Zeitgeist by Cher Davis

EITGEIS

by Cher Davis

ZEITGEIST

Design of the Times

Zeitgeist is a German language expression broken down into two words: zeit (time) + geist (spirit). Thus the translation, “the spirit of the age and its society”. It refers to the tastes and outlook characteristic of a certain period or generation.

In terms of design, the zeitgeist of a society is extremely influential. The word calls to mind changes in the intellectual, cultural, ethical and political climate at any given time. Movements in art and design basically reflect these shifts in the collective consciousness. Thus this book seeks to illustrate the zeitgeist of different periods in history and, in some cases, provide a tie-in to today’s cultural trends.

Table of Contents Section 1: Art History Terms Section 2: Stylistic & Generic Terms Section 3: Graphic Design Styles

Section 1: Art History Terms

Now we come to one of the more intuitive genres of art. Abstract expressionism sets itself

BSTRAC

apart as it has been inspired by many other art forms yet possessing no formal arrangement of any kind. Because of the numerous possibilities created when expressionism and abstraction collide, there is no single style from artist to artist. Of the utmost importance here is the artist’s freedom of subconscious expression and spontaneous interaction with art making materials. Because of the numerous possibilities endlessly compounded by the choice of medium, interaction with said medium, and inspiration from internal as well as outside sources, no two works have ever resembled each other, nor has a single artist created similar works from one representation to the next. Paintings dominate this genre; however, certain sculptors in particular were also integral to the movement: Richard Stankiewicz, Richard Lippold and Herbert Ferber to name a few. In fact, many sculptors participated in the Ninth Street Show, the famous exhibition curated by Leo Castelli on East Ninth Street in New York City in 1951. Besides the painters and sculptors of the period the New York School of abstract expressionism also generated a number of supportive poets, like Frank O’Hara and photographers like Aaron Siskind and Fred McDarrah , and filmmakers such as Robert Frank. About the only characteristic that abstract expressionist works share (paintings, that is) is the use of large canvases as an “all-over” approach. Thus the whole canvas is treated with equal importance (as opposed to any focal point within being of more interest than the edges). The two major subdivisions of abstract expressionism painting are action painting and color field painting.

Right, Mark Rothko “Orange & Yellow”; oil on canvas, 1961 Philadelphia Museum of Art Far right, Jackson Pollock “Blue Poles: Number 11”; enamel and aluminum paint with glass on canvas National Gallery of Australia

unrestricted arm and wrist movement, gestures, brushstrokes, drippings, thrown and splashed paint, the completion of the artwork is surrendered to the subconscious mind. Although its high period has largely been attributed to Jackson Pollock, the likes of Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning have also largely contributed to the growth in popularity of this type of abstract expressionism. In contrast, color field painters usually favor representations of the natural environment with large, flat areas of color. More specifically, these artists eliminate recognizable imagery, and instead use psychological associations of color rather

EXPRESSIONISM

Action painting is usually characterized by energetic emotion and gesture across the canvas. Through

than gesture to communicate their vision. Contributors such as Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Tobey, among others, have ascribed their inspiration from past or present art, but in general color field painting presents abstraction as an end in itself. Especially in the case of Rothko and Gottlieb, sometimes the use of symbol and sign is replacement for imagery. Color field painting uses the essential nature of visual abstraction in order to create each work as one unified, cohesive, monolithic image. Image Sources: http://en.easyart.com/art-prints/Mark-Rothko/ Orange-and-Yellow-(1956)-25759.html http://www.abstract-art.com/abstr_expressionism/ ae00_abex_indx.html

Although the initial impact of abstract expressionism spread quickly throughout the United States, historians agree that the major centers of this style became New York City, and the San Francisco Bay area of California. q

Herbert Ferber Labors of Hercules; bronze sculpture, 1948 The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu

VANT GARD

Gustav Klutsis, avant-garde Constructivist Political photo montage entitled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Long live the worldwide Octoberâ&#x20AC;?, 1933 Image source: http://en .wikipedia .org/wiki/Gustav_Klutsis

MODERN ART

The term Modern Art describes works modeled after the style and ideology during the period dating from roughly the mid-1800s through the 1940s. The breakdown of traditional sources of financial support from the church, state and the aristocratic elite provided a renewed freedom of expression, but also presented a new problem. Although there was less pressure now for artists to produce creations that glorified the institutions or individuals who had commissioned them, the hard and fast emerging capitalist market replaced what was previously a stable source of income.

Nevertheless, in the face of more competitive circumstances, new methods of artistic expression and experimentation abounded. The original Modernist era arose as part of the Western worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to address the urban, industrial, and secular issues of the period. The best characteristic that we can attribute to Modernist art was that it did not simply seek to imitate past content. By applying our own new techniques, we can best follow in the footsteps of the original Modernist artists by responding to the issues of our present society, some of which are the same as that previous era, others that are unprecedented. With todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comparative leaps and bounds in technology, we can only consider ourselves modernists of a sort when we as graphic designers use past substance to mirror the relevant issues that have occurred during our own time.Y (Otherwise, we can simply settle for being revivalist wannabees.)

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ECONSTRUCTIVIS

Image Sources: http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/artwork/24317/10856/4385/gerry-judah-angels/ http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425455712/424200064/gerry-judah-angels-6.html http://www.gerryjudah.com

Angels 6, Gerry Judah, 2006 Painting, mixed media on canvas h: 165.4 x w: 90.6 in Born in Calcutta, India, Judah’s work is inspired by images of war zones and takes as its subject the horror of war and its devastating impact on the landscape of the Middle East and elsewhere. This new body of work is a direct response to the Iraq War and recent events in Lebanon, although Judah’s landscapes of decimated settlements are generic, and not geographically specific. Judah creates delicate collages of desolated urban fabric. Scores of miniature buildings fixed onto the canvas are systematically destroyed by the artist to create a ‘presence of absence’. Immaculately constructed and lacquered in layers of white acrylic gesso, his paintings are both environmentally and politically charged.

minimalis

. minimalism

In design, communication is key.

