Weekly Field Journal “Research Portfolio”
WEEKLY JOURNAL 5: October 29
Formations of the Modern Movement 1880’s - 1910’s
Responses to industrialism
Arts and Crafts publications
Arts and Crafts dissemination
Art Nouveau - Jugendstil
Viennese design
Decadence and Aestheticism
The private press movement and modern design
Integration of design and industry
Innovation and Persuasion 1910 – 1930
Visual culture and avant-garde design
The graphic impact of Futurism and Dada
From experiment to principles
Propaganda and mass communication studies
Graphic Persuasion and its effects
Institutionalizing graphic design
The Graphic Effects of Modern Movement through Innovation and Persuasion 1880’s - 1930
In Module 6, we become more familiar with the modern art historical movement during the period of Modern Art Movement (1880’s - 1910’s), and the Innovation and Persuasion movement (1910 – 1930) as it pertains to graphic design. The Modern Art Movement was in response to, what became ‘junk art’ from the Industrial Period’s mass production of stock art and the need to legitimize the artist, designer once again. There was a huge movement, called ‘Arts and Crafts’, that worked towards minimizing, creativity and personalization in art, all the qualities that were not possible with the very busy available stock art, otherwise know as Decadence and Aestheticism. We observed the relationships between painting, decoration and pattern. In class, Kent Manske, presented many examples of art, including visual culture and avant-garde design and he lectured about the graphic impact of Futurism and Dada, as well as all points of interest to this exciting time in graphic design history. This weeks examples are of, “Paul Klee - Park Near Lucerne 1938, http://www.abacus-gallery...*2, Art Nouveau Tiles – Jugendstil, http://www.artnouveautiles *3 , Viennese Design, http://www.abacus-gallery...*4 and an illustrated valentine from the late 1800’s *4. (If you are viewing this document online please find the missing pictures online, links are provided in the bibliography, below.)
Decadence and Aestheticism, essentially meant, Art for Art’s Sake and Aestheticism in the context of earlier art and literary theory. “The Arts and Crafts Movement, was greatly influenced by A. W. Pugin, John Ruskin, and William Morris, endowing it with the following ideas and emphases:
•One cannot validly distinguish between fine and applied or decorative arts.
•The artisan or craftsman should have the same imaginative pleasure and freedom as painters, sculptors, and architects.
•The Industrial Revolution both greatly damaged popular taste and did much to destroy traditional craft skills.
• Mid-nineteenth century design was by and large dreadful, and artists, sculptors, designers, craftsmen, theorists, and the buying public had work together to remedy this situation.
•Properly designed objects should embody truth to materials — what Ruskin had called the “Lamp of Truth.” In practice this meant, for example, that furniture should use solid wood rather than veneers, and all objects from small pieces of jewelry to entire buildings should explore the intrinsic capacities of the materials from which they are made.
•The role of the craftsman must be appreciated.” *5
Before the Private Press Movement and Modern Design with the Integration of Design and Industry, the printing trade thrived, necessary commercial compromises caused reduction in quality and tension between commercialism and quality. “Fine printing tends to adhere to certain established canons of taste, or at least to be aware of them. * ?
“Influential book designer Jan Tschichold formalized a theory of asymmetry in page design in the 1920’s, which, while rooted more in the Italian Futurist movement and the Bauhaus then in historical models has been enormously influential. If one examines Tschichold’s writings, it becomes abundantly evident that he had an extraordinary grasp of the history of calligraphy and typography, but that he consciously strove to enlarge the tradition of book design. He did nothing ignorantly or unknowingly; his radical realignments of the page were the product of a deep understanding of the principles of sound typography and design.” * ?
During the Modern Movement, painting, as a medium, elevated to the rank of a fine art. Pattern, as an element of design, had been associated with the less esteemed function of decoration.
