Transcript Early Modernism - Graphic Design | Parkland College

Early Modernism
1910-1935
By: Kerstin Ricca
Early Influences
Early Modernism was a movement characterized by its deliberate
break from design patterns and traditions of the past.
Reacting against Victorian sensibilities, and distraught by political
and social upheavals across the globe, these artists sought to
create a new concept of design through experiments in
simplicity, geometry, color, and photography.
Early modern designers drew inspiration from modern art
movements, and frequently traveled through Europe to draw
inspiration from each other as well.
Early Influences
Early pioneers of Modernism began to
experiment with geometric forms.
A major player in the early days of
Modernism, Peter Behrens
designed for the Allgemeine
Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft (AEG).
(Top)
This cover for the Berlin Electric Works
Magazine (bottom right, 1908)
demonstrates his geometric
approach to design problems.
Edward Johnston contributed an
exclusive typeface for the London
Underground, in addition to this
revised symbol (bottom left) which
was used until 1972.
Modern Art Influences
Around the world, modern art was in a constant state of change.
Pressing economic and political turmoil pushed artists to find
new ways of expression, resulting in a series of modern art
movements that went on to influence graphic design.
Cubism
Cubism began to appear in the first part of
the 20th century. Cubist art often
displayed its subject using a series of
geometric planes, allowing the viewer to
see multiple angles in one piece.
The geometric abstraction present in Cubist
paintings became a pivotal influence on
modernism.
Left: Woman with a guitar, by Georges
Braque, 1913
Right: Le Guitarist Pablo Picasso 1910
Futurism
Futurism was a movement launched by Filippo
Marinetti, designed to express the speed and
noise of 20th century life.
Futurist artwork used typography and writing as its
own expressive means. Words used color,
character attributes, and position to express
what images could not.
Top: Carlo Carra,
Guerrapittura (WarPainting), 1915.
Bottom: Cover and page
design for Zang Tumb
Tumb: Adrianopoli
Ottobre 1912 by Filippo
Marinetti.
Dada
Dada was a short-lived movement reacting to
the horrors that fell on society during and
after World War I.
Dadaists sought to destroy tradition through the
use of shock and nonsense, and the
movement became a means for protest with
a deep underlying negativity.
Left: Dada 6 (Bulletin Dada), Tristan Tzara
1920
Right: John Heartfield, Hitler tells fairy tales II,
INSCRIPTION: “...and then the poor German
Michel screamed so long, that finally the
whole world believed him: ‘Help, help, I'm
surrounded!’”
Surrealism
Artists found a means of expressing fantasy and
intuition through Surrealism.
Surrealist works often included dream-like
images, unexpected juxtapositions, and nonsequiturs.
Top: The Difficult Crossing
by Rene Magritte, 1926.
Bottom Left: The Red Tower
by Giorgio de Chirico. 1913.
Bottom Right: Salvador Dali.
(Spanish, 1904-1989). The
Persistence of Memory.
1931.
Expressionism
Expressionism extended beyond
its subject to depict emotions
and personal responses using
color, line and proportion.
Images were often exaggerated or
distorted in symbolic
representation.
Top: Woman with Dead Child by Kathe
Kollwitz, etching, 1903
Bottom Left: On White II by Wassily Kandinsky,
1923.
Bottom Right: Henri Matisse. Portrait of
Madame Matisse. (The green line). 1905
Photography
Although not a new medium, photography
was rapidly developing during this time
period. Artists began to explore
photographic options such as multiple
exposures, and differences in light and
shadow.
Often these photographic discoveries
intersected with surrealism, resulting in
dream-like images.
Left: Man Ray (Rayograph) Untitled,
Center: Alvin Langdon Coburn, Vortograph, 1917
Right: Man Ray, Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau was a movement characterized by its
simplification of objects.
Subjects were drawn with very little detail, and little
or no tonal variation. Modernists expanded on
this idea, simplifying objects even further.
The result was a mechanized, often geometric
representation of subjects that embodied the
cultural shift toward reliance on technology and
industry.
Left: Folies-Bergere,
Jules Cheret
Right: Ambassadeurs,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Plakatstil (Poster style)
Early expressions of modernism are evident in the simplistic
and flat-colored Plakastil (poster style) design school.
Plakatstil artists often included nothing more than a single
background color, a large simple image, and the product
name.
The Sachplakat movement in Switzerland was closely related
to the Plakatstil, sharing characteristics of minimalism.
Left: Ludwig Hohlwein, Gaba
(bookplate), 1926
Center: Otto Baumberger, Hotel
St. Gotthard Zurich, 1917
Right: Lucian Bernhard, BreisgauPerle, 1914
Political & Social Climate
The political and social climate during the
first part of the century was a major
catalyst for modernist ideas.
Starting before World War I, many
countries were facing growing
tensions and unrest in the social
order.
These tensions became evident in the
design world as modernists sought to
break from past ideologies, and
experiment with new forms that
echoed their dissatisfaction with
tradition.
World War I
With the onset of World War I in 1914, applied
art took on a new role as a means of
propaganda.
Countries seeking to justify their involvement in
“the war to end all wars” launched poster
campaigns to acquire resources
necessary for the conflict, and to garner
support from the public.