•

Lightning-quick messages need to be understood in the blink of an eye.

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Art “pared down to the minimum” eliminates representational imagery in favor of a single, unified image.

•

This type of art has been prevalent in sculpture more than in painting.

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This approach has been associated with the late 1960s, but has been used in many other periods along the timeline of Art History (including design in the 21st century.) P

minimalism

•

Image Sources: Background, Wall Drawing #146, September 1972. Blue crayon, Site- specific dimensions. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Panza Collection Left, Dark Blue Curve, 1995. Oil on canvas, 46 x 190 inches. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum http://www.guggenheimcollection.org

Conceptual art has a truly cerebral purpose. It generally holds an emphasis on the artist’s thinking without the necessity of translating it into pictorial or sculptural form. By the nature of its emphasis, the range of Conceptual art is enormously widespread. It can exist in an extensive range of visual, written, or auditory mediums. The importance of the creative process or the object itself pales in comparison to the idea behind it. N Joseph Beuys was one of the most revolutionary artists of the sixties and seventies. For Beuys, art and activism were inseparable. According to his radical notion of free democratic socialism and ecology, every person was potentially an artist able to transform society creatively. In 1970 he founded the Organisation for Direct Democracy by Referendum in Dusseldorf, Germany. The transformation of society itself, and the set of relations between people to achieve that, was a new form of sculpture, a “social sculpture”. Untitled (Sun State) is one of Beuys’s Blackboard drawings, which were created during his lectures at educational institutions and museums. This drawing evolved during his participation in the public dialogue, Art into Society, Society into Art at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1974. Here Beuys demonstrates, with a thin looping line and verbal descriptions, the connections among myth, alchemy, astrology, anthropology, and the social and political sciences. The result is a work described by the artist as a kind of astrological chart embodying his ideas of the ideal state, in which democratic principles inform cultural life (freedom), law (equality), and economics (fraternity). It is a constellation delineating a structure for a harmonious social body, or, alternatively, a social sculpture—an evolutionary process whose goal is to “sculpt new models for the entirety of life.” Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) Untitled (Sun State), 1974. Chalk and felt-tip pen on blackboard with wood frame, 47 1/2 x 71 1/8” (120.7 x 180.7 cm). MoMA Collection, New York

CONCEPTUALISM

It’s the thought that COUNTS.

op cultur

Once known as mass culture,

popular

(“pop”) culture refers to the many forms of cultural communication. This includes a diverse range of print, visual and audial media. Around the 1960s in Europe, the working class had more leisure time to expend. This created a demand for new kind of entertainment and art that were more accessible than the traditional art forms associated with “high art”. As

it does not require a higher education to be understood, pop culture has been regarded as socalled “low” art and its acceptance in mainstream society has been hotly debated. However, much of the advertising and media seen today readily embraces pop culture references to target as broad an

audience as possible. d American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Paula Abdul Image Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/132317/the_death_of_pop_culture_the_american.html

op art

Extremely abstract in nature, Op Art (also known as “optical” or “retinal”), was coined as a term by sculptor George Rickey in 1964. The human eye picks up vibrations of certain colors and figure/ ground elements, which create “optical illusions” of movement within a composition.Q

Image Source: Client: Sony Bravia Agency: EURO RSCG Buenos Aires Creative Director: Gustavo Reyes / Mariano Duhalde / Tony Waissmann Copywriter: Mariano Duhalde / Tony Waissmann / Alexis Alvarez Art Director: Maximiliano Sanchez Correa / Pablo Carrera / Guadalupe Covas http://adsoftheworld.com

Section 2: Stylistic & Generic Terms

Abstract (ăb-străkt′, ăb′ străkt′) – adj.: Having an artistic context that depends on intrinsic form rather than on pictorial representation. Although a depiction of something may not carry all the detailed lines of an object, the human brain (thankfully) can still recognize that object. It is how we can tell when important road sign information is about to come into view, or when a pop-fly baseball is coming our way, or what direction to go catch a train. This important function of being able to tell one object from another with a minimum of visual data also allows us to recognize shapes of objects represented in art. You can strip away all the details of the human face, but this should not be confused with expressionism or symbolism. While El Lissitzky’s work with geometric shapes has been associated with the term “abstract”, his work was not as abstract as it was purely representational. For example, in his work Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, white circles represented the “white” party of the Kerenski, while a red wedge symbolized the “red” party of the Bolsheviks. Wassily Kandinksy’s expressionist works, such as Improvisation No. 7, have also carried the connotation of “abstract”. However, it seems more appropriate to classify his work as “free-association”, where the artist may not have begun with definitive shapes at all in mind. Instead, the artists used strokes of lines and area filled with colors meant to trigger certain emotions and feelings. Image Source: “Improvisation 7” [1910] by Wassily Kandinsky http://www.harley.com/art/abstract-art/kandinsky.html

OMIC AR

omics are a series of drawings, usually arranged horizontally on the page of a newspaper, a magazine, or a book, that read as a narrative. The drawings carry the story, but words may appear to enhance the narration. Text, when included, often relies on the use of conversation to convey information and on onomatopoeic sounds, such as

to complement the action. Modern comics have several forms: the single-frame story, in which one picture conveys the entire tale, relies heavily on familiar characterization and sequence of spatial relationships within the frame; the gag strip, or comic strip, made up of three or four pictures with a joke in the last frame, such as Blondie; the serial strip, which shows a new piece of the story every day or once a week, such as Terry and the Pirates (created in 1934 by Milton Caniff); and the comic book, in which complete stories are contained within the pages, the first of which, Funnies on Parade, was published by Procter and Gamble in 1933 and sold for ten cents. By the late 1940s, more than 50 million copies of comic books were sold a month.

