Discuss
the term modernism in relation to at least one key movement in graphic design
in the period before 1960. Your essay should consider the relation between
progressive trends in the fine arts and the wider context of graphic design
Modernism in graphic design began
to Break through in the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century
“The term modernism refers to the radical shift in aesthetic and cultural
sensibilities evident in the art and literature of the post-World War One
period” (Modernist and the modern novel 2013) This quote expresses the term
modernism and how it became apparent during the War period. It is also a term
for the early 20th century avant-garde trends which was seen in the
visual arts. This included many different movements such as: Futurism in
Holland, Constructivism: Russian and international, Cubism: France and
international, Dadaism and purism. This essay will discuss the term
modernism in relation to a specific key movement in graphic design before the
1960’s. It will focus more closely on the movement Cubism and relate to other
key movements and acknowledge the progressive trends in the fine arts and in
the wider context of graphic design. I will go on to describe how
painting and cubism influenced graphic design and how the movement completely
changed and progressed the arts. I will discuss the different trends lead by
graphic design such as: the design of posters, journals, pamphlets, and all
manner of printed products and relate this to avant-garde trends and what Megg
calls “pictorial modernism.”
Throughout the years modern
painting began to influence the graphic industry as many painters started to
work in the graphic industry. This started in the early twentieth century which
led movements to erupt in the visual arts. A key trend in modern art began
which was known as Cubism. “Cubism was a truly revolutionary style of modern art developed by Pablo Picasso
and Georges Braques. Cubism evolved at the beginning of the 20th century”
(Cassandre 2013) This allows us to understand Cubism and how Cubism was formed
and developed. Cubism is a satirical term used to express and describe the
work of many painters. This began in France in the 1910’s and carried on
through to the 1920’s where the art was mainly produced in Paris. Cubism was
also known for being the first style of abstract art. This clearly shows
significant change in art and how it was influenced towards graphic design and
how it began a brand new trend which progressed dramatically. Many other artists
were inspired by this movement such as: Jean Metzinger and Albert Gleizes.
Albert Gleizes also developed his own personal style which had elements
of Cubism and Purism. Cubism was known to be a very complex style which
included the subject of everyday life. It was very disorientated and
accumulated many different perspectives “The Cubist painters rejected the
inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the
traditional techniques of perspective, modelling, and foreshortening”
(Heilbrunn Timeline of Art 2013) This quote signifies what cubist painters
aimed to achieve and how instead they wanted to focus of the two-dimensionality
of the canvas. Cubism became very modern and allowed painting to
influence graphic design which helped the graphics to expand.
As well as that Cubism was an
anti-realist tendency in painting that influenced key trends in the wider field
of the visual arts. This began and progressed in Europe and many other places
in the early years of the 20th century. Another key factor in Cubism is
seen through Braques work around 1913 where he makes pictures that have a very
shallow picture space. He abandons perspective as the object represented
becomes fragmented sequence of overlapping forms which connotes imbrication. It
is as if the objects are recalled at different times rather than being seen at
one moment. Braques image becomes very geometrical and abstracted. The
cubist seems to rewrite the rules of representation. Cubism related to the many
trends to which happened in the early stages of graphic design. These trends
were most printed products such as: Journals, Pamphlets and the great design of
posters. “By 1930, Modernism had entered popular culture.”(Cassandre
2013) This quote expresses the key trend of popular culture and modernism
through graphic design and the movement Cubism. An example of this is a
man named Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron also known as Cassandre who went from
painting to posters. The work which expresses this statement is his transport
posters. His posters portrayed luxury transport which connoted the life style
of his day. Étoile du Nord and Nord Express were two pieces of Cassandre’
stylised work of speeding trains. He used stencils and airbrushes to create
these ideas. His work represented the Cubism and Futurism styles of art work.
Futurism was very similar to cubism in terms of variation as it was the Italian
Variation of Cubism works. Cassandre’ style also had many connections with Art
Deco and pictorial modernism. “Art Deco was a fusion of various early twentieth
century styles: a combination of Art Nouveau’s stylized curves with the
geometric abstraction of Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism”(Cassandre 2013) This shows
how graphic design had become a part of many different movements .
Constructivism is a style of modern art that dated back from the early 1920’s.
It formed revolution due to every practice in the USSR (The Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics) which also relates to Art Deco. Art Deco is a very
commercialised decretive of this kind of extreme modernism It is also
mass-market modernism with many political ideas. Cassandre was also known
to be the designer of the different art deco typefaces such as: Bifur in
1929, Acier Noir in 1935 and Piegnot in 1937. This allows us to see
the progressive trends lead by graphic designers and how more and more ideas
were growing rapidly such as his serial poster idea which was also seen as
cubist work.
There was also a gradual change from
cubist distortion of form to abstract painting through the early 20th century.
Abstract art became a part of printed products. Many artists followed this work
such as: Mondrian who contributed to the De Stiji group and art movement and
the work of El Lissitsky in Russia who was known to be a constructivist. One of
Mondrians famous pieces which expressed modernist art and cubism was his
painting of the sea in 1912 which consisted of interlocking planes and
geometric shapes. Also the picture plane is acknowledged and its
flatness is more evident than it would be in realistic or traditional type’s pf
pictorial representation. Through his work we see a great progression to graphic
design and abstract modern art through his “composition with yellow, blue and
Red” which he produced n 1937-1944. Many painters such as Mondrian and El
Lissitisky turned to graphic media. This was due to the fact that they believed
it was more democratic and how it would reach a wider audience compared to the
audience of Gallery Art. Also abstraction was mainly associated with the
most jealous of extreme modernism such as artists like: DR. Const, De Stijl and
many more. This also relates to French purism which is seen as
commercially modern which is watered down for popular consumption.
