Herbert Matter and photomontage

Born in Switzerland Herbert Matter was designer that worked on many commercial projects with his masterful use of photomontage, this included magazine publications such as ‘Vogue’ among others. Much of his work was very influential to artists that came after him especially with a further growing trend of photomontage being used in design.

When looking at an example of his work like the one we can see here, we can instantly see how innovative his use of photomontage was for the time. This poster over here was done for the Swiss tourist office and it highlights some of the key characteristics of his work. The first thing of note with this poster is Matter’s use of colour. We can see a juxtaposition of two elements here in regards to his use of colour. The figure in the foreground seems to have been reduced of colour while the background seems to have a vibrant blue.  We can also see the use of a bold and striking sans serif font which really stands out against the photos in the background.  Herbert Matter’s poster truly were innovative for the time due to how painstaking the process of making them was as opposed to how easy these kind of designs are to make today in the light of so many technological advancements.

This next poster was also done for the Swiss tourist office and I feel like this poster highlights some of the other characteristics of his work. In this poster we can see a very interesting use of perspective and depth. The poster seems to lead the viewer from the bottom sans serif type up towards the road that leads off into a one point perspective.  From then on it seems to get a more surrealist feel as the roan meanders off into a series of twists and turns that don’t seem to make sense in a physical sense. I also find this particular poster interesting due to how the photos blend together to create a somewhat believable yet fantastical landscape. 

I personally found Herbert Matter’s work to be very interesting because of how much his work seems to foreshadow the widely contemporary notion of photo manipulation and digital design that we see today.  With all the developments in computer technology , images and posters like this are all too common and are somewhat easy tom make but for Herbert Matter to get this level of photomontage before the release of the personal computers was a feat in itself.

References: designhistory-designhistory.com-2014  [http://www.designishistory.com/1940/herbert-matter/][last accessed on 23/01/2015]

Jan Tschihold

Somewhat related to The Bauhaus due to his visitation of a Bauhaus exhibition in the early 1920’s, Jan Tschihold was a modernist at heart from that time onwards. He switched to favour san serif typefaces over all else and other modernist design principles such as asymmetric layouts and the practical and functional use of hierarchy in design specifically in regards to type. In his manifest called ‘Die neue Typographie’ Tschihold advocated for a reform of sorts through design. In this publication is where he explained his applications of modernist typography and his rejection of the serif typefaces that pretty much were used exclusively at the time in Germany.

Looking at some of Tschiholds work, we can instantly see some similarities and influences to the previous movements and artists we have discussed. The first thing we notice is the use of predominantly geometric shapes in the design. The large circle takes the centre stage of this design.  Reminiscent of DeStijl and constructivism, this design has a very ‘minimal’ and abstracted feel as per the use of simple lines and shapes along with a large amount of negative space and a limited colour scheme. In this work we can also see the use of Tschiholds advocated typeface style of sans serif which was very unorthodox to the rest of the community in his early career as a modernist. Another modernist characteristic we can see in this work is the lack of any focus in the centre of the page. The designs have all been shifted to either the right or left side of the page which has also given the design an asymmetric element to it. The use of hierarchy is also evident in this work through the scaling of typefaces. The title placed on top of the only coloured element on the work instantly attracts the viewer tell them that that’s where they should start reading from. The eye then turns downwards to read the smaller type that is placed in a line to direct the eyes.  

Here we have another example of Tschiholds work. We do see similar modernist characteristics in this work that we have already touch upon when discussing the previous work. Things like the limited colour pallet, exclusive use of geometric shapes, off centre design layout and even the use of purely sans serif typography. Another thing that is worth mentioning with this work is the way the lines are created in this work. It seems like everything has been shifted and rotated on its axis to create this sense of dynamism.  This is something that became increasingly popular at the time. To me, this work seems to be more influenced by constructivist works than anything else due to the colour scheme of red, white and black used.

Tschihold has a very important place in history because of how much his work and his philosophies influenced the typography that came after him and even the typography we see today on a daily basis.