Blondie Comic strip printed in Daily News Thursday edition December 4th, 2008

Image Source:

http://www.imagecomics.com/onlinecomics.php

Witchblade#80_Witch Hunt, Part 1 of 6_Nov_08 Written by Ron Marz Illustrated by Michael Choi

Dynamo 5 Issue #1 Written by Jay Faerber Illustrated by Mahmud A. Asrar

OUN

Left: August 2008, special promotional campaign for laundry detergent brand Breeze Excel launched by the publicity agency Lowe en Bangkok to make the women of the country aware of the product benefits. In order to increase customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; confidence, they decided to mail out boxes with samples of the detergent. They used white teeshirts as a wrapping for the boxes; When the boxes arrived at their destinations, of course, they were dirty enough to be washed with the detergent samples. The detergent would prove its efficiency if it left the shirts clean. http://www.loweworldwide.com/ http://hideyourarms.com/tag/notcot/ http://www.ppiblog.com/

Right: Magnetic Promotional Toothbrushes Sold by Total Merchandise, UK http://www.totalmerchandise.co.uk

OBJECT

The concept of found object artwork began with artist Marcel Duchamp around the year 1913.

His theory was that adding a title to an unaltered, mundane, mass-produced object that already exists gives it new power and meaning. The object becomes a symbol of the message that the artist wishes to convey. The Readymade, as Duchamp originally termed it, seems to be a direct precursor to some pop art and print design that came decades

later (Warhol in particular used his Campbell soup cans in a manner similar to modern print ad design). Aside from pop art, artists have used found objects in whole or in part to infuse artwork with the meanings associated with their past use or function.

The use of found objects strictly as an art form has remained the same; for

contemporary design, found objects are defined in a different way. The “found

objects” advertised in visual media are products to be sold, and indeed they are mass-

produced. The “title” given to that mass-produced object is now in the form of a

clever tagline, meant to give one product greater value over another similar product

from another brand. So again, the object becomes a symbol of the message that the

artist wishes to convey; this time, in an effort to increase the “sellability” of a product.

This approach has been carried through with the advent of creative packaging

designs. In an endlessly competitive consumer market, companies try to find unique

ways to target their clients, especially with unique packaging that sometimes employs

“found” (or rather “ready-made”) items that were originally meant to fill another purpose

and whose form remains relatively unchanged in its new purpose. For example, a dirty

shirt can be repurposed as the wrapping on the outside of a package sent to a customer.

In another example, why not turn a useable toothbrush into a magnetic note holder just

Ekcoloy, Michelle Stitzlein, 2005

Wall hung sculpture, mixed media, 38”H x 89”W x 18”D Picture taken from exhibit Transformation 5, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA, 2006

by adding a piece of metal at the back of its head? With a bit of ingenuity, and for a

http://www.artgrange.com/HTML/foundobjectsculpture.html

allow designers to further explore a vast array of creative solutions.

surprisingly low cost, “ready-made” objects can become great promotional tools and can

ESTURALIS

There are many ways in which we recognize a work of art:

by the chosen subject matter, by the materials it was made from, or even by the controversy which surrounded it at the time it was made. The traditional notion of Gesturalism

refers to paintings or drawings that emphasize an artist’s expressive brushwork.

It provides a visual reference to distinguish one artist’s style from that of another. In design, this translates into the style in which a desginer uses area of color and line strokes, exploits typefaces, or even disrupts the picture plane. For instance, Alphonse Mucha’s poster designs were based on a strong composition, the inclusion of sensuous female figures, and refined decorative elements and colors derived from nature. In more rescent times, Al Hirschfeld’s style is evident in the swooping inked lines full of motion that characterize his designs. In short, Gesturalism as it relates to design today gives visual recognition to a certain style and serves as the hallmark and signature of the individual designer.

http://www.goodart.org/artofam.htm

Actor Christopher Hewett as “Captain Hook” in Peter Pan Al Hirschfeld, 1979 http://www.alhirschfeld.com

GESTURALISM

An Oath Under the Slav Linden Tree, 1928, Alphonse Mucha This poster was prepared by Mucha for the first exhibition of the complete Slav Epic cycle, 20 huge paintings, and its official transfer to the City of Prague as a donation by the artist. The exhibition took place between September 23 and October 31, 1928, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic which was also being created at this time. For the top half of the poster, Mucha took a portion of one of the pictures that comprised the Slav Epic, ‘An Oath Under the Slav Linden Tree’. The mythical figure in the background is Svantovit, the supreme god in Slav mythology, who had three faces representing the past, the present and the future. His emblems were a sword, which he is holding in his right hand, and a horn (used as a drinking cup).

MANG

Manga are Japanese comics and print cartoons conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 20th century. In their modern form, manga date from shortly after World War II but have a long, complex history in earlier Japanese art. In Japan, manga are widely read by people of all ages,and include a broad range of subjects: action-adventure, romance, sports and games, historical drama, comedy, science fiction and fantasy, mystery, horror, sexuality, and business and commerce, among others. Manga are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, they are usually serialized in telephone book-size manga magazines, often containing many stories each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in paperback books called tankobon. A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, although sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films. With the popularization of manga, there are certain subsets that have developed. For instance, dojinshi are are self-published manga usually made by artists or writers who prefer to publish their own materials. Seinen is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at an 18–30 year old male audience with a wide range of themes, but the audience can be much older with some comics aimed at businessmen well into their 40s - (in Japanese, the word Seinen means “young man” or “young men”). The female equivalent to this is josei manga; however the stories tend to be specifically about everyday experiences of women living in Japan. Though there are some that cover high school, most cover the lives of adult women. The style also tends to be a more restrained, realistic version of manga, keeping some of the wispy features and getting rid of the

very large sparkly eyes.

Excerpt from Code Geass, Vol. 1, Ch. 5, Nightmare of Nunnally http://www.mangafox.com

NSTALLATIO

Traditionally, an installation would describe the hanging of pictures or the arrangement of objects in an exhibition. Throughout the early 1980s, an installation would be on display for a relatively brief period, then dismantled.

