uw Art 438 Midterm

I Want You Poster

I Want You for the U.S. Army Poster James Montgomery Flagg 1917 Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personi cation of the American government or the United States in general that, according to legend, came into use during the War of 1812. Uncle Sam did not get standard physical appearance or attire until Flagg's ubiquitous recruit- ment poster. why is this poster important? like the leete poster, the image of uncle sam pointing directly at the viewer, as well as the use of the personal pronoun, makes a direct appeal to the viewer. while neither the slogan nor the image is particularly innovative, it, too, points out the value of a clear, legible, understandable, persuasive concept. the uncle sam character, as depicted by agg, would go on to become one of the national symbols of the united states.

The Industrial Arts of the 19th Century by Matthew Wyatt

In the West, the 19th century witnessed major social and technological upheavals. There are 160 chromolithographed plates produced by a team of artists and lithographers. an imposing imperial folio in two volumes which illustrates a selection of items from the Great Exhibition of 1851 matthew digby wyatt 1820-1877 a british architect and art historian. wyatt became secretary of the great exhibition, surveyor of the east india company and the first slade professor of ne art at the university of cambridge one of the most important objects to come out of the great exhibition was wyatt's the industrial arts of the nineteenth century, printed in two volumes featuring 160 chromlitho- graphic plates. why is this book important? the great exhibition had been, more than anything else, designed to show off the wealth and breadth of the burgeoning british empire. many of the artifacts documented in industrial arts exhibit influences from the british colonies and protectorates, especially india. in this sense, the book demonstrates how the current fascination with global cross-cultural fertilization does not represent as new an idea as many of its proponents seem to think it does.

The Elements of Euclid

Interior Page William Pickering Oliver Byrne 1847 Primary colors and shapes replaced traditional alphabetic labeling to identify the shapes, lines, and forms in the geometry lessons. Byrne claimed that with his approach to the use of symbols, geometry could be learned in one third the time needed with traditional textbooks, and that the learning was more permanent. The dynamic color and crisp abstraction of these pages anticipate the clean, geometric abstraction of 20th century graphic design. why is this book important? through this project, pickering played an important role in the separation of what came to be known as graphic design and typography from printing production. pickering decided that the book's composition would be the primary consideration for its production rather than letting the limitations of current printing technology shape it. his passion for design for the design of the book led him to commission new woodblock ornaments, initials, ornaments, and even new typefaces because he believed that the project needed them in order to be truly beautiful and educational rather than being simply fast, efficient, and inexpensive. the diagrams in the book are designed to simply suggest, concretely demonstrate, and thus assist the comprehension of mathematical laws that initially seem too difficult for the reader to understand. further, the design of this book incorporates the combination of abstraction and symbolism that would eventually define modernist graphic design during the 20th century. in this sense, the design of the elements of euclid provides a prediction of what graphic design would become.

291, Issue 5-6

Issue 5-6 contains reproductions of five drawings by Picabia based on this theme of symbolizing individuals as machines. This is a portrait of Alfred Steiglitz, representing him as a sort of camera merged with a gear shaft and the brake of an automobile issue 5-6 of 291 is a visual salute by picabia to the protagonists of the magazine, beginning with a "portrait" of stieglitz as a camera/car on the cover. inside are metaphorical depictions of picabia, de zayas and haviland, all seen as some form of automobile/machine. some critics have interpreted these images as filled with sexual and phallic imagery, yet others have seen in them "symbols extracted from mechanical devices", filled with "faith in its divine power to reveal life, to spur action, to excite creative impulse." regardless, this issue of 291 provides one of the earliest examples of the machine aesthetic. this term refers to a view of the formal aspects of machines— especially their simple and regular shapes, smooth contours, and reflective surfaces—as beautiful. industry and the technology behind it were celebrated rather than nature, history, or the human form. this aesthetic was a prominent component of modernist art and design in the 1920s and 1930s, and influenced the subsequent movements such as surrealism and art deco.

