Modernism

Modernism

Modernism started in the beginning of the 20th Century. It led to certain developments such as the International Typographie style in Switzerland and Corporate Identity in America after the 50's.

The term modern is referred to a period from the 1860's till the 1970's. Modernism combines functionalism and rationalism.

Jan Tschichold

He was born in 1902. His first career was a calligrapher for advertisements. Jan was one of the influences in the 20th Century of Typography. He started to work on typography at an early age.

His new typography included sans-serif which used Blackletter. He was a typographer, book and typeface designer and writer. He will apply the developments of the Bauhaus printers, typesetters and designers.

He was a propagandist for the new movement in typography. Jan used geometrical elements for his everyday job and for cinema posters. He moved to Switzerland due to pressure from the Nazis in 1928.

He published a book called The New Typography. In this book, he emphasized the importance of: asymmetry, sans-serif type, reduction of form to basic geometry, preference for single case and the use of photographs and illustrations.

Isotype is a picture method of presenting linked information a word language without words.


Piet Zwart

He was an artist and a designer. He was named after a dutch designer. He was a photographer, typographer, industrial designer and critic. At the age of 36, he produced his first typographic work. He likes the ideas that Theo van Doesburg and De Stijl had.

This work above was influenced by El Lissitzky’s “About 2 Squares” which had been published by Van Doesburg in 1922. The letter N is used for the 3 words. In the 1920's, Zwart experimented with typography and he didn't know about the methods and te difference between lower and upper case. In 1926 he did his first integrated image with 2D and 3D.

He first worked with commercial photographers but then he did his own photographies. His photographic techniques were: repetition, balance, lines and detail. When he designed the book, "TT," he wanted it to have bright colours.

Bibliography:

Modernism - Literature Periods & Movements. 2014. Modernism - Literature Periods & Movements. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.online-literature.com/periods/modernism.php. [Accessed 09 November 2014].

Jan Tschichold : Design Is History. 2014. Jan Tschichold : Design Is History. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.designishistory.com/1920/jan-tschichold/. [Accessed 09 November 2014].


Richard Hollis: the brilliance of typographer Jan Tschichold | Art and design | theguardian.com . 2014. Richard Hollis: the brilliance of typographer Jan Tschichold | Art and design | theguardian.com . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/dec/05/jan-tschichold-typography. [Accessed 09 November 2014].


Piet Zwart - iconofgraphics.com. 2014. Piet Zwart - iconofgraphics.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.iconofgraphics.com/piet-zwart/. [Accessed 18 November 2014].

Bauhaus

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was founded by Gropius in 1919 in Germany. It included fine arts and design education together. Some of the artists were: Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Josef Albers.

The Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925 where a new building was built.

"If today's arts love the machine, technology and organization, if they aspire to precision and reject anything vague and dreamy, this implies an instinctive repudiation of chaos and a longing to find the form appropriate to our times," Oskar Schlemmer.

In the 20th Century, the Bauhaus was one of the most influential art school. It had a major impact on Europe and US. The word,''Bauhaus,'' means house of building. Gropius wanted some respect for craft and technique in all types of media. The Bauhaus

had all types of media such as: Typography, Graphic design, Media, Industrial design, Interior design, Architecture and Fine arts.

Why was the Bauhaus Movement so Important for Modern Architecture?

For the building, they preferred to use only primary colours with geometric shapes. Their aim was to create products wit simple shapes and easy to produce. Below is an example of a simple chair.

Courses were also held at the Bauhaus for the students to have a basic education about art. In the 1924 till 1928 was the most important time for the Bauhaus because Theo van Doesburg influenced them during De Stijl movement. The school had a strong understanding of basic design due to the, 'Form follows function,' theory. They had an understanding of: composition, colour and discipline.

Klee thaught the students about colours which were going to change the ideas in the 20th Century.

The Nazi put on pressure on the Bauhaus and Gropius resigned. Its structure became less rigid and Meyer wanted to decorate the walls and the furniture.

Wassily Kandinsky thought the form theory and colour so that they can understand abstraction. Kandinsky believed that the primary colours were the most important to create a composition.