Modernist ideals of simplistic form and
geometric expression are evident in these
examples of propaganda from various
countries.
The Nazi Rising
The National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party, led by
Adolf Hitler, rose to power during the economic and
political turmoil in Germany that followed World War I.
Hitler and the Nazi party launched a massive, and
psychologically powerful propaganda effort in order to
advance their views and gain power.
These posters, like propaganda used during World War I,
embody the ideals of modernist theory. Even the swastika
symbol of the Nazi party (right) embraces the pure
geometric form loved by modernists.
The Russian Revolution and the
Spread of Socialism
Like Germany, Russia was facing serious political and economic
turmoil following the war.
Political and social upheavals resulted in the overthrowing of
Czar Nicholas II and the end of Russia’s Romanov dynasty.
Shortly after, the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin, gained
power, establishing rule in what was to become the Soviet
Union.
Under the new socialist regime, the artist’s sole purpose was to
advance socialist theory. Art for art’s sake was denounced,
and artists who refused to comply were severely punished.
Unable to express themselves, many artists and designers
perished in the Gulags (Soviet prison and labor camps).
Constructivism
A result of changes in Russia (USSR), a new movement of art
and architecture called Constructivism was born.
Constructivists believed that “pure” art had no purpose in
society, and that art’s only application was to serve the
new socialist regime.
Dominant motifs in constructivist art include minimal use of
colors (generally red, black, and white), and a strong
geometric element.
Klutsis, Gustav, Millions of qualified
workers for the 518 new factories, 1931
Advertising poster for the state airline Dobrolet. 1923. A.
Rodchenko and V. Stepanova Archive, Moscow
Constructivism
Constructivist artists, such as El Lissitzky,
experimented with photomontage and
abstraction in shapes.
Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, 1919 El
Lissitzky
Top: Photomontage study
Bottom: Exhibition poster, El
Lissitzky, 1929
Proun 12E, El Lissitzky, 1923
Composition with
Yellow, Blue, and
Red, 1939-1942,
Piet Mondrian
De Stijl
De Stijl was a short, yet influential,
movement launched in the
Netherlands in summer 1917.
De Stijl artists sought universal harmony
and order through the use of pure
abstraction. Subjects were reduced in
form and color.
Characteristics of classic De Stijl design
include strong horizontal and vertical
components, and the use of primary
colors with black and white.
Proponents of De Stijl include its founder,
Theo van Doesburg and Piet
Mondrian.
Arithmetische Compositie, 1924, Theo van Doesburg
Bauhaus
At the height of the
Modernist movement
emerged one of the most
influential design schools
of all time, the Bauhaus.
The Bauhaus was opened in
1919 in Weimar, and
closed in 1933 as a
result of Nazi
persecution.
Even after its closing, the
Bauhaus continued to
leave its mark on the
world, through influences
on graphic design,
architecture, and
furniture design.
Bauhaus
Faculty and students from all over the world
united at the Bauhaus to combine new
design approaches using elements from a
variety of movements.
Bauhaus Ausstellung Poster, Fritz Schleifer, 1922
Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar, 1919–1923,
1923, Walter Gropius
Die Neue
Typographie
Jan Tschichold became an advocate
of Modern design after attending
the first Bauhaus exhibition in
Weimar.
By applying modernist principles to
everyday design problems,
Tschichold introduced a new
approaches to a wide audience.
His 1928 book, Die Neue
Typographie, outlined these new
approaches and condemned all
but sans serif fonts. Though he
later denounced this work as
being too rigid, Die Neue
Typographie remains a classic.
Konstruktivisten Poster, Jan Tschichold 1937
Der Berufsphotograph Poster, Jan Tschichold, 1938
“We do not know why, but
we can demonstrate that a
human being finds planes of
definite and intentional
proportions more pleasant or
more beautiful than those of
accidental proportions.”
Jan Tschichold, The Form of
the Book, 1975
Modernism in Furniture Design
Modernist ideals became a pivotal influence in other areas of design as well.
These examples show how furniture reflected modernist principles.
Nonconformist Chair,
Eileen Gray
Red and Blue Chair, Gerrit
Rietveld, 1917
The Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe
The Barrel Chair, Frank Lloyd
Wright
Modernism in
Architecture
These examples show modernism’s influence
on early and present day architecture.
The Bauhaus Gropius House in
Lincoln, Massachusetts, Walter
Gropius
I.M. Pei, Architect Herbert F. Johnson
Museum of Art at
Cornell University
The Berlin Holocaust
Memorial, Peter
Eisenman.
References
Elam, Kimberly. Geometry of Design. Princeton Architectural Press, 2001.
Meggs, Philip B and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/ Online.
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http://www.artic.edu/reynolds/essays/hofmann.php Online.
http://www.kentgallery.com/exhdia.htm Online.
http://www.artic.edu/aic/ Online.
http://www.getty.edu/ Online.
http://www.masters-of-photography.com Online.
http://www.internationalposter.com Online.
http://www.nga.gov.au/Home/index.cfmwww.popartuk.com Online.
http://architecture.about.com Online.
http://www.firstworldwar.com Online.
http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/1915/modern.html Online.