Prose of the Trans-siberian and of Little Jehanne of France

La Prose du Transsiberien et de la Petite Jehanne de France was a collaboration between Delaunay-Terk , a visual artist and Cendrars, a poet. They intended it as a manifesto of "simultaneism" between image and text, a quality they thought lay in "its non-narrative presentation." The image, with its arching, brightly colored planes, and the text, printed in a range of fonts and hues, intertwine to create an orchestrated visual rhythm. Cendrar's prose poem tells the story of a poet and his companion, a young prostitute named after Joan of Arc, who travel on the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow through Siberia to China, then to the North Pole, and finally to Paris. The poem's stream-of-consciousness flow is accompanied by abrupt shifts in time and space, evoking the experience of modernity as a kind of magical journey facilitated by new systems fo transport and communication. The work's expansive vertical format challenges the traditional form of the book: were all the planned 150 copies put together end to end, they would equal the heigh of the Eiffel tower. la prose defied the codex form, and placed images on an equal footing to the text, which had never happened in quite the same way before. the work, published in 1913, is considered a milestone in the evolution of artist's books as well as modernist poetry and abstract art. Sonia Delaunay, Blaise Cendrars, 1913, La Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jehanne de France, illustrated book with watercolor applied through pochoir and relief print on paper, 200 x 35.6 cm, Princeton University Art Museum La prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jehanne de France (Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of Little Jehanne of France) is a collaborative artists' book by Blaise Cendrars and Sonia Delaunay-Terk. The book features a poem by Cendrars about a journey through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express in 1905, during the first Russian Revolution, interlaced with an almost-abstract pochoir print by Delaunay-Terk. The work, published in 1913, is considered a milestone in the evolution of artist's books[1] as well as modernist poetry[2] and abstract art.

The Scottish Musical Review

Mackintosh The Scottish Musical Review Advertisement Charles Rennie Macintosh 1896 Over nine feet tall, the Scottish Musical Review is the most dramatic poster Mackintosh designed. Its central, elongated figure is androgynous and con-flated with an abstract, flower-ing Tree of Life, an image that would be a key component in his architectural works. The halo surrounding the figure suggests transcendence; the songbirds are a fitting reference to the subject of the magazine; and the use purple, indigo, and green in the poster's color palette evoke the Scottish landscape. why is this poster important? for some design historians, modernism in graphic design begins with mackintosh's poster for the scottish musical review through its use of symbolism and abstraction. with its nationalistic color scheme, idiosyncratic lettering, and evocations of the universal life force, the poster provides a stunning example of the influential german critic hermann muthesius's 1902 description of mackintosh's work as em- bodying the scottish character itself, combining "puritanism with romanticism . . . abstinence with mysticism.". F

Dada

Max Ernst Hannah Hoch dada used absurdity and satire to question tradition and authority. the movement both celebrated and questioned industry, machines, and the chaos that both could bring about. Dada artists felt the war called into question every aspect of a society capable of starting and then prolonging it - including its art. Their aim was to destroy traditional values in art and to create a new art to replace the old. Dada's aesthetic, marked by its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes, proved a powerful influence on artists in many cities Dada was the first conceptual art movement where the focus of the artists was not on crafting aesthetically pleasing objects but on making works that often upended bourgeois sensibilities and that generated difficult questions about society, the role of the artist, and the purpose of art. Hugo Ball, Cabaret Voltaire dada in cologne rejected the tradition of painting as part of the culture they revolted against after the war. dada in tokyo welcomed dada as rebellion, as an opportunity to change a rigid, suffocating society and win greater freedom. in japan, the movement was referred to as mavo, which has no meaning in japanese. the group emphasized performance, stage design, and publication which made pointed critiques of the growing consumer culture in japan. dada's innovative approach to typography, photomontage, negative white space, layout, letter spacing and line spacing has played a significant role in the development of contemporary expressive typography. dada publications, including manifestos, magazines, and posters, reveal that graphic design was indispensable for establishing the movement's visual identity, and demonstrated that print could be both persuasive and expressive.

Neo-platonicism: What do you need?

