Transcript THE INVENTION OF WRITING

THE WPA
Background
• America in the midst of the Great Depression
• FDR’s New Deal Administration institutes
work relief programs
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) creates
jobs for citizens displaced from employment
in every sector of the work force
• Artists were never considered “necessary” to
the work force but welcomed the opportunity
WPA/FAP
• Work Progess Administration’s Federal Arts
Program (WPA/FAP)
• Established 1935
• Operated as the main employer of the
nation’s artists
• Exists in all 48 states by 1938
WPA/FAP Poster Unit
• Originates in New York (as did most of the
Federal Arts Projects)
• Begins with hand-drawn, “one-of-a-kind” posters
• Anthony Velonis introduces silk-screening
process to the department
• The department distributes instructions
to FAP art teachers and Poster Units
WPA/FAP Poster Unit
• Poster Unit artists were keenly aware of
developments and trends in the fine arts and
commercial design
• Often the work was stylistically ahead of
commercial design firms, freely using abstract
expressionism, constructivism and Bauhausinfluenced concepts of design
• Open and creative environment allows for
experimentation and innovation
WPA/FAP Poster Unit
• In 1942, WPA arts efforts were transferred
to the Department of Defense, then phased
out in 1943
• Among the artists, Bauhaus alumni
Richard Floethe and Herbert Bayer
THE MODERN MOVEMENT
IN AMERICA
Background
• Graphic Design in America during the 20s and
30s dominated by traditional illustration
• Modern approach slowly gained ground in:
– Book design
– Editorial design for fashion and business
– Promotional corporate graphics
Background
• Tschichold’s elemtarie typographie was called:
– “typographic fireworks”
– “typographic revolution”
– “insane jugglings of type by a band of crazy,
foreign type anarchists”
• A few American designers understood the
ideas and principles and put them into play
Lester Beall (1903-69)
• Self-taught designer with a doctorate in
art history
• Contributor to the modern movement in
America before the influx of immigrants
• Brought understanding of European
avant-garde art movements, including
Constructivism, Dada and Surrealism,
to the practice of design
Immigrants to America
• Migration slow at first, reaches crescendo
by the 1930s
• Brought their design languages with them
• American experience infuses their work
Harper’s Bazaar
• Reputation for innovative editorial design
• Employs the most gifted designers and
photographers
• Overturned conventions in photography,
typography and layout
Harper’s Bazaar
• Erté - exclusive contract from 1924-37
for covers and fashion illustrations
• Alexey Brodovitch - art director from
1934-58
• Henry Wolf - takes over after Brodovitch,
until 1961
CCA
• CCA = Container Corporation of America
• Founded by Chicago industrialist
Walter J. Paepcke
• Paepcke chose to differentiate company by
adopting an enlightening and highly
innovative advertising policy which
aligned CCA with experimentation and
excellence in the visual arts
CCA
• Aligns with N.W. Ayer advertising
• “Great Ideas of Western Man” ad campaign
• Recognized as the first American company to
establish a corporate identity program
• Artist who contributed to CCA over the years
include: A.M. Cassandre, Fernand Leger,
Laszlo Maholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Herbert
Bayer, Herbert Matter
Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971)
• Born in Russian, works in Paris, moves to
American in 1930
• Editorial art director and photographer and
graphic design teacher
• Established and directed the department of
advertising design at what is now the
Philadelphia College of art (1930-8)
• Freelanced for N.W. Ayer
Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971)
• Becomes art director of Harper’s Bazaar in
1934, remains for 25 years
– Redefines the role of the art director
– Introduces new ideas in editorial graphics and
photography
– Dynamic layouts combine bold typography with
adventurous fashion and reportage photography
– Ability to organize the sequential flow of magazine
by controlling juxtaposed images in a spread
Alexey Brodovitch (1898-1971)
• In search for innovation, commissions artists
like Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Herbert Bayer
• Designed large-format, short-lived design
magazine Portfolio
Joseph Binder (1898-1972)
• Born in Austria, studies in Vienna, moves to
American in 1934
• Originally makes a name as a poster designer
• Moves on to design covers for Fortune and
Graphis magazines
• Ability to refine and reduce pictorial elements,
achieving a controlled geometric severity
Will Burtin (1908-72)
• Trains as typographer and designer at
Werkschule in Cologne, Germany where he
later taught
• Influenced by Bauhaus ideas
• Emigrates to U.S. in 1938
• Design contributions include making
scientific information more accessible
Herbert Bayer (1900-85)
• European political unrest leads to Bayer
moving to New York in 1938
• Through war years, acts as consultant art
director to J. Walter Thompson and Dorland
International (ad agencies)
• Designed and contributed to the influential
Bauhaus exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art
(NY) in 1938
Herbert Bayer (1900-85)
• Moves to Aspen, Colorado in 1946 to become
a leading educator at the Aspen Institute
• Helps found the Aspen International Design
Conference
Herbert Matter (1907-84)
• Moves to NY in 1936
• Works as photographer for Harper’s Bazaar
• In 1940s begins contributing to
CCA ad campaigns
• From 1946-66 works with Knoll International
(furniture manufacturer)
• Goes on to be widely active in many visual
related fields until his death in 1984
Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976)
• Czech-born graphic and exhibition designer,
educator and writer
• Travels to American in 1939 as exhibit
designer for the Czech exhibit at the New York
World’s Fair - political unrest in Europe
influences him to stay
Ladislav Sutnar (1897-1976)
• Two decade association with Sweet’s Catalog
Service results in the design of Sweet’s Files,
annual catalogs of architectural and industrial
products conveying complex information
– Structures information in rational, systematic
manner using the grid, sans serif types, color,
contrast and lines
– Produces functional design solutions will allow
accessible flow of information
THE INTERNATIONAL
TYPOGRAPHIC STYLE
Background
• Also known as Swiss Style
• Develops in Switzerland after WWII
• Built on innovations associated with
Constructivism, De Stijl, the Bauhaus and
The New Typography
• Early influence on the style comes from
Ernst Keller, Théo Ballmer, Max Bill and
Max Huber
The Style
• Seeks to present complex information in a
structured and unified manner
• Characterized by:
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A reliance upon the typographic grid
Sans serif typeface designs
Narrow text columns with flush-left setting
Photography as opposed to illustration
The Style
• Detractors of the style complain that it is based
on formula and results in the sameness of
solution
• Proponents argue the style’s purity of means and
legibility of communications enable the designer
to achieve timeless perfection of form
– Point to innovative range of solutions by leading
practitioners as evidence that neither formula or
sameness is intrinsic to the approach, except in the
hands of lesser talents
THE NEW YORK SCHOOL
Background
• Term applied to New York-based designers
from 1940s onwards
• Develops distinctly American graphic
language
• Absorbs the formal vocabulary of European
Modernism
• Reflects competitive values, cultural and
ethnic diversity of the U.S.