More recently, the term has come to mean the assemblage of permanent artwork or sculpture meant to be displayed at a specific site, as part of a surrounding environment. However, the creation of three-dimensional environments still requires supporting two-dimensional design elements: signage tells spectators information as they browse through a museum exhibit or obtain instructions for an interactive outdoor exhibit; signage tells trade show participants where certain merchant booths are located; print ads publically announce the date and location of said events. Basically, installations help to perpetuate the market for design, whether it be environmental or in print. Firsthand photos taken at Madison Square Park, 10/24/08 23rd Street at Madison Ave â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pulse Parkâ&#x20AC;? by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Previously on display from October 24 to November 17, 2008 Site-specific interactive installation of 200 narrow-beam theatrical spotlights controlled by 2 heart rate sensor sculptures, creating a pulsating matrix of light across the Oval Lawn of Madison Square Park. Evening visitors to Madison Square Park had their systolic and diastolic heart rates measured by one of two sensor sculptures installed at the North and South ends of the Oval Lawn. These biometric rhythms were translated and projected as pulses of narrow-beam light that will move sequentially down rows of spotlights placed along the perimeter of the lawn as each consecutive participant makes contact with the sensors. The result is a poetic expression of our vital signs, transforming the public space into a fleeting architecture of light and movement.

You know it when you see it. KITSCH. It’s infected type design, too. Witness some of the film titles from old black & white movies. Titles for movies such as Santa Fe Trail had slab serif type; other movies with international characters were announced with stereotypical “ethnic” display typefaces. KITSCH represents anything and everything that just screams pretentious, bad taste.

It’s true, bad taste, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder – one man’s stylish individuality is another man’s eyesore. But herein lies a distinction: while individual taste is subjective and trends are disseminated by one source or a few, kitsch is recognizable by the many. There are a few exceptions, but once a general consensus is reached by a widespread population that something is kitschy, the more people are biased against it - thankfully.

Title card for the movie Sante Fe Trail, 1940

Title card for the Charlie Chan movie The Shanghai Cobra, 1945

KITSCH

Kitsch. Think Harlequin romance novel covers. Christmas ball earrings. Animal print upholstery in pink Cadillacs. Little sleeping Mexican statues. A million different ceramic knick-knacks to choose from. So-called “vintage shops” thrive off of selling this type of stuff.

ULTICULTURALIS

Multiculturalism seeks to give recognition to works of art originating from non-European cultures. During the time of its emergence, a dramatic influx of non-Caucasian immigrants

Having begun in and around the late 1980s,

coming to America often triggered racist responses and in turn, exhibitions began in earnest to reveal works from little-known artists of varying caultures. This was in an effort to raise public awareness about the fresh, diverse sources from which art could be produced and appreciated. Due to the advances of technology and the global transmission of information now possible, design has taken advantage of this new age of communication. Large companies usually rely on design to promote their products across multinational barrieres. To the average observer, it would seem that this has expanded the term multiculturalism to mean the use of cultural images and themes from non-European sources. Upon further inspection, however, sometimes the intent of these multinational corporations is not necessarily true to the original puropose of showcasing the artwork (and by association, the values) of other cultures. Rather, the true purpose here is to appeal to the global mass market at large in order to potentially increase profit. HSBC Bank strives in its product offerings and advertising to demonstrate its extensive reach across many different cultures. Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. HSBCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international network comprises around 9,500 offices in 85 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. It has listings on the London, Hong Kong, New York, Paris and Bermuda stock exchanges. Image Source: http://yourpointofview.com/

the late 1960s to be able to reach their audiences with a more direct form of communication. As there is a myriad of ways to reach an audience, this art form has become enormously open-ended. The first generation of performance artsists during the late 1960s into the early 1970s generally took place in galleries or outdoor sites, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few days, bore little resemblance to theater or dance, and were rarely intended to be repeated. The second generation of performance artists emerged in the late 1970s, and employed theaters, clubs, videotape and film to exhibit their work. Going into the 21st century, Performance Art has even been expanded to outdoor venues. Thus it has come to be referred to as art activities that are presented before a live audience, encompassing elements of music, dance, poetry, theater and video. Suburban New York native Criss Angel began cultivating an interest in music and in magic at an early age. He began by performing tricks for his family, but soon moved on to showcasing his abilities at nightclubs. He also formed a band called AngelDust, and played in local bars and clubs. Eventually, Angelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skill and notoriety as an illusionist earned him a gig in the World of Illusion show at Madison Square Garden in 1998. This led to his own show on Broadway, which he called Mindfreak. After some of his performances were taped and made into TV specials, he was offered his own show, which had the same title. Criss Angel: Mindfreak began airing on A&E in 2005. Filmed in Las Vegas, and it featured him impressing and sometimes frightening patrons of the Aladdin Hotel (and later the Luxor Hotel) with seemingly impossible tricks that included levitation, walking on water, and sawing himself in half. Angel has been honored with the Magician of the Year award from the Academy of Magical Arts, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s published a book, -Mindfreak: Secret Revelations, in which he explains how to accomplish some of his simpler illusions, like making a Styrofoam cup float in midair. http://www.crissangel.com/mindfreak http://www.starpulse.com/Notables/Angel_Criss/Pictures/

PERFORMANCE ART

The catalyst for Performance Art was the desire had by artists in

OLITICAL AR

Political artwork offers a

perspective, direct or indirect, from a positive or critical viewpoint, on social relations. In modern times, it has most often dealt with overtly “hot-button” or inflammatory issues that society frequently wrestles with. It is most often used to express criticism of the status quo, and is a challenge issued to local and national governments: institute change immediately or be humiliated in the annals of public art.