The following information, I found so very interesting and pertinent to our focus, that I’ve chosen to place it in this weeks journal, as opposed to a link, that might not get clicked. It is taken from a very lengthy discussion I found at: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/lesson8art.html. All credit goes to “© Copyright 1996, Pippa Drew and Dorothy Wallace, Dartmouth College”
Impressionism
“In the 1870’s, the Impressionists launched a revolutionary painting movement in Paris. Eventually, the Impressionists were recognized and celebrated in their own day. Impressionism remains popular for it’s engaging portrayals of 19th century French life. J, 706. Impressionists such as Monet were scientific in their approach; whether painting landscapes, still life or figures, they were not so concerned with making pretty pictures or evoking emotions, as they were with rendering the effects of light. “This meant that brush strokes became flecks of paint displaying an extraordinary range of visual effects.” J ? Brush strokes create an abundance of beautiful patterns and textures in their paintings, but in a random, natural form. E Claude Monet Red Boats, Argenteuil, 1875, p. 706 X (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Monet.p62.gif).” *6
Post Impressionism
“Post Impressionism included many divergent styles. Whatever their priorities, these painters tended to use color to level shapes toward the picture plane and distort images. Since pattern also flattens space, it naturally infiltrated Post-Impressionist styles. Functioning decoratively, expressively, or as repetitious brush strokes, pattern proved a useful tool to explore the two-dimensional plane.
Pointillism, Symbolism, Expressionism, are among the many styles assigned to Post-Impressionism.
Seurat, a Pointillist, studied color interaction and carried Monet’s investigation of color and light several steps further. Rather than mixing paint ahead of time, Seurat placed small dots of pure color next to each other on the canvas. This meant that colors were mixed in the eye of the viewer, and the painting shimmered with the light of vibrating hues. J, 733. The process of breaking images into dots flattened and schemitized Seurat’s shapes in contrast to the loose naturalistic style of the Impressionists.
George Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1882. 732 (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Monet.p78.gif)
The Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh, is known for a completely new use of color, and is often seen as an early Expressionist. Van Gogh’s use of brilliant color departs from objective reality to convey a highly charged atmosphere in his paintings. The painter’s brush strokes create a swirling pattern that fuses with color to create a turbulent, emotional landscape. Vincent Van Gogh, Wheatfield and Cypress Trees, 1889. 736 (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/VanGogh.gif)
Paul Gauguin also used color expressively. He was interested in the character of the subject as it was revealed by colors: “noble lines leading to eternity.” Gauguin and many of his colleagues were part of the Symbolist movement. Symbolist painters stopped working from observation and painted from memory. The painting became a record of the painter’s internal responses, rather than his observations. Gauguin and many other symbolists preferred spiritual subjects, and grew attracted to exotic and mythological themes. Moving away from direct observation, his work exhibited flat shapes and arabesque patterns, in vivid colors. This marked another distinct separation from pictoral realism and continued the direction toward abstraction among 20th century painters. Paul Gauguin, The Vision After the Sermon,1888. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p737.gif)
Eduouard Vuillard, who initially painted under Gauguin’s influence, concentrated on “decorative projects from the drawing rooms of domestic life.” J, 739.