Neo-Plastonicism (De Stijl, Mondrian) this ethos could be summed up with these neo-platonic questions. what do you really need? what is necessary? de stijl artists and designers embraced the modern machine world while at the same time grounding their work in older, neo-platonic ideas. their goal was to produce neutral, functional work the would serve the needs of a utopian society. neoplatonists believed human perfection and happiness were attainable in this world, without awaiting an afterlife. perfection and happiness - seen as synonymous - could be achieved through philosophical contemplation. they did not believe in an independent existence of evil, and compared it to darkness, which does not exist in itself but only as the absence of light. so, too, evil is simply the absence of good. de stijl artists and designers embraced both the modern machine world while at the same time grounding their work in older, neo-platonic ideas. their goal was to produce neutral, functional work the would serve a utopian society. with this question, design practice in general begins to directly, emphatically engage the notion of form equaling function. it encompasses a wholesale rejection of decoration and ornamentalism that had defined much of art and design during the years leading up to world war 1. in this sense, it is a truly revolutionary question and concept.

Peter Behren's work for AEG

Official Catalogue, Exhibition of the German Empire Interior Page Peter Behrens 1904 His feeling for simple geometrical shapes with basic lines, circles, triangles and squares was repetitively appearing in his later works. e started working on advertising posters for this big German company. Also he was working on designs of daily used electrical products. Which design was mostly copying the artistic pieces by their shape and the artistic historical decoration. Behrens was there to chance it to a modern product." He started by designing a new logo for an AEG (Figure 7), all new graphic identity for a company and he also designed the shapes of a new selected products. He achieved as a first German and also European citizen to create first complex corporate identity. That was the first step by connecting art and industry how we know it today. why is this work important? behren's in uence went beyond the company's trademark. as advisor to AEG, he was also responsible for advertising campaigns, product design, and architecture. the advertisements he created, combined with his development of the mark, constituted what may be viewed as the earliest known corporate identity program. fty years later, his achievement in harmonizing all aspects of AEG's visual identity helped to establish the basic elements of such programs: a mark, uniform typography, and standardized formats. the gesamtkunstwerk ideal - translated as total work of art, universal artwork, synthesis of the arts, comprehensive artwork, or all-embracing art form or total artwork - became one of the concepts in design as it emerged as a profession.

Priester Matches

Priester Matches Poster Lucien Bernhard 1905 why is this poster important? bernhard's poster could be seen as a demonstration of the principle of occam's razor - the notion that, other things being equal, simplicity is always preferable to complexity. when translated into the sphere of graphic design, such an approach—which was prevalent though much of the 20th century—initiated and embodies the belief that the less 'visual noise' the clearer the message. starting with the priester matches poster, bernhard was in uential in helping create the design style known as plakatstil, or poster style, which was based on the use of reductive illustration and at-color. he also helped to create sachplakat, or object poster, which restricted the composition to simply the object being advertised and the brand name. both of these styles were highly influential in the development of both advertising and graphic design during the 20th century.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's work

Room, Vienna Secession Exhibition Interior Design Charles Rennie Macintosh Margaret Macdonald 1900 mackintosh's architecture and design practice in glasgow declined, and in 1915, he and his wife moved to london. he attempted to revive his practice in the new city but struggled and failed, and he turned his hand increasingly to the design of textiles, some of which seem to anticipate subsequent art and design movements such as art deco. why is this body of work important? very few designers can claim to have created a unique and individual style that is so instantly recognizable. combining a progressive modernity with the spirit of romanticism that characterized the celtic revival, charles rennie mackintosh created many of the best loved and most in uential buildings, furniture, decorative schemes and print of the early 20th century. mackintosh took his inspiration from his scottish upbringing and blended them with the ourish of art nouveau and the simplicity of japanese forms. his work, accomplished in close collaboration with his wife margaret macdonald, resulted in new idioms that placed nearly equal emphasis on form and function. this new attitude was the precursor to much of what came to de ne interior design, architecture, graphic design, and typography in the middle of the 20th century.

The Isms of Art the isms of art represented a nearly continent-wide collaboration between dada, cubism, furturism, and constructivism. due to its subject matter, the isms of art had to be neutral. potential boundaries set by differences in language, culture, and opposing governments couldn't be factors. in this sense, the catalogue, congress, and el lissitzky's contributions to both represent a further attempt to develop an international visual language, using design as its basis. the language consisted of common characteristics. symbolism abstraction dynamism technology orientation to the future respect for industry and technology summary a basic tenet of modernism in design was that new realities demanded new approaches to form. seeking a formal rupture with the past and transcendence of historistist approaches, avant garde designers embraced geometric form and machine aesthetics. formal experiments in the early decades of the 20th century were fueled by a belief in the power of design as an agent for social change.