The Government Has Blood on Its Hands Originally published in 1988, Gran Fury, offset lithography, 31” x 49”. Gran Fury did a number of works, including this one, expressing their outrage towards the AIDS pandemic, and to point out the U.S. government’s lack of action towards finding a cure or informing the public. They also aimed to push various individuals such as then-president Ronald Reagan, New York Mayor at the time Ed Koch, and religious leader John Cardinal O’Connor to address the AIDS pandemic in a more practical, open way, as well as to inform the public on the importance of safer sex and clean needles. Image Source: http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/f/feminism.html

Do Women have to be Naked to Get into the Met Museum? Originally published in 1989, Guerrilla Girls, advertisement. Asked to design a billboard for the Public Art Fund in New York, the feminist group Guerrilla Girls submitted this design. The PAF said it, “wasn’t clear enough,” and rejected it. The group then paid to post it on NYC buses, until the release was canceled, saying that the image, based on the famous painting entitled Grande Odalisque painted by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1814), was too suggestive and that the figure appeared to have more than a fan in her hand. Image Source: http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/f/feminism.html

The term first

appeared in Britain during the 1950s and referred to the interest of a number of artists in the images of

mass media, advertising, comics and consumer products. By the end of the 1950s, Americans owned more than 50 million TVs, rock and

OP AR

roll became the music that symbolized a generation of young people and a consumer boom was underway. Pop Art therefore coincided

with the youth, cultural, music and visual phenomena of the 1950s and ‘60s. Independent artists aimed at broadening taste into more popular, less academic art and often used pre-existing images that were widely know to the public. For example, Andy Warhol’s work ranged from celebrating consumerism in a tribute to Campbell’s Soup to immortalizing Marilyn Monroe in another tribute. James Rosenquist’s President Elect combined the glamorous face of John F. Kennedy with the side of a 1950s car and a hand holding a piece of cake painted in grey as if it were a black-and-white photograph. As another example, Roy Lichtenstein’s The Kiss series in the 1960s revealed the pervasiveness of comic book phenomena in American society at that time. Robert Rauschenberg found his signature by embracing materials traditionally outside of the artist’s reach. He would cover a canvas with house paint, or ink the wheel of a car and run it over paper to create a drawing, while demonstrating rigor and concern for formal painting.

Overall, these artists had a

common interest in the popular culture of

the times. The perceived difference between high and low culture certainly has not

disappeared; it is the perceived preferences of the public which have changed. What has

occurred over time is that economic distinctions have blurred as the typically bourgeois

status assigned to the middle class has been gradually squeezed beyond recognition

between the rich upper class and the poor. Despite the fact that, with an elementary

education, the lower classes might have an appreciation for high forms of art, as these art

forms become financially inaccessible to more and more people, the more acceptable

pop art will probably become.

Roy Lichtenstein, Kiss V, 1964 http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolluz/2511388883/

STYLE

a call to arms!

A movement is a reaction, It can occur in an instant when, finally, someone makes a breakthrough discovery or decides that it is necessary to operate outside of a norm that has been sustained for way too long. The Art Deco movement came about because someone finally had enough of the flowing, organic forms of Art Nouveau.

style

In contrast, is forever etched in an era - we cannot place Victorian posters or bottle labels in any historical context other than the 1800s for example. A so-called “modernist movement” can happen a hundred times across a hundred years, but the Constructivist style could only have occurred in the early 1900s and erupted within what was a state of Soviet unrest.

Design of the Victorian era was decoratively decadent in its time; however, a design which includes too many different typefaces seems like an eyesore by today’s standards. Nowadays, when it comes to the barrage of information thrown at us daily in our surrounding visuals, it pays to make a design more minimalist than saturated. The nineteenth-century rise in consumerism in Great Britain heralded the standardization of typefaces and designs to keep up with higher competition amongst and demand for consumer products. For America, there was less emphasis on typography and greater emphasis on raising the quality of illustration and the introduction of color printing (chromolithography) as an enhanced means of reproduction. Thus, the more decorative a design was, the more lavish it was considered. Mrs. S. A. Allen’s, advertisement c. 1880. Designer Unknown

While it is true that revivals happen from time to time, these are merely echoes, shadows of the past. They are used to evoke nostalgia, provide ties from the past to the current state of events, and are the whims of design contemporaries who fancy a look back at previous style time periods. * Image source: Heller, Steven, and Louise Fili. Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999. p. 23

Section 3: Graphic Design Styles

ONSTRUCTIVIS

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Title: no meat Artist: Unknown, username sticky_fingers on flickr.com

DADAISM

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stickypics/5989529/in/set-149895/

UBIS

Objects in cubist artworks are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. Instead of depicting objects from a single viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes often mesh with one another to create a shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism’s distinct characteristics. The first period of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 in France. This period analyzed the planes of subject matter from several points of view and used these perceptions to construct a painting composed of rhythmic geometric planes. Shapes, colors, textures and values were used in spatial relationships, and there was a concentration on evoking active interpretation from the viewer. The usage and positioning of simple shapes stimulates the process of human vision as it works to combine the fragments of simple shapes into a whole. The genesis of this phase of the movement was a series of works by the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) that applied elements of ancient Iberian and African art to the human figure. Soon a joint effort came to life between Picasso and his close associate Georges Braque, then residents of Montmartre, Paris. After meeting in 1907, these artists became the movement’s main innovators, working closely together until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The movement spread quickly throughout Paris and Europe. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, (using synthetic materials to produce art) the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919. Spanish painter Juan Gris was a major contributor as the design elements in his work were studies in the relationships between geometric planes laid across a gridwork based on golden section proportions. Here, the focus was on depicting the essence of a subject, rather than its outward appearance. Joby Cummings Creative consultant, designer and illustrator with over 15 years experience in conventional illustration and design. Known as username “jabwai” on flickr.com Art and Soul Tattoo Co., 2604 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 http://www.artandsoul.net/#/jobycummings/4515827733 Personal websites: vertigolab.com/ myspace.com/jobyc jabwai@gmail.com Page left, work entitled, “Greg’s Cubism” This page, work entitled, “Crane Cubism”

