March 15th

Back to the ole' grind. Luckily today was a short class, probably one of the best things that could happen right after a week long break.

Today we didn't talk about too much, starting of with

Photo montage becomes very popular

photography is a tool of the modern age

development of montage in cinema

Sergei Eisenstein- use of montage in the Battleship Potemkin

shows intense violence without gore, it implies the violence without showing it flat out

critical point in cinema history in which many modern day examples pay homage

The Untouchables- modern day example of similar montage to the Battleship Potemkin

Alexander Rodchenko- born 1891

Pure Red color, Pure Yellow color, Pure Blue color- oil on canvas

He makes the statement of reducing painting to its logical conclusion

1923- Works for magazine Left Front of the Arts

De Stijl- The Style

Movement developed in the Nederlands

It is a utopian approach to aesthetics

Art should be useful, have purpose

Concerned with what makes good art??

Experiments with structures, it is an intellectual pursuit

Rectilinear planes, void of surface texture and decoration except for pure primary hues plus black and white, no trees or happy cows

Looking for universal harmony in art

The idea of De Stijl is applied to architecture, sculpture, graphic design, etc.

Theo Van Doesburg- Founder, leader, and publisher of De Stijl

Piet Mondrian- most well known De Stijl artist

De Stijl evolves- the beginning of exploration in using asymmetrical composition (which is pivotal in modernist design)

Theo Van Doesburg prints Dadaist poems- He believed dadaism was necessary to destroy the existing system in order for De Stijl to come into place and make its name

March 1st

WWI- different design during the war
Allied design soft and illustrative

Axis design more graphic and sophisticated

Ludwig Holowein 1914- reductive form, play with figure and ground, negative space.

1936: germany lost to a black athlete, Jesse Owens 

the poster depicts epic man soaring with wings over stadium

Hitler refers to the role of propaganda in the war effort

he believes the design of germany during the first war to be wrong minded and that they should appeal to the lowest common denominator

posters of the Allies considered to be superior

Holoweins reputation is tarnished due to his work and association with the Nazis 

Edward Mcknight Kauffer 1918- incorporated cubism into his design

there is a generous use of negative space

things become abstract

posters understood based on juxopotion

A.M. Casander- uses abstraction

looking for logic and reason, 

pictoral and illustrative posters, sophisticated design

Dubonnet campaign- constantly in use since it was created

Before WWI there are waves of unrest from the workers

Russian Revolution - 1917 

the russian avant-garde- consists of 3 parts

Cubofuturism- expresses motion through still images

work made out of scrap and whatever is available (cut paper and found objects)

Suprematism- rejects utilitarian function and pictorial representation

Kazmir Meliavich- the essence of art was the perceptual evolution through color

1915- the red and black square

Constructivism- stands as the opposite to suprematism 

Vladamir Tatlin, Rodchenko, and Lissitzky- art must have function, renounce "art for arts sake"

the belief is that art should serve the new communist society

Lissitzky- painter, architect and typogropher
develops the idea of the proun- the relation between art and architecture
the idea of building and how architecture is very utilitarian

February 22nd

Vienna workshops-
Joseph Hoffman and Koloman Moser- foremost artists of the Vienna Secession movement 1897
The Vienna Secession movement- group of young painters, designer, architects etc. that placed an emphasis on the craft and wanted to make things that are useful
Similar to the ideals of William Morris 
Strength lie in proportion and materials
Things were thought to be designed, not simply made


Peter Behrens- 
the first use of sans serif  in running type
the first comprehensive identity defining program
Also built non load bearing walls 


Walter Gropious- First director of the Bauhaus
Mies Vanderroeg- Last director of the Bauhaus 
Both worked with Behrens
Behrens became the director of the dusseldorf school where he implemented a variety of successful reforms 
Sets up a base for the bauhaus 
Behrens designs his exhibition hall from the grid system 
He joins AEG (basically the german electric company) 
Creates the logo for AEG (based off a honeycomb, creates his own typeface) and is kept on as an artistic advisor 


Plaketstil- German poster style of simple imagery and style, graphic and abstract, bold dominating type
Began by Lucian Bernhard in 1906 with his poster for priestar matches. 

MOVIE TIME!

Today was definitely an easy class, with alot of our time spent watching a pretty interesting film. I really enjoyed seeing the connection between the history of the world and that of the graphic design and artistic world.