Vuillard lived with his mother, a seamstress who worked with patterned fabrics. He often chose patterns from her fabrics as part of his subject matter. The flat shapes of Symbolist painting freed him to use pattern as a formal element in his work, and Vuillard was part of an artists group called the Nabis, the Hebrew word for “prophet.” The Nabis believed painting should be recognized as a great decorative art. They claimed that for every emotion and thought there “existed a plastic decorative equivalent, a corresponding beauty.” 124. Eduouard Vuillard, Interior at L’Etang’la Ville, 1893. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p740.gif)” *6
Art Nouveau
“The work of Pointillist painters, the Nabis and Symbolists, and Van Gogh generated further experimentation. In styles such as the Jugenstil in Germany, and Art Nouveau, artists integrated Symbolist ideas of internal experience, political idealism, mythology and dreams with decorative patterns and architecture. J “The avowed goal of Art Nouveau was to raise the crafts to the level of the fine arts, thereby abolishing the distinction between them.” Janson, 749. Art Nouveau is well known for organic and elongated decorative shapes. Like the work of William Morris, Art Nouveau aimed to improve the environment of the lower classes, and greatly influenced the applied arts. Similarly, the production of such designs proved expensive, and was available only to the wealthy. Victor Horta. Interior Stairwell, Tassel House, Brussels,1892-93. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p749.gif)
Expressionism
Gauguin and Van Gogh influenced the paintings of Northern Expressionists such as Edvard Munch. Munch was a Norwegian who created paintings of extreme emotion. The Expressionists manipulated color, pattern and line to convey their emotional state. In Austria, the painter, Gustav Klimt, was so moved by Munch’s painting, The Scream, that he launched the Secessionist movement to elevate national art. (Janson 744) As we have seen, Klimt used patterned surfaces in his otherwise illusionistic paintings to introduce rich symbolism. Klimt: Watersnakes, 1893. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Klimt.p41.gif)” *6
Fauvism
“Fauvism, another Post-Impressionist movement, continued to investigate the expressive powers of color already introduced by Van Gogh and Gauguin, but in a more formal manner. The most celebrated Fauve, Matisse, flattened his shapes into the flat decorative shapes introduced by Gauguin. Yet, as he coaxed his subjects into, these ornamental shapes, their contours formed strong and vibrant shorthand of color compositions. Matisse exploited the sensuous and abstract possibilities of color and pattern more than its Romantic symbolism. Henri Matisse. The Red Studio, 1911. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p762.gif)
Cezanne and Cubism_Cezanne, a contemporary of Seurat, represents a different but equally important direction in Post-Impressionism. Cezanne also flattened shapes to the picture plane, but in small planes of color. He employed these color planes in his landscapes and still life to articulate spatial relationships between figure and ground. Cezanne was the forerunner of the first Cubists, Picasso and Braque. Cubism presented disparate spatial views of the same subject in the same plane. Color and value were used to create spatial tension, rather than emotional expression. In these formal works, experimentation with the two-dimensional surface pushed painting another crucial step toward abstraction. Paul Cezanne, Mont Saint-Victoire, 1897-1900. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p731.gif)
Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Ambrois Vollard, 1910. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p770.gif)
Art Nouveau
“The work of Pointillist painters, the Nabis and Symbolists, and Van Gogh generated further experimentation. In styles such as the Jugenstil in Germany, and Art Nouveau, artists integrated Symbolist ideas of internal experience, political idealism, mythology and dreams with decorative patterns and architecture. J “The avowed goal of Art Nouveau was to raise the crafts to the level of the fine arts, thereby abolishing the distinction between them.” Janson, 749. Art Nouveau is well known for organic and elongated decorative shapes. Like the work of William Morris, Art Nouveau aimed to improve the environment of the lower classes, and greatly influenced the applied arts. Similarly, the production of such designs proved expensive, and was available only to the wealthy. Victor Horta. Interior Stairwell, Tassel House, Brussels,1892-93. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p749.gif)
Expressionism
Gauguin and Van Gogh influenced the paintings of Northern Expressionists such as Edvard Munch. Munch was a Norwegian who created paintings of extreme emotion. The Expressionists manipulated color, pattern and line to convey their emotional state. In Austria, the painter, Gustav Klimt, was so moved by Munch’s painting, The Scream, that he launched the Secessionist movement to elevate national art. (Janson 744) As we have seen, Klimt used patterned surfaces in his otherwise illusionistic paintings to introduce rich symbolism. Klimt: Watersnakes, 1893. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Klimt.p41.gif)” *6