Some believe that the roots of cubism are also to be found in the two distinct tendencies of Paul Cézanne during the later part of his work: firstly to break the painted surface into small multifaceted areas of paint, thereby emphasizing the plural viewpoint given by binocular vision, and secondly his interest in the simplification of natural forms into cylinders, spheres, and cones. However, the cubists explored this concept further than Cézanne. They represented all the surfaces of depicted objects in a single picture plane, as if the objects had all their faces visible at the same time. Artist Fernand Léger, for example, produced works that exhibited this quality with a high level of notoriety. This new kind of depiction revolutionized the way in which objects could be visualized in painting and art. Léger and others like him essentially paved the way for geometric letterforms and simplified modernist pictorial graphics that followed world War I. r

In Italy from about 1909 to 1944,

a culture shock emerged from the idea

that the future of art and design were linked to modern techonology. This revolutionary spirit was embodied in the glorification of the automobile and the airplane - symbols of

industrialization and progress. Speed was the buzzword that described a society in motion, ready to move forward;

so the new expressions of Futurist painting and typography, for example, sought to portray the movement of objects and words within space. The density of typographical noise became deafening with expressions of motion and energy with italics, boldface and an amalgam of other type contrasts all on the same page. The tried-and-true central-axis composition of previous times was left behind for dynamic assymetry instead. As a term coined by Filippo Tomasso Marinetti, Futurism brought life to a new way of representing reality in various fields, including painting, architecture, music, theatre, literature and sculpture, while casting aside the static, romantic and irrelevant art of the past. The desire for change that the Futurists sought in culture and society was the catalyst for the

deafening!

expression of new ideas and new methods of expressing them.

Marinetti was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1876, into a wealthy,northern Italian family. Surprisingly, he rejected bourgeios materialism in favor of the emerging Fascism of the time under the rule of Benito Mussolini. As a young writer, Marinetti grew up in a Paris under the influence of Symbolism and he believed that revolutionary poetry should be written as parole in liberta (words-in-freedom, also known as vers libre). This approach freed the

He published his first manifesto, Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting, in the prestigious Le Figaro newspaper, on February 20th,1909.

imagination from syntax, punctuation, adjectives and adverbs.

The manifesto was signed by five Milanese painters: Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carra, Luigi Russolo, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini, who were attracted by Marinetti’s ideas. Then the Futurist revolution in poetry got fully under way in 1912 with the Technical Manifesto of Futurist Literature and a string of other manifestoes. These publications introduced a string of formal innovations which sought to free poetic imagination, renew human sensibilities, and express the infinite range of sensations and experiences. As an artist and literary entrepreneur Marinetti knew about the importance of publicity. Convinced that without the right kind of promotion, artistic ideas would not receive the response they deserved, he organized Futurist soirees. There were evening performances at which manifestos were read, poetry was denounced and Futurist music was played.

The Futurists were involved in a variety of other activities, such as music and performance theatre or “Futurist synthesis”. The syntheses were flowery love scenes set on the actors’ heads; others were events glimpsed through an apartment window; furniture talked ; and some scenes show only the legs of the performers. They staged outrageous cabaret shows with men and women in mechanical costumes playing weird invented instruments and sometimes actors even invaded the audience.

They also disrupted museum shows and opera performances and staged guerilla events in public squares, singing, shouting and showering theatres with leaflets stating their goals.

These tactics were designed as much to aggravate the public as to inform it.

The actions of the Futurists put into practice the theories that they had about freedom of expression. Their extreme measures have paved the way for the renewal of typography, the innovation of film and theatre, and applications in the

music industry all the way into the 21st century...

RISM

As indicated by the author, poem about a guy in an asylum that falls in love with a new patient, and she is utterly insane. Done in the futurist type style similar to Filippo Marinetti. Artist is a graphic designer from Decatur, IL known as username e11even462 on flickr.com Vector art uploaded to the site as of Feb. 1, 2008

NTERNATIONA

International Typography

The emergence of heralded the adherence to a grid layout and the global elevation of sans serif type. It also coincides with the development of some legendary typefaces. Akzidenz Grotesk was used extensively in the preliminary work of collaborators and former Bauhaus students Theo Ballmer (1902-1965) and Max Bill (19081994), who fled to Switzerland following the closing of the school in lieu of the oppressive Nazi party. The font was later remade into Neue Haas Grotesk, so named for the Haas type foundry in Switzerland. The font’s identity changed yet again once it was reproduced in Germany by D. Stempel foundry in 1961 and as Helvetica it permeated the print production of businesses around the globe. Type designer Adrian Frutiger produced Univers, the first type family that was so greatly comprehensive with its varying weights and heights. In later collaboration with the Linotype Foundry, the Univers font family was completely redesigned and to-date, it contains 59 faces with uniquely numbered weight, width, position combinations.

The preliminary foundation for the International Typographic style set forth by Ballmer and Bill was constructed of sans serif type and adhered to a strictly mathematical grid in a flush left, ragged right format. As opposed to the conventional paragraph indent, these gentlemen introduced the use of an “interval space” instead, which is still used by many print periodicals today. A clear type hierarchy was tangible usually by dealing with only a single type family to serve all the basic needs of a design. Gone were the divisions across a layout using geometric shapes, rules and bars; these, too, were seen as irrelevant and unnecessary. Contributions by Max Huber proved to be innovative as the movement progressed further. While still adhering to what really was a rigid framework initially set forth by Balmer and Bill, Huber’s work incorporated transparent colors and the use of photography and montage. These elements were successful in that they provided more visually compelling material to be absorbed by the viewer. The International Typographic style became divided into two separate Swiss schools: the Gewerbeschule in Basel, led by Armin Hofmann and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Zurich, led by Joseph Muller-Brockmann. The rivalry between the two schools stems from the two different leadership approaches: Hofmann’s purely typographical experiments in contrasts, textures and scale (especially involving the Univers font) between various design elements versus Muller-Brockmann’s exploration of photography and montage. Overall, the new style was perfectly suited to the increasingly global postwar marketplace. Corporations needed international identification and global events such as the Olympics called for universal solutions which the Typographic Style could provide. Thus the use of the International Typographic Style spread rapidly throughout the world. In the U.S., Hofmann’s Basel design school later established a link with the Yale School of Design, which became the leading American center for the new style. /

Image sources: http://www.2wf.org/d-logos/deutsche-bank-db.html http://philip.greenspun.com/images/200102-e10-london

TYPOGRAPHY

Deutsche Bank uses Univers in its logo, brochures and other public information materials. Univers Bold Condensed is also widely used across a number of boroughs in London for street signs.