 References: 

·         Designhistory-designhistory.com-2014[ http://www.designishistory.com/1920/jan-tschichold/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]

The Bauhaus and Johannes Itten

Translating to ‘Building House’ The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. With somewhat specific goals, The Bauhaus tackled various aspects of design. The Bauhaus philosophy was to achieve a unity in the arts. This required a sense of partnership and equality between artist and craftsmen, hence the students at The Bauhaus learnt both craftsmanship and artistry with equal importance. Some other philosophies they promoted was the notion of form following function. They wanted their products to have an emphasis on functionality and an aesthetic that, while looks good, does not in any way hinder its functionality in any way. This lead to simplistic and ‘to the point’ designs. One could call their design principles very utilitarian in essence. Their designs were made to be the most functional they could be that would help the most people they could. Aesthetically, Bauhaus followed their principles which meant that their look was characterised by simple yet strong shapes that serve a very clear purpose. The work was clean and void of unnecessary decoration, contrary to some of its predecessor’s like Art Deco and Art Nouveau.  

Johannes Itten was a teacher at The Bauhaus school.  He is namely known for his work with colour. His work with the colour wheel is arguably some of his more popular work but for this blog post I’d like to explore another one of his works that ties in very closely to the colour wheel.  This very simple work over here is, at first glance just a bunch of different coloured squares on different backgrounds. That in theory is a correct description but there is a bit more to this that makes It all the more interesting. Looking deeper into this work we can make the observation that this is an exploration colours effect on itself. The colour of the internal square is repeated on its horizontal counterpart, but the background is different. This gives the impression that the colours are different but they are in fact the same colour. This shows how colours interact with each other and how our mind perceives these colour combinations together. 

We can see The Bauhaus principles even in this work by Johannes Itten. The use of simple shapes was very typical of the style. The piece also tries to convey a message about the relationship of colour in a very straightforward and practical way which was also very typical of Bauhaus.

I do appreciate the work that The Bauhaus was trying to accomplish and all the remnants we see of it to this day in our current designs. That said, I would personally never choose to willingly work with that ethic in mind. The whole notion of ‘Art for the sake of Society’ rubs me the wrong way and makes me think there would be lots of thrown away ideas because it was not needed or functional enough.

References:   Johannes-itten-johannes-itten.com-2014[Last accessed on 23/01/2015][ http://www.johannes-itten.com/]

El Lissitzky and Russian Constructivism

Beginning in Russia in 1919, Constructivism is something that encompassed both art and architecture.  With a heavy focus on geometric shapes and a very specific colour scheme, constructivism paved the way for other similar movements such as Bauhaus. Similarly to De Stijl, Russian Constructivism was very focused on ‘minimal’ aesthetics through the use of geometric shapes and simplistic colours, namely red, white and black. In the design context, propaganda was a common theme that appeared in many Russian constructivist works.  El Lissitzky’s work was one of these examples as his work often attempted to put forward an agenda to its viewers.

Russian born artist and designer El Lizzitzky was quite the prominent figure in the Russian Constructivist scene.  His work being highly abstracted in nature managed to convey very political themes.  In this piece here called ‘Beat the Whites with the red wedge’ we can see how Lizzitzky has managed to apply constructivist concepts to his work.  The big red triangle in this piece is the first thing that catches the viewer’s eye. The triangle is representing the Bolchiveks penetrating the White movement during the civil war. Lizzitzky has managed to capture these complex political issues using purely geometric shapes and has done so in a way that the general public of the time had no problem understanding. This ease of understanding is something that is very important to any piece that is intended to be used as a form of propaganda as a clear message will garner more support for your agenda.  From a more technical standpoint, this work and many others under the constructivist banner have a very similar aesthetic to De Stijl which was covered just previously. Both deal with highly abstracted forms which are essentially geometric shapes in a block colour. The difference between the two styles arrives in a more conceptual form. Constructivism was all about the symbolism attributed to these shapes while De Stijl was all about achieving clarity through abstraction.

When looking to contemporary world of design and looking for constructivist influences, I found this interesting piece right here. This piece is obviously either done in parody or in tribute to El Lissitzyk’s  ‘Red Wedge’ propaganda poster that we just discussed above.  With this poster we can see that the designer has taken the fundamental elements from El Lissitzky’s  work and manipulated it to suit his own fantasy agenda instead, fantasy referring to the ‘Star Wars’ film series.