The Isms of Art

The Sphinx

The Sphinx Book Cover Charles Ricketts 1893 Interior page of The Sphinx showing the features of the page design: woodblock drawing, running head, and text set in small caps up close to the image and very tight on the page. The effect is unusual, and the delicacy of the type's spiky serifs matches the line of Ricketts's drawing style perfectly. ricketts's masterpiece in print media was his design for the sphinx, a long form poem written by oscar wilde. The poem is a monologue of a highly-strung student who suddenly cannot help being exposed to the intrusion of the fantastic and uncanny into his secluded world of prosaic life. why is this book important? although ricketts owed a debt to the morris aesthetic, he usually rejected the density of kelmscott design. Especially for the sphinx, he developed a luminous approach to page composition that was lighter, with more open, geometric ornaments and bindings. The complex, intertwining ornament of celtic manuscripts and the at, stylized figures painted on greek statues are as in influential here as the art nouveau line. The minimal design of this book points toward compositions that would be developed during the middle of the 20th century.

De Stijl Magazine

Theo Van Doesburg de stijl magazine ushered changes in graphic design that would resonate through the 20th century. through his magazine, the de stijl movement posited and quantified the fundamental principle of the geometry of the straight line, the square, and the rectangle combined with a strong asymmetricality; the predominant use of pure primary colors with black and white; and the relationship

Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry

These images are also highly detailed and show an abundant interest in accurately portraying plants and animals. Though the Très Riches Heures, is incomplete, it remains a shining example of the International Gothic style. Books were time-consuming and costly to produce. Books were a luxury item that only the very rich could afford to have made. As a result, literacy was uncommon in Europe. mass communication did not exist.

Ver Sacrum

Ver Sacrum Interior Page Koloman Moser 1898 why is this magazine important? in both its harmony of text and image and in its inclusion of multiple art forms, ver sacrum was a manifestation of composer richard wagner's ideas of gesamkunstwerk—a total work of art. every detail—paper, typefaces, typography, composition, illustra- tion, poetry, essays— was accounted for. no detail was simply allowed to happen. most unique of all was the magazine's square format—a radical new step in the design of periodicals. this format offered new possibilities in layout for the designer's use of multiple text columns, decorative borders, and negative space. the square format became their ideal aspect ratio as most of their illustrations were executed in this format, while gustav klimt chose it for the majority of his landscape paintings.

Vorticism

Vorticism was a short-lived modernist movement in British art and poetry of the early 20th century, partly inspired by Cubism. The movement was announced in 1914 in the first issue of BLAST, which contained its manifesto and the movement's rejection of landscape and nudes in favor of a geometric style tending towards abstraction. Ultimately, it was their witnessing of unfolding human disaster in World War I that "drained these artists of their Vorticist zeal". Wyndham Lewis himself saw Vorticism as an independent alternative to Cubism, Futurism and Expressionism. The vorticist movement was centered in london, and was primarily made up of painters and sculptors. Though the style grew out of Cubism, it is more closely related to Futurism in its embrace of dynamism, the machine age and all things modern (cf. Cubo-Futurism). However, Vorticism diverged from Futurism in the way it tried to capture movement in an image. In a Vorticist painting modern life is shown as an array of bold lines and harsh colours drawing the viewer's eye into the centre of the canvas. Vorticism encompassed many media, including painting, sculpture, literature, typography, and design in an effort to transform how people interacted with the world. The horrors of World War I, however, dampened their idealization of the machine and dissipated the momentous energy of the group. A unique blend of Cubism and Futurism, Vorticism was an important British avant-garde art movement of the early 20th century, although it lasted officially for no more than two years. The movement's central figure was the English painter, writer and polemicist Percy Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), while the name - referring to the emotional vortex which was considered to be the necessary source of artistic creation - was coined by the American poet Ezra Pound. These two, together with members of the Rebel Art Centre founded Vorticism in 1914. The journal "Blast", published only twice (in 1914 and 1915) proclaimed the Vorticist Manifesto and supplied publicity for the movement.