Modernist pictorial graphics in Europe focused on the total integration of word and image, which

ICTORIA

became one of the most enduring currents of twentieth-century graphic design. Initially influenced by cubism and constructivism, this genre strove to toe the line between symbolic images and visual organization sufficient enough to be read clearly by mass audiences.

The approach was a response to the communications needs of World War I

and is actually said to have begun with the advertising work of the Beggarstaffs in Britain.

During the 1890s brothers-in-law William Nicholson and James Pryde concentrated mainly on

printmaking and designing posters under the joint name of J.& W. Beggarstaff. As academically

trained painters, their work usually became the expression of an inner world rather than the

representation of reality. The depiction of absence rather than presence, was years ahead of

thought-provoking work which would characterize later twentieth-century painting.

Influenced by the brief yet cutting edge work of the Beggarstaffs, Plakatsil emerged as a

reductive, flat-color method of design in Germany. The Sach plakat style was soon to follow

suit in Switzerland. Lucian Bernhard spearheaded the German effort with his 1905 Priester

matches poster. His style of combining a trade name or company name in large letters placed against a spacious background with a limited color palette was instrumental in shaping the style of product advertizing posters. Thus, the Priester matches poster was stripped down to its barest essentials: the product was advertized as two red matches, the company name in block letters, and a dark background. Similarly, his work for companies such as Bosch, Manoli Cigarettes and Stiller Shoes are noted for their simple images and dramatic use of flat color against pale, monochrome backgrounds. His success as a poster designer enabled him to successfully bridge into type design, furniture design as well as fashion and packaging design. His type designs include Bernhard Antiqua, Bernhard Fraktur, Bernhard Roman, Bernhard Cursive and Bernhard Brush Script for the Bauer Type Foundry. Once he moved to New York in 1923, he continued his poster work and designed the typefaces Bernhard Fashion, Bernhard Gothic and Bernhard Tango for the American Type Foundry. As another contributor to the poster medium, A. M. Cassandre became an important designer who revolutionized French advertising art. He used powerful imagery, dramatic in its use of exaggerated vanishing point perspective and large areas filled with contrasting colors.

centered on imagery iconic of defeating the Allied foes. The work of Hans Rudi Erdt, Otto Lehmann and many others often featured the destruction of enemy symbols or flags and served to glorify the Nazi Party. On the Allied side, more literal illustrations were the mainstay and most imagery was meant to appeal very abruptly and directly to the viewer. Frontal-facing images and direct questions aimed at the viewer often appeared as in the work of Joseph C. Leyendecker and James Montgomery Flagg, among others. Pictorial Modernism went on to play a major role in defining the visual sensibilities of the affluent 1920s and economically bleak 1930s. It retained sufficient momentum to provide graphic solutions to communications needs right up to World War II and beyond. C

MODERISM

During World War I, the poster became the tool of choice for war propaganda. On the one hand, the German war effort posters

A construction worker (top right) stands on a rooftop of a building behind a Johnnie Walker whiskey ad with a twist on their classic campaign â&#x20AC;&#x153;Keep Walkingâ&#x20AC;?, in downtown Beirut. This latest ad shows a destroyed bridge, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 80 bridges destroyed in Lebanon during the 34-day Israeli offensive, sparked by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in a Hezbollah cross-border raid on July 12, 2008. The war left 1,300 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians, as well as 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. More than 900,000 people were displaced in bombardments estimated by economists to have cost Lebanon at least three billion dollars in lost infrastructure. Photo courtesy of Getty Images, September 2006

Image Source: http://www.daylife.com/photo/0guvd1j1oz4o3

AUHA

st arti the man . n ee raf t s etw e b l ted c c n a e re a n e x diff i a l r t i st i s t to n e a fes ani ess . the m o n n s a s hau tsm re i bau the e craf h t and the

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as wii it of w o r y a s d n t e s i e l h h a. ’s at t many’s pheav t ion r a u e l f e s i s i n g u l t u ra s t r i a l i z a t e d u r dc cri ind ] i t teoment of olitical ans well as use b g o h = usin c e d wa s a m n o m i c , p i s su e s a n aus ig n s d a s s h e e s o + i e i r y d p o i nte ld) e r d . t h of e c t h e s c to bui the ex pally ende termath resolve e fa w a s a p e r of = to u d q n i y. g o f a e r n t u a s e t u u h s i u the m t academ a y his (ba ” a c e l m i ng u s n e s p s r n g . r o s n a o a f by n ar nd m ll w gr ildi et i c rwh scio n ow = bu e r e fo r m e d e w e i m a r e w e r k b u r e i n s g e r t o e n d a t h a n ove a r e d c o n i g n a e s t h t lly k l au a a b n v r h e sh wi tio cti sch ok th dt ,w des e “ wa f ro m rna eut eel olle l an n ew v i su a l gled i c h rt , an, l e d i n t e a n d st n e w c s c h o o s to r u g ro s e a t h u t m n i t r s a o p s o of ge ts fa fts re a , gr s t a w fo r s h o i n a glas s: [ als do c ra f fe c the this d a s ide hau h ea s a n d se e o u e r t e a kno h e h t r t d t b arts n rio adv me a r a f ro m ame p a c m f i n e u to p i a n i e e e b e d g h we a t h n i t i c e h s e w on e c h a i i d t o d t , i r nc au s l wh on: ng s b o r ove r a d fu issi h o o e b au h r k a l o n c m a e s l e rm th litt wo n ew s . a t u l d n o w o t h e s a m w h i c h fo he u of t a t n i h wo b a ulied arts dedicatedw society d. e e p t t ra an ap f fo r ate e i nteg te c re join m o t o c i re be des ruly ld t u o c