Most Influential Practitioners
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Paul Rand
Alvin Lustig
Bradbury Thompson
George Tscherny
Alexey Brodovitch
Herb Lubalin
George Lois
Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) - ad agency
Paul Rand
• Educated in NY at:
– Pratt Institute (1929-32)
– Parsons School of Design (1932-3)
– Art Students League (1933-4)
• Major force in editorial design, advertising
and corporate graphics
• Work characterized by wit, simplicity and a
Bauhaus approach to problem solving
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Alvin Lustig (1915-55)
• Trained at the Art Center School of Design,
Los Angeles (1934-35)
• Studied architecture under
Frank Lloyd Wright (1935)
• Career alternates between NY and LA
• Design approach utilizes abstract shapes and
symbols to express the essence of the product
• Helped establish design program at Yale U.
Bradbury Thompson (1911-95)
• Graduated from Washburn College in Topeka,
Kansas in 1934,
• Art director with Capper Publishers (1934-8)
• Moves to NY in 1938
• Designer and Editor of Westvaco Inspirations arts journal published by West Virginia Pulp
and Paper Co (1938-62)
Bradbury Thompson (1911-95)
• Experiments with photographic reproduction,
typography and color
• Adopts and eclectic approach which combines
the best of traditional design with modernism
NEW YORK SCHOOL/
EDITORIAL REVOLUTION
Background
• Spurred on by Brodovitch
– Taught at home
– Later at the New School for Social Research
in New York
Cipe Pineles
• Graduated from Pratt Institute (NY)
• Becomes assistant to Dr. Mehemed Fehmy
Agha at Condé Nast in 1930s for Vogue
• Later Becomes AD of Glamour, Seventeen,
Charm and Mademoiselle
• At Seventeen, introduced well-known fine
artists like Ben Shahn, Lucille Corcos and
Andy Warhol, to fiction Illustration
• 1st woman member of NY AD’s Club
Otto Storch
• Working as AD at Dell publishing house
– Brodovitch tells him to quit; says portfolio shows
promise, but position does not
• Joins McCall’s as AD for Better Living
• In 1953, named AD for McCall’s
• Innovations include
– Unified type and graphcs
– Effective use of scale/proportion
– Double-page layout
Henry Wolf
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Born in Vienna
Gains experience in studios and ad agencies
Becomes AD for Esquire in 1953
Replaces Brodovitch at Harper’s Bazaar when
Brodovitch retires in 1958
• Strives for exquisitely simple cover images
NEW YORK SCHOOL/
ADVERTISING REVOLUTION
Background
• 1940s = lackluster decade for advertising
• Mainstays
– Hyperbolic slogans
– Movie star testimonials
– Exaggerated claims
Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB)
• Opens in NY in 1949 with a staff of 13 and
less than 1/2 million dollars in accounts
• Copywriter Bill Bernbach was partner
responsible for creative product, along with
AD Bob Gage and CW Phyllis Robinson
• DDB “took the exclamation mark out of
advertising” and talked intelligently to
consumer
DDB (cont.)
• Evolved visual/verbal syntax: word and image
fused into a conceptual expression of idea
where elements are completely interdependent
George Lois
• Passes through the halls of DDB in the 50s
• Becomes enfant terrible of American mass
communications
– Once climbed out on a 3rd story ledge to demand a
poster proposal be approved
– Pushed concepts to limits of propriety
George Lois (cont.)
• At 28 forms Papart, Koenig and Lois
• Grows to $40 million in seven years
• In 1960s creates Esquire covers to help with
growing competition from Playboy (started by
Esquire alumnus Hugh Hefner)
NEW YORK SCHOOL/
CONTINUING THE
DESIGN TRADITION
Herb Lubalin
• Graduated from Cooper Union in 1939
• Joins Ress Advertising in early 1940s
• Later joins Sudler & Hennessey
– AD for 20 years
– Leaves as VP and CD
• Set up his own studio in the early 1960s
Herb Lubalin (cont.)
• In Demand as magazine designer
• Responsible for Eros, Avant Garde and Fact
• Created several popular typefaces, most
notable=avant garde
• Expert ability to manipulate letterforms and
handle positive/negative spaces in type
SAUL BASS
• Born in NYC
• Studies at Art Students League w/ Howard
Tefton and Gyorgy Kepes
• Moves to LA to found Saul Bass & Associates
in 1946
• Majority of early work = film-related
• Fashioned title sequences into art
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