As a personal observation, I find that Russian Constructivism is a bit more interesting than De Stijl due to the symbolic nature of the work. The abstracted aesthetic is something that has intrigued me before but only when there was some thought behind it to make it more interesting and constructivism seems to attempt to do that by trying to convey these complex political messages through the use of basic shapes.

References:

·         Designhistory-designhistory.com-2014 [http://www.designishistory.com/1920/el-lissitzky/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]

·         Arthistoryarchive-arthistoryarchive.com [http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/constructivism/][Last accessed on 23/01/2015

Piet Zwart and De Stijl

Chronologically following the Art Deco movement, De Stijl was a very much a reactionary movement to the ‘excess’ of the Art Deco and relatively the Art Nouveau movements respectively. Geographically starting in the Netherlands, De Stijl was led by artists such as Theo Van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. De Stijl being a somewhat reactionary movement, their design principles was highly influenced by what they discouraged from Art Deco. They were against the highly decorative nature of Art Deco and hence reduced their work to basic principles of aesthetics. 

Contextually, De Stijl emerged in a post-World War I setting, and as such had a focus on rebuilding society a new with a new ‘visual Language’. This idea of a visual language was a key theme that is seen throughout the movement and the various artists and designers. By using a visual language, the goal was to achieve an aesthetic that anyone from any culture would be able to appreciate. To achieve this, the artists and designers reduced the style to the key concepts of aesthetics which meant that anyone could appreciate it since the work consisted of purely geometric shapes with block primary colours that anyone would be familiar with.  These principles are highlighted perfectly in the work of Piet Mondrian. His work was composed of primary colours and geometric shapes exclusively. 

Moving along to the Graphic Design side of things, De Stijl was also relevant to this corner of the creative arts. Piet Zwart was a Dutch designer that had work relevant to this movement. Taking this work of his as an example, we can see how these principles of De Stijl that we discussed from a fine art perspective have been used in the design world. In this work here we can see a clear attempt to use a very bare minimal aesthetic. The work is composed of purely strong geometric shapes. Along with this use of geometric shapes we can see a very simplistic use of colour. The colours we see here seem to be translucent block colours placed over each other at various sections to create darker tones. Something that is also typical to the De Stijl style is the sense of balance and structure in the work. With these two works we can see that with the use of strong straight lines the works achieve a sense of linear balance that is something that is seen throughout the De Stijl movement.

When looking to contemporary work, we can very often see the influences of De Stijl. In this work over here we can see some of the major characteristics of De Stijl present in the work. The use of somewhat block colour and highly reduced geometric shapes. Something that is specific to Piet Zwart’s design is also present in this contemporary example and that is the overlapping of shapes and colours to create a middle colour in between.

As a personal note, De Stijl is not really a movement I was too fond of purely due to the aesthetic of the work.  While the ‘minimal’ approach to work does fascinate me and the aesthetic is generally pleasing, the pure use of primary colours or a variation of them seems a bit too limiting for my tastes.

References:

·         Arthistory-arthistory.org-2014[ http://www.theartstory.org/movement-de-stijl.htm][Last accessed on 23/01/2015]  

Jean Carlu and Art Deco

Art Deco is a post WWI style that very much tried to be modern. In a time where industry is beginning to rise and new materials and technology are being used, massive change was happening in society and this style reflected that. Its predecessors being styles like Art Nouveau, Art Deco was very much on the complete other side of the aesthetic spectrum. While Art Nouveau was characterised by organic shapes, curvilinear forms and often times asymmetry, Art Deco was characterised by strong geometric shapes, industrial imagery and a very prevalent sense of symmetry.  Much like Art Nouveau, Art Deco did not only encompass art but it also made its way to architecture, craftsmanship, and graphic design.

Art Deco in posters and other graphic design mediums very much followed the core style. These posters often feature strong geometric yet dynamic lines throughout the composition. Industry or technology is also common theme that can be seen in these posters.

Jean Carlu aptly visualises what the Art Deco style was all about.  His posters have a very strong sense of linearity which was a key component to the Art Deco style. 