: 19

the bauhaus philosophy made the distinction between clarity of message and beauty; its utilitarianism, however, was not just simply a lack of pretentious decoration. the basic idea of the bauhaus teaching concept was the unity of artistry and practicality. every student had to complete a compulsory preliminary course, after which he or she had to enter a workshop of his or her choice. there were several types of workshops available: metal, wood sculpture, glass painting, weaving, pottery, furniture, cabinet making, three-dimensional work, typography, wall painting, and some others. the bauhaus aestethic showed a simple sophistication with emphasis on straight edges and smooth, slim forms in its architecture. the idea was to provide sustainable, high quality mass-produced furniture that would exist in harmonious environmental spaces at an affordable cost. in the print realm, it represented a separate feng shui movement of sorts, creating a harmony among all type, space and image elements. sans-serif typefaces, light-sensitive paper, exaggerated viewpoints and the camera all became new weapons of choice, among others, in the print designer’s arsenal. experimentation with visual hierarchies, layout divisons and dynamic offset compositions abounded. standardization of type sizes, rules, and the use of a grid system culminated to form a more formal, more organized curriculum. the initial administrative structure at the school upended what was considered the traditional school model. workshops replaced studios; upper and lower classmates were now designated as apprentices and journeymen. they were taught, not by professors, but by masters. later on, when the stringent weimar government forced the relocation of the school to dessau, the school’s vision shifted from romanticized medievalism and expressionism towards more technologically motivated design. masters were now called professors, and the titles of journeymen an apprentice were abandoned. the remake of the school seal at this time also reflected the school’s new demeanor; the school’s arts and crafts tendencies were replaced by applied-design sensibilities and machine-like forms. in addition, the was the publication of bauhaus magazine and the bauhausbucher, a series of bauhaus books, 14 in total. furthermore, the bauhaus corporation was estabilshed to handle the sale of workshop, prototypes to industry. through its periodicals and its solid organization, an abundance of innovative design flooded twentieth-century furniture, architecture, environmental spaces and typography. craftsmen and artists alike were part of the school’s stellar faculty. as the master in charge of the metalwork department at the weimar bauhaus, christian dell (1893-1974) was functionalist innovator and a key figure in the development of industrial lighting. ludwig mies van der rohe attempted to create universal, simplified architecture for which his motto “less is more” became famous. following a brief year or so of interim administration, he was appointed as director of the bauhaus in dessau in 1930 after walter gropius resigned his position in 1928 to pursue a private practice in architecture. herbert bayer, formerly a student, was later appointed director of the dessau typography and graphic design workshop. under his direction, the workshop achieved many innovations while helping to balance the bauhaus budget as it solicited printing orders from nearby dessau businesses. bayer’s invention of a universal typeface was considered a breakthrough that was in line with gropius’ “form follows function” model - it was sans-serif and contained no capital letters, which reduced the alphabet to clear, communicative forms. laszlo moholy-nagy raised the stakes of innovation with his typophoto, photogram and photoplastics. former student marcel breuer became a pioneer in finding new ways to produce furniture. the idea behind this new aesthetic was to built cheap and beautiful homes, and to take advantage of the possibilities of mass production to achieve a style of design that was both functional and aesthetic. other main contributors included johannes itten, who initiated the preliminary curriculum course at the school, painters paul klee and wassily kandinsky, and joost schmidt, also a former student who later took over herbert bayer’s position and designed exhibition posters for the school. under pressure from the nazi party, the school finally was forced to close its doors in the summer of 1933. much of the faculty brought the bauhaus philosophy to america as they fled nazi persecution. laszlo moholy-nagy established the new bauhaus, now known as the institute of design in chicago. thus the legacy of achievement for which the bauhaus school stood carried over into american design following wwii and beyond.

In May 2007, Honda’s focus on their strengths in racing and the use of the red H badge became part of the company image known as “Hondamentalism”. The campaign highlights the lengths that Honda engineers go to in order to get the most out of an engine, whether it is for bikes, cars, powerboats — even lawnmowers. The digital campaign at the Hondamentalism website aims to show how visitors to the site share many of the Hondamentalist characteristics.

Image Sources: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/655360/W-K-focuses-Hondamentalism-Civic-Type-R/ http://ww1.honda.co.uk/hondamentalism/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda

References Book Sources: Atkins, Robert. Artspeak: A Guide to Contemporary Ideas, Movements, and Buzzwords. New York: Abbeville Press, 1990 Heller, Steven, and Gail Anderson. New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000 American Heritage Dictionary, 4th ed.

Online References: Deconstructivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism http://www.architypes.net/pattern/deconstructivism http://www.answers.com/topic/deconstructivism-2#1988_MOMA_exhibition Abstract Expressionism http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism Avant garde National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - http://www.nga.gov/feature/manet/ tdef_avant.htm http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-definition-of-avant-garde.htm http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/design/d5-2.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant_garde Conceptualism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_art Minimalism http://www.artcyclopedia.com/history/minimalism.html Op Art http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op_art

Comic Art http://www.answers.com/topic/comics http://www.comic-art.com/history.htm http://www.aaacaricatures.com/comicbookarthistory.html http://www.collectortimes.com/~comichistory/Platinum.html http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/comics.htm Multiculturalism http://www.kutztown.edu/paea/publicat/journal/vol_02/multicultural.html Pop Art http://www.artchive.com/artchive/pop_art.html Bauhaus http://www.bauhausclassics.com/about_bauhaus.cfm http://www.germanculture.com.ua/library/weekly/aa022101a.htm Futurism http://www.unknown.nu/futurism/ (Manifestoes) http://www.zakros.com/jhu/apmSu03/discussiontopic_2.html International Typography http://www.internationalposter.com/style_primer/international-typographic.aspx

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