Lord Kitchener Poster

Your Country Needs You Poster Alfred Leete 1914 why is this motif important? the image of lord kitchener pointing directly at the viewer personalizes the appeal, implying that this war will require a personal commitment and investment on the part of every british citizen. while the poster composition isn't innovative, or even particularly competent, it does point out the value of a clear, legible, understandable, persuasive concept.

Charles Minard's Chart

modern information scientists say that minard's diagram depicting napoleon's retreat from moscow may be the best statistical graphic ever drawn because of the clarity it brings to its explanation of a complex sequence of events. noted contemporary information designer edward tufte cites it as a, if not the, prime example in the visual display of quantitative information.

When did graphic design begin?

the field came about when the task of designing massproduced material became separated from printing it. the field came about because an audience for it emerged. the field came about because the audience found practical purposes for it. the field came about because those purposes could be turned into ways to make money. the field came about when people realized that aspects of it could be used to persuade to buy, believe, etc. the field came about as formal and conceptual languages that became its basis began to emerge. on the fringes of early 20th century aesthetic movements, there were several people who played with the relationships between design, reading, and perception.

Roman Square Capitals

the rendering technique and proportions developed for roman square capitals, which included classic geometric proportions and serifs, continues to influence significant aspects of typeface design to this day.

Weiner Werkstaette

the wiener werkstätte innovatively envisioned that many of its activities would complement and promote each other this strategy helped werkstätte attain two of its goals: rst, narrowing the gap in prestige between artistic genres; and second, bolstering the commercial visibility of its designs. why is this collective important? the wiener werkstätte was one of the longest-lived design movements of the 20th century, and a key organization for the development of modernism. it stood at the doorway between traditional methods of manufacture and a distinctly avant-garde aesthetic. the wiener werkstätte's emphasis on complete artistic freedom resulted in a prodigious output of designs, and this, along with an army of skilled craftsmen and a complex network of production and distribution made it a standard for european design between the dawn of the century and the depths of the great depression. from the onset, the wiener werkstatte encouraged its patrons to look beyond the material value of objects and to embrace geometric symmetry over surface ornament and affect, which placed it in opposition to the stodgy, materialistic culture of early 20th century vienna. on another hand, the werkstaate's impulse to return to manual craft slowly, sometimes unwillingly evolved into a more productive dialogue with industry as it sought to increase ef ciency in its manufacturing processes.

Industrial Revolution

this set of developments facilitated a global spread of words and pictures, and the age of mass communication arrived.

Career of William Morris

why is the career of this designer important? through both his work as a designer and as a political activist, william morris is one of the pivotal figures in the history of design, not just graphic design. His career laid much of the groundwork for what several subfields, including graphic design and typography, would become during the next 100 years through its passionate committal to integrity, quality, and craftsmanship the paradox of william morris is that as he sought refuge in the handicraft of the past, he developed designed attitudes that charted the future. His call for workmanship, truth to materials, making the utilitarian beautiful, and fitness of design to function are attitudes adopted by succeeding generations of designers who sought to unify not art and craft, but art and industry.

The brand Tropon

why is this concept important? the product was distributed throughout europe. the composition of advertisements and packaging were consistently composed, regardless of changes in language. as a result, the product's identity was recognizable and dependable for consumers. the identity of the product became conflated with the product itself, which made it a brand. as a result, the product seemed to be more profitable at least partially because of the design. as a result, the identification and promotion of products became a way to make money from design. as a result, activities that we would now associate with graphic design and advertising became viable business practices. In the 1890s Van de Velde used the fashionable, highly stylized language of Art Nouveau to advertise a product as mundane as an egg-based protein extract. The late nineteenth century witnessed a revolution in industrial-food processing, starting with coffee, cocoa, and a range of meat and dairy products. Such processed foods and their burgeoning brand identities rapidly became integral to modern living, transforming traditional patterns of shopping, cooking, and at-home food storage.

William Playfair's Charts

william playfair gave us the basic tools to clearly, legibly, readably depict data through visual form. regardless of the data applied to these forms, their function has not altered because they work.

