who won the contest? Our group was great so I think we'd win!