chapter 12 The Genesis of 20thC Design

The Four

- A group of young students at the Glasgow School of Art in the early 1890s, known as "The Four," often collaborated on designs. They were: Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Herbert McNair, and sisters Margaret and Frances McDonald. - "The Four," innovated a geometric style that blended floral and curvilinear elements with strong rectilinear structure. Their designs were also distinguished by symbolic imagery, stylized form, and bold simple lines that defined flat areas of color. - Among their work featured in chapter 12 is the 1896 poster for the "Scottish Musical Review," in which a stylized interpretation of a human figure towers eight feet above the viewer

PETER BEHRENS (1868-1940)

- German artist, architect, and designer who played a major role in charting a course for design in the first decade of the new century. He sought typographic reform, was an early advocate of sans serif typography, and used a grid system to structure space in his design layouts. - Behrens has been called "the first industrial designer" in recognition of his designs for such manufactured products as streetlamps and teapots. His work for AEG 9 (the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft), is considered the first comprehensive visual identification program.

Frank Lloyd Wright first chapter opening spread for The House Beautiful 1896-97

- He saw space as the essence of design, and this emphasis was the wellspring of his profound influence upon all areas of twentieth-century design. - As a young man, Wright operated a basement printing press with a close friend. This experience taught him to incorporate white or blank space as an element in his designs, to establish and work within parameters, and to combine varied materials into a unified whole. - Wright periodically turned his hand to graphic design. Throughout the winter of 1896-97, Wright collaborated with William H. Winslow in the production of The House Beautiful , by Rev. William C. Gannett. - He printed the book on a handpress using handmade paper, in an edition of ninety copies. Wright's border designs were executed in a fragile freehand line describing a lacy pattern of stylized plant forms.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Scottish Musical Review poster 1896

- MACKINTOSH's main design theme is rising vertical lines, often with subtle curves at the ends to temper their junction with the horizontals. - Tall and thin rectangular shapes and the counterpoint of right angles against ovals, circles, and arcs characterize his work. - Abstract interpretations of the human figure, such as in his Scottish Musical Review poster, had not been seen in Scotland before, and many observers were outraged at the design.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)

-The work of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who saw space as the essence of design, was an inspiration to European artists and designers who were moving away from the curvilinear art nouveau toward a rectilinear approach to spatial organization. Wright rejected historicism in favor of a philosophy of "organic architecture," with "the reality of the building" existing not in the design of the façade but in dynamic interior spaces where people lived and worked. He defined organic design as having entity, "something in which the part is to the whole as the whole is to the part, and which is all devoted to a purpose.... It seeks that completeness in idea in execution that is absolutely true to method, true to purpose, true to character."

Peter Behrens H. Berthold AG foundry, Akzidenz Grotesk typefaces, 1898-1906

Akzidenz Grotesk: a typeface designed by Peter Behrens for the Berthold Foundry is called Standard in the U.S. This typeface permitted compositors to achieve contrast and emphasis within one family of typefaces.

TALWIN MORRIS (1865-1911)

Became art director of the Glasgow publishing firm Blackie's, which provided him with a forum for applying the geometric spatial division and lyrical organic forms to mass communications.

Peter Behrens, catalogue page for AEG tea kettles 1908

Behrens also designed industrial products, including electric household products such as teakettles and fans, as well as street lamps and electric motors

Peter Behrens, covers for Mitteilungen Der Berliner Elektricitaetswerke (Berlin Electric Works Magazine), 1908

Behrens typographic experiments were a deliberate attempt to express the spirit of the new era.

20th C Design

Designers, particularly in Scotland, Austria, and Germany, who broke with art nouveau and introduced a more rectilinear, geometric approach to design. Their concern for spatial relationships, inventive forms, functionality, and systems thinking laid the groundwork for twentieth-century design.

Berthold Loffler, cover forDie Flache, 25 Plakatenwurfe aus der Schule Berthold" (The Facet, 25 Posters Sketches from Berthold Loffler School, Vienna) c. 1908

Löffler anticipated later design developments with his reductive symbolic images of thick contours and simple geometric features. Figures in his posters and illustrations became elemental significations rather than depictions.

BERTHOLD LÖFFLER (1874-1960)

Löffler anticipated later developments with his reductive symbolic images of thick contours and simple geometric features. Figures in his posters and illustrations became elemental significations rather than depictions.

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868-1928)

Mackintosh made notable contributions to 20th century architecture, and realized major accomplishments in the design of objects, chairs, and interiors as total environments.

KOLOMAN MOSER (1868-1918)

Moser was an artist-designer who was a key member of the Vienna Secession. He played a major role in defining its approach to graphic design.

Koloman Moser, illustration of a duchess and a page for Rainer Maria Rilke's poem "Vorfruhling" (Early Spring),from Ver Sacrum 1901

Ver Sacrum (Sacred Spring): was more a design laboratory than a magazine. Designed by the Vienna Secession and published from 1898 until 1903. It focused on experimentation and graphic excellence and enabled designers to develop innovative graphics as they explored the merging of text, illustration, and ornament into a lively unity.

Edward Johnston Johnston's Railway Type 1916

Was an eminent calligrapher who was commissioned to design an exclusive, patented typeface for the London Underground in 1916. He crafted a sans serif typeface whose strokes have consistent weight; however, the letters have the basic proportions of classical Roman inscriptions