Moholy Nagy was also an important artist who used to be interested in the concepts of space and about photography.

Herbert Bayer
Herbert made the Bauhaus font called Universal. The font was simple, sans-serif and it complemented the Bauhaus style. The title of the font itself meant that anyone can read it because it's rounded and easy to read.

Nowadays, thanks to the Bauhaus, we can see the connection between design and functionality.

Bibliography:

The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2014. The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm. [Accessed 04 November 2014].

Bauhaus Dessau : Home : Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. 2014. Bauhaus Dessau : Home : Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/english/home.html. [Accessed 04 November 2014].


Bauhaus Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. 2014. Bauhaus Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm. [Accessed 04 November 2014].


. 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.architectweekly.com/2012/12/why-was-bauhaus-style-so-important.html. [Accessed 04 November 2014].


The Bauhaus Art Movement. 2014. The Bauhaus Art Movement. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abstract-art-framed.com/bauhaus.html. [Accessed 04 November 2014].


Know your design history: The Bauhaus Movement - Designer Blog. 2014. Know your design history: The Bauhaus Movement - Designer Blog. [ONLINE] Available at: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/08/15/know-your-design-history-the-bauhaus-movement/. [Accessed 04 November 2014].

Art Deco

Art Deco

Art Deco emerged from France in the 1920's, it varies from fine art to fashion, film, photography, transport and product design. Some characteristics of Egypt became very popular such as: hieroglyphics, scarabs, flowers, lotus and pyramids.

In Greece and Rome, Art Deco was also popular. Carl Milles and Paul Manshi were 2 artists who experimented with classical nude while other artists experimented with simplicity.  

In China and Japan, Art Deco was also influenced. It was expressed through traditional materials. Their properties in Art Deco were: polished surfaces and colours such as the Chinese jade and Japanese Lacquer. They used geometric forms of East Asian.

Art Deco was also in Africa, which was provided with the richest sources. They had bold, abstract, geometric zigzags, hatch marks, circles and triangles of African textiles. Jean Lambert-Rucki and Pierre Legrain were two African artists who produced African-inspired sculpture and furniture.

For example this Chrysler building which was built in 1928 was inspired from Art Deco. Art deco buildings which were from Art Deco usually had: Cubic forms, Ziggurat shapes: Terraced pyramid with each story smaller than the one below it,Complex groupings of rectangles or trapezoids, Bands of color, Zigzag designs, Strong sense of line and Illusion of pillars.


Art Deco designers used to draw on the art of Maya and Aztec to create different forms but North Americans and South Americans saw this particular art as something different than they used to do the

Europeans.

 

The image on the right top is from the film Great Gatsby because the film had Art Deco inspirations such as the clothes, building and era.

Art Deco's design were inspired from: Ancient Egyptian and Mayan civilizations, Tribal Art, Surrealism, Futurism, Neo-Classisism, Geometric Abstraction, Popular culture, Russian ballet companies and Modernists-Josef Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd and Adolf Loos.


Some of the materials that the Art Deco used were: Ivory, Enamel, Shagreen, Ebony and Mother of pearl.


Jean Carlu

He was born in France in Bonnieres. He came from a family of architects. His early work was inspired from Cubism, as one can see from the geometric shapes that Picasso used to draw. He produced the latter in the US. In poster form, Cubism and Surrealism were under the influence of Andre Breton and Yves Tanguy. Some innovations were: The introduction of photomontage, the use of 3D elements in poster design and the use of electric lightbulbs in posters.

Bibliography:

• Art Deco: Global Inspiration - Victoria and Albert Museum. 2014. Art Deco: Global Inspiration - Victoria and Albert Museum. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/art-deco-global-inspiration/. [Accessed 28 October 2014].
• School notes
• Search Artists / American Art. 2014. Search Artists / American Art. [ONLINE] Available at: http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=749. [Accessed 01 November 2014].
• The Art of Jean Carlu - Dieselpunks. 2014. The Art of Jean Carlu - Dieselpunks. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/the-art-of-jean-carlu. [Accessed 01 November 2014].