In this poster here we can see an example of this linearity. A profile of a human face is depicted here and it is made to seem like its silhouette is made with solely one continuous line. This makes the figure stand out and look very clean and geometric. While there is the inclusion of curved lines in this piece, they do not detract from the artificial and geometric nature of the piece as a whole. The curved lines seem to be made with mathematical precision and lack the carefree nature that was seen in the Art Nouveau style.  Another thing of note is his use of typography. Big and bold typography was very common in Art Deco and in this case, the typography seems to mirror the style of the figure in an interesting way with its strong geometric nature.

This next image relates to his work with America and their war effort. Jean Carlu has a series of posters of this sort but I feel that this one really brings out the industrial and ‘machine age’ side of the Art Deco style. While the subject matter of this piece is very blatantly industry driven, I feel like the choices he made in the design of this also lend itself to that style. If we were to look at the hand, we can see very gritty, dark colours being used which remind us of the roughness of machines. We can also see that there is a play with the typography to further lend itself to this new industry age art style.

Personally, I feel that Carlu’s work has had an immense effect of the poster we see today. Minimal abstracted figure, harsh geometric lines are all things that have become very popular in the graphic design world of today and I hazard a guess that the work of Jean Carlu plays a big part in it.

References:

• americanart.si.edu-americanart-2014 [http://americanart.si.edu/search/artist_bio.cfm?ID=749][Last accessed on 05/11/2014]
• Carollyn Mcdowall-thecultrueconcept.com-2013 [http://www.thecultureconcept.com/circle/art-deco-a-revolution-of-design-style-for-the-modern-age#sthash.BJvjE9DM.dpbs][Last accessed on 05/11/2014]

Hannah Hoch and the Dada Movement.

Dada was a reactionary movement that sprung up in the early 1900’s due to the stress of World War 1. As World War I raged on, many artists fled to safer lands, most notably of those lands was Zurich as it held as a neutral position.  The war itself brought more than a staggering amount of deaths on both sides, it brought with it frustration of the civilians and in this case, the artists. These artists were angry and frustrated at society for having such a war and they had to express this frustration in some way. So while other people were protesting out in the streets, some artists found their own way to protest, and that was to protest against the art of the time.  These protesters fought back against the traditional views of art and created their own form of (non) art. Thus the Dada movement was created. ‘Dada’ which is basically a nonsense word accurately describes the content of the art they would produce. Since they were protesting the traditional views of art like rationalism, they created their own form of art that flew in the face of these principles, and thus they ended up with their ‘non-art’ Dada.

As ironic as it is to treat a movement with the sole purpose of protesting traditional art movement as just another movement, the vast popularity it received and how much it influenced later avant-garde movements cannot be ignored.  While Dada had no real ‘style’ since the concept was all about being nonsensical there were trends that appeared to be popular within the Dada movement. Techniques such as collage, photo montage, use of typography were all very popular among the prominent Dada artists.

Among the prominent Dada artists was a lady named Hannah Hoch. Professionally trained as and artists and patternmaker, Hannah Hoch explored the Dada style with a focus on collage. Her work excels in portraying the Dada movement because of how nonsensical, and sometimes surreal, her designs were.

In this work here we can see just to what extent the Dada movement and Hannah Hoch went to break down the traditional views and practices of art. Hoch uses collage here is what seems to be a very random and haphazardly way, and while one might say that was the whole point of the Dada movement, I would like to point out that while it does seem very haphazardly, it also has some form of composition.  The composition is balanced as a whole as there the viewer is not just dragged to one part of the image but the image as a whole. The individual images aesthetically make sense in the context of each other, meaning that the images were not placed without any thought for aesthetics but they were placed as they are for a specific aesthetic reason.

I feel that the fact that Hannah Hoch being such a prominent figure (at the time) as a woman should not be glossed over. In such a male dominated society, surely female artists had enough trouble getting their work to be acknowledged, but Hannah Hoch’s work was not only acknowledged but she is now considered one of the key figures of

the Dada Movement for here masterful use of collage, I feel like that is a feat in itself, apart from the actual work she has produced.

References:

·         Shelly Esaak-arthistory.about.com-2014-[http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm][Last accesed on 04-11-2014]

·         Whitechapelgallery-whitechapelgallery.org-2014- [http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/hannah-hch][Last accessed on 04-11-2014]