Leading on from that, there were also artists who followed the movements
of dada which the statement can be defined as: “an art movement of the early 20th century.
This movement is described as a movement of artists against art.”(Artlyst 2013)
This quote connotes the definition of what Dadaism was. Dada and the
constructivist’s artists railed against “Gallery Art.” The reason for this is
because they believed that it was thought to be elitist. However these
particular types of artists did in fact embrace the artistic innovations in
cubism as well as the other key movements
Carrying on from that, there was also a
social aim to reach a wider public and a wider audience where designers needed
to maintain pictorial reference. New trends began again such as the printing of
small journals, posters, tickets and many more. Much of this went on in Germany
at the Bauhaus. “The complete building is the ultimate aim of all the visual
arts” (Meggs pg. 288 1992) the Bauhaus was a school that combined crafts as
well as the fine arts which was founded by a man named Walter Gropius. A
lot of these also went on in the political graphic of John Heart fields
work. John was an artist who used art as a political weapon. He was
best known for his work on exposing German Nazism in the 1930’s. An example of
this work is: Adolf, the Superman 1992) which was one of many famous
montages he had created. Not only was it a social aim to reach a wider public
but also a social aim of the Russian constructivists. This included artists
such as Lissitisky and Alexander Rochenko who both made very early paintings
which was seen to be connected with the futurism and cubism movements. An
example of a piece of work related to this is: Dobrolet 1923 by Rochenko which
expressed his graphic design work. These artists set trends in graphic design
as their work had progressed over the years. As well as that there was also a
significant influence on the futurist tinged work by the painter Kasimir
Malevich who was also known for his abstract style of art which fell into the
suprematism movement of which he was the originator of. Comparing this to the
work of Lissitisky abstraction it is very similar in the Russian context.
Furthermore, most off the artists
discussed above who were seen as painters in modern art, soon turned into
graphic designers? They were very progressive in terms of trends and talent and
were experimental in their approach to designing. A lot of artists believed
that their “modernist” approach was connected with revolutionary change in
society. Another key artist which shows modern art and graphic design is the
work of Fernand Leger whose work collides with purism as well as cubism. He
made paintings that were close to the modernist graphics in France in the
1920’s. He had a strong love for mechanical object, machines and technical
structure. This was round 1918 to 1923 which was called his “mechanical period”
A prime example of this is in his painting in 1920 called Mechanical
elements. This picture has elements of cubist ideas. It has
dots, circles, rectangles and black horizontal and vertical lines. The shapes
are brightly coloured and the picture was trying to express how technologies
were transforming the modern world. This expressed post-Cubist pictorial
modernism which was another key trend in graphics said by Megg. This idea
relates to the “British painters James Pryde (1866–1941) and William Nicholson
(1872–1949)” (Meggs Chapter 14 2011) their work was powerful, colourful with
shapes and silhouettes. This was influenced by modern art and the war. During
World War one graphics and posters was a form of communication medium where
words and images were integrated which shown progression in the graphic trends
and propaganda.
There was also a great development in
graphic design and early cubism. We can see that through the likes of Picasso’s
early cubist work to the more or less abstract, decorative imagery in the
1920’s of work by Mondrian. The development was seen through landscape art to
pure abstractions. As well as that the Journal design created by De Stijl
represents the development and shift towards geometrical purity. Aesthetic
puritanism is a characteristic of the most avant-garde trends and developments
in graphics in the early twentieth century which was influenced by modernist
tendencies in art. Hard line modernists such as De Stijl, Bauhaus,
Russian constructivists, Jan Tschichold the typographer banished realism and
decoration. Tshichod explored a new approach to graphic design “The
person who applied these new design approaches to everyday design problems and
explained them to a wide audience of printers, typesetters and designers was
Jan Tschichold” (Meggs pg.297) His work was seen as avant-garde and he created
new typography in a modern manner. Many artists turned to graphics as a medium
that is integrated with everyday life. They were seen as idealists but
found themselves drawn into commercial design. These particular artists
began even more trends.
In conclusion Modern painting influenced
the graphic industry in many ways. Their was a progression in trends in
graphic design and many key movements were a part of this. This essay discussed
modernism in terms of the key movement Cubism in the period before 1960. It
also discussed other key movements such as: Futurism, Dadaism, Purism, and
Constructivism. It expressed the different trends lead by graphic design such
as: the design of posters, journals, pamphlets, and all manner of printed
products and related to avant-garde trends and what Megg calls “pictorial
modernism.” It also discussed how cubism influenced graphic design and
how the movement completely changed the arts. I looked at key examples of
artists work and artists themselves. Such as: Picasso, Braques, Cassandre,
Mondrian, De Stijl, Lissitsky and many more. It explained cubism and the
progression in graphic design and analysed what key factors of cubist work.
Over all there has been a significant change in graphic design due to modern
art and many painters became graphic designers and were very influenced by
cubism and other movements in relation to this one. The visual arts came
along way in the early 20th century and graphic expanded
dramatically due to pictorial modernism, key movements and key artists.
Bibliography
Books:
Philip B,
Meggs (1992) A History of Graphic Design Second Edition New York
Phillip
B, Meggs & Alston W. Purvis (2011) A History of Graphic Design Fifth
Edition Wiley America
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Cassandre
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm.
[Accessed 10 December 2013]
Dada; A
movement of artists against art. - ArtLyst. 2013. Dada; A movement of
artists against art. - ArtLyst. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.artlyst.com/member-articles/dada-a-movement-of-artists-against-art.
[Accessed 11 December 2013]
Modernism
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