Modern ArtModern Graphic Design

Europe after World War ICUBISM

* 1910-1939 modern art styles were used in European design* Modern art was a painter’s movement* Designers tried using geometric, abstract patterns like the paintersParis, France. Montmartre was the neighborhood of the modern artists* Cubism – 3-d objects are represented as 2-D objects

Modern ArtModern Graphic Design

Modern Art: Cubist Painters

* Pablo Picasso* the major painter of 20th century art* 1881-1973

* He and friend George Braque developed the idea of cubism

Slide #1Pablo Picasso“Glass Bottle of Suze” 1912

Modern Art: Cubist Painters

* Georges Braque

* Cubist subjects were still lifes and portraits – things that wouldn’t draw attention away from their unique technical style

Slide #2Georges Braque“Nude Descending a Staircase”

Modern Art: Cubist Design

* Employers did not want to hire modernist graphic designers

* The London Underground was a new experiment in travel

* Modernist designers worked designing hundreds of poster decorating the hallways of the underground, signs for travelers and logos

Slide #3Austin Cooper“Its warmer down below” 1942

Modern Art: Cubist Design* The London Underground brands itself as The Tube. Has a typeface and a logo.

* Focused on high technology and exciting modern experience

* Logo is abstract

* Typeface is modern, like the logo and posters

Slide #4Harry C. Beck“Map, London Underground”

Modern Art: Type

* Serif

* San Serif

Modern ArtModern Graphic Design

Europe after World War IDe Stijl and Constructivism

Modern Art: De Stijl and Constructivism

World War I shocked the world. The conflict caused artists to rebel against pre-war styles.

The conflict caused new trends in graphic design

Dutch De Stijl and Russian Constructivism were inspired by Cubism. Artists thought that individuality and ego had lead to war. Geometric, abstract design was the new Universal style.

De Stijl started in the Netherlands. It was based on an idea of universal harmony and rejected excess and decoration.

See how the non-objective painting is based on objects from nature? The second step shows how De Stijl is based on cubism.

Non-Objective Art: doesn’t have a relationship to the natural world. It is totally abstract.

Modern Art: De StijlSlide #1

“The Cow” Theo van Doesburg

1916

Slide #2“Tableau 2”

Piet Mondrian1922

Modern Art: De Stijl

Slide #3“Delft Salad Dressing” Bart van der Leck1915

Van der Leck was a graphic designer. Designed this poster for factories in Delft. He took a drawing and started filling in the negative spaces with primary colors, then erased the outlines.

Sacrifices legibility for style

Was rejected by the Delft factory that had commissioned it.

De Stijl

World War I = the fall of the Russian imperial government.

Two competing groups of citizens tried to take control. This lead to the Bolshevik Revolution (1917)

Organizations tried to oust the Bolsheviks, leading to Russian Civil War (1918-20)

The Bolsheviks establish the Communist state as a kind of utopia.

Modern Art: Russian Constructivism

Communism – property and success are owned equally by all citizens.

Utopia- a place or state of mind where all things are perfect

To support their new utopian government, Constructivists renounced fine art. They wanted to serve the cause of the workers, so began using industrial materials.

They designed workers clothes, government buildings, and propaganda posters.

This is first ever example of branding in Russia.

Branding- images, colors, and fonts that are associated with a particular company.

“Dobrolet”Alexander Rodchenko1923

Modern Art: Russian Constructivism

Photomontage was just being developed in Russia. Russian artists were technically innovative, and loved technology.

They found ways to combine text, photos, and drawn images meant to startle people away from being passive

Photomontage- cutting out parts of photos and gluing them back down in a different order

“The Constructor”El Lissitzky1924

Modern Art: Russian Constructivism