Fauvism
“Fauvism, another Post-Impressionist movement, continued to investigate the expressive powers of color already introduced by Van Gogh and Gauguin, but in a more formal manner. The most celebrated Fauve, Matisse, flattened his shapes into the flat decorative shapes introduced by Gauguin. Yet, as he coaxed his subjects into, these ornamental shapes, their contours formed strong and vibrant shorthand of color compositions. Matisse exploited the sensuous and abstract possibilities of color and pattern more than its Romantic symbolism. Henri Matisse. The Red Studio, 1911. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p762.gif)
Cezanne and Cubism_Cezanne, a contemporary of Seurat, represents a different but equally important direction in Post-Impressionism. Cezanne also flattened shapes to the picture plane, but in small planes of color. He employed these color planes in his landscapes and still life to articulate spatial relationships between figure and ground. Cezanne was the forerunner of the first Cubists, Picasso and Braque. Cubism presented disparate spatial views of the same subject in the same plane. Color and value were used to create spatial tension, rather than emotional expression. In these formal works, experimentation with the two-dimensional surface pushed painting another crucial step toward abstraction. Paul Cezanne, Mont Saint-Victoire, 1897-1900. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p731.gif)
Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Ambrois Vollard, 1910. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p770.gif)
Pablo Picasso, Still life with Chair Caning, 1912. (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/Janson.p771.gif)” *6
20th Century Abstract Paintings and Surrealism
“Some early abstract paintings emerged out of the themes of Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism. While Kandinsky and the German Expressionists abandoned realism to explore emotion or spirituality in complex abstract compositions, artists such as the Suprematist and Constructivist, Malevich, and the Neo-Plasticist, Mondrian integrated the planar forms of Cubism into their geometric work. Though Suprematist art is hard-edged and minimal, it is spiritually motivated too. Malevich believed that the pure aesthetic of a square represented spiritual perfection in space; Mondrian claimed that geometric shapes freed Man from subjectivity and drew him toward a higher universal consciousness. The early work of Constructivism laid the basis for the Bauhaus School of Architecture in the 1920’s, eventually establishing Mondrian’s square as the dominant shape in contemporary architecture and Minimalist art. While these serious, formal artists placed little interest in ornament, their work does refer to pattern in an archetypal way. Mondrian’s squares cannot help but remind us of the simplest pattern, the grid.” *6
Surrealism and Dadaism
“Experimentation with abstraction fused with the violent events of World War I to create even more revolutionary forms of art. The Dada movement lead by Marcel Duchamp, evolved as a protest against society and aimed to show mainstream values as meaningless in the context of the “Great War.” Duchamp, Mona Lisa (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/MonaLisa.gif)
Surrealism followed Dada in 1924, led by the poet Andre Breton. Between World War I and World War II, Modern art continued to evolve under the influence of psychology and the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It’s chief components were the illustration of the dream, and Automatism. Automatism meant that the artist allowed the unconscious to dictate the execution of his work. J 785 The painter, Max Ernst adopted collage, using photographs to create humorous but disturbing images. Janson 784 Like Ernst, Paul Klee drew upon the unconscious through cryptic symbols and signs, and developed a unique visual language. J. 787.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/lesson8art.html” *6
Conclusion
I know I keep saying this, but it’s true every week... I’m saying it again. This period was even more evolutionary than the last, the realization and transformation from ‘junk art’ to ‘real art’, otherwise know as Decadence and Aestheticism, is what makes this period exceptional. The Modern Art Movement (1880’s - 1910’s), with the Innovation and Persuasion movement (1910 – 1930) and ‘Arts and Crafts’, as they pertain to graphic design is what made this time so significant. Finally, this weeks examples are of, “Paul Klee - Park Near Lucerne 1938, http://www.abacus-gallery...*2, Art Nouveau Tiles – Jugendstil, http://www.artnouveautiles *3 , Viennese Design, http://www.abacus-gallery...*4 and an illustrated valentine from the late 1800’s *4. (If you are viewing this document online please find the missing pictures online, links are provided in the bibliography, below.) (If you are viewing this document online please find the missing pictures online, links are provided in the bibliography, below.)