The Scottish Musical Review within the context f Austrian Art Nouveau

? The Scottish Musical Review Poster Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1896 At the Vienna Secession exhibi- tion, the billboard version of the poster was installed. The towering image rose over 8 feet above the viewer, so viewers could really see the compostion. It caused a sensation. why is this poster important within this context? mackintosh's poster for the scottish musical review demonstrated an aesthetic approach that seemed radical to the secessionistrs because of the degree to which it departed from baroque and rococo excesses. its composition consists of complex overlapping planes that are uni ed by areas of at color. forms are shown as nearly abstract essences, with most detail eliminated. each component of the image symbolizes rather than represents. the lettering isn't blackletter.

Carolingian Miniscules and Majiscules

Carolingian scripts introduced a separation between what we now call upper case letters from lower case letters.

Daddy, What did you do in the war?

Daddy, What Did You Do in the War? Poster Savile Lumley 1915 Bullying Propaganda There was an extensive recruitment campaign in Great Britain during World War I. The poster played on the guilt associated with not volunteering for wartime service.[3] Karyn Burman writes that propaganda posters of the time "presented a carefully crafted image of manhood defining 'real' men as those who fought for their families, for King and Country." She cites this poster as an example of an image that was "designed to question a man's sense of self-worth" why is this poster important? eskilson rightly points out that this poster is a masterpiece of bullying propaganda. as with the leete poster, the poster isn't innovative, or even particularly competent, but it does point out the value of a clear, legible, understandable, manipulative concept.

Johann Gutenberg's Movable Type

Gutenberg's introduction of mechanical movable type printing to Europe started the printing revolution and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium, ushering in the modern period of human history it played a key role in the development of the renaissance, protestant reformation, the age of enlightenment, and the scientific revolution, laying the material basis for the modern knowledge based economy and the spread of learning to the masses. from the standpoint of speed and efficiency, Gutenberg's movable metal type and printing press made it possible to produce pages that would normally take months or years to produce in a few days

Work of Jean Cheret

His works were influenced by the scenes of frivolity depicted in the works of Rococo artists such as Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. So much in demand was he, that he expanded his business to providing advertisements for the plays of touring troupes, municipal festivals, and then for beverages and liquors, perfumes, soaps, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. Eventually he became a major advertising force, adding the railroad companies and a number of manufacturing businesses to his client list. As his work became more popular and his large posters displaying modestly free-spirited females found a larger audience, pundits began calling him the "father of the women's liberation." Females had previously been depicted in art as prostitutes or puritans. The women of Chéret's posters, joyous, elegant and lively—'Cherettes', as they were popularly called—were neither. It was freeing for the women of Paris, and heralded a noticeably more open atmosphere in Paris where women were able to engage in formerly taboo activities, such as wearing low-cut bodices and smoking in public. These 'Cherettes' were widely seen and recognised, and a writer of the time said "It is difficult to conceive of Paris without its 'Cheréts' (sic)."[1] why is this body of work important? the industrial revolution, and the new technologies that it wrought, caused a major questioning of art's role in society and culture. during much of the 19th century, a centuries-old academic principle of a qualitative hierarchy of the arts was still in place, and it im- pacted the ways in which art was practiced and perceived. at the top were the ne arts: painting, sculpture, and architecture. the decorative or applied arts, such as furniture design, occupied the second tier. the popular arts—caricature and the various arts intended for mass consumption—occupied the bottom of this hierarchy. on one hand, some scholars advocated an end to all attempts to rank the arts because these systems did not take into account new technologies and modes of thought. on another hand, artists practicing in newer decorative and popular media sought to elevate those arts to the level of painting and sculpture. the poster became involved in these related and very different crusades—and thus shared in their eventual victory over academic dogma because of the exceptional posters of one man: jean chéret. chéret's work ultimately occupied a tier of its own because of the degree to which it incorporated aspects of all three traditional tiers— ne arts, decorative arts, and popular arts. in other words, if the traditional de nitions did not seem to apply to chéret's posters, in what way were to relevant for anyone else? one could view this realization as another point at which graphic design emerges as a recognizable eld.