20th Century Abstract Paintings and Surrealism
“Some early abstract paintings emerged out of the themes of Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism. While Kandinsky and the German Expressionists abandoned realism to explore emotion or spirituality in complex abstract compositions, artists such as the Suprematist and Constructivist, Malevich, and the Neo-Plasticist, Mondrian integrated the planar forms of Cubism into their geometric work. Though Suprematist art is hard-edged and minimal, it is spiritually motivated too. Malevich believed that the pure aesthetic of a square represented spiritual perfection in space; Mondrian claimed that geometric shapes freed Man from subjectivity and drew him toward a higher universal consciousness. The early work of Constructivism laid the basis for the Bauhaus School of Architecture in the 1920’s, eventually establishing Mondrian’s square as the dominant shape in contemporary architecture and Minimalist art. While these serious, formal artists placed little interest in ornament, their work does refer to pattern in an archetypal way. Mondrian’s squares cannot help but remind us of the simplest pattern, the grid.” *6
Surrealism and Dadaism
“Experimentation with abstraction fused with the violent events of World War I to create even more revolutionary forms of art. The Dada movement lead by Marcel Duchamp, evolved as a protest against society and aimed to show mainstream values as meaningless in the context of the “Great War.” Duchamp, Mona Lisa (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/MonaLisa.gif)
Surrealism followed Dada in 1924, led by the poet Andre Breton. Between World War I and World War II, Modern art continued to evolve under the influence of psychology and the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It’s chief components were the illustration of the dream, and Automatism. Automatism meant that the artist allowed the unconscious to dictate the execution of his work. J 785 The painter, Max Ernst adopted collage, using photographs to create humorous but disturbing images. Janson 784 Like Ernst, Paul Klee drew upon the unconscious through cryptic symbols and signs, and developed a unique visual language. J. 787.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/lesson8art.html” *6
Conclusion
I know I keep saying this, but it’s true every week... I’m saying it again. This period was even more evolutionary than the last, the realization and transformation from ‘junk art’ to ‘real art’, otherwise know as Decadence and Aestheticism, is what makes this period exceptional. The Modern Art Movement (1880’s - 1910’s), with the Innovation and Persuasion movement (1910 – 1930) and ‘Arts and Crafts’, as they pertain to graphic design is what made this time so significant. Finally, this weeks examples are of, “Paul Klee - Park Near Lucerne 1938, http://www.abacus-gallery...*2, Art Nouveau Tiles – Jugendstil, http://www.artnouveautiles *3 , Viennese Design, http://www.abacus-gallery...*4 and an illustrated valentine from the late 1800’s *4. (If you are viewing this document online please find the missing pictures online, links are provided in the bibliography, below.) (If you are viewing this document online please find the missing pictures online, links are provided in the bibliography, below.)
Bibliography
All information, most everything written unless marked otherwise is all credited to the authors of ‘Graphic Design History, A Critical Guide’ and Professor Kent Manske.
*2 http://www.abacus-gallery.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.pl?fid=1010279039&cgifunction=form
*3 http://www.artnouveautiles.nl/resources2008/130808-05a.jpg
*4 http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/07/27/klimt_narrowweb__300x345,0.jpg
*5 Cumming, Elizabeth, and Nancy Kaplan. The Arts and Crafts Movement. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Naylor, Gillian. The Arts and Crafts Movement: A Study of Its Sources, Ideals, and Influence on Design Theory. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1971.
Skipwith, Peyton. Holy Trinity, Sloane Street. London: The Trinity Arts and Crafts Guild, 2002.
Wainright, Clive. Architect-Designers from Pugin to Mackintosh. Exhibition catalogue. London: The Fine Art Society with Haslam & Whiteway Ltd., 1981.
http://www.victorianweb.org/art/design/craftintro.html
*6 © Copyright 1996, Pippa Drew and Dorothy Wallace, Dartmouth College
*6 © Copyright 1996, Pippa Drew and Dorothy Wallace, Dartmouth College
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.pattern/lesson8art.html
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