P I C T O R I A L M O D E R N I S M

1900 - 1940

affected by modern art movementsaltered by communication needs of two world

wars.

Poster Designersinfluenced by Cubism and Constructivism.

Created a balance between communicating persuasively with the general public as well as making exciting imagery.

Cubism

Twentieth century art movement in which subject matter was separated into cubes and other geometric forms.

Constructivism

A Russian art movement, fully established by 1921, that was dedicated to nonobjective means of communication.

The culmination of the European poster

C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S

Lucian Bernhard

Entered a poster contest for Priester matches.

1883 - 1972

Advanced the visual poster to a process of simplification and reduction of naturalism into graphic language of shape and sign.

Established approach to the poster of using flat color shapes, the product name, and the product image.

Lucian BernhardPriester poster1905

Priester

Communication is reduced to one word and two matches. Color becomes the visual means to project a powerful message with minimal information.

Plakatstil (poster style)

The reductive, flat color design school (body of designers) that emerged in Germany in the early twentieth century

Stiller

Lucian Bernhard, 1912

Hans Rudi Erdt, 1911

U Boats Out!

Hans Rudi Erdt, U Boats Out! , 1916

Poster reached its zenith as a medium of communication during

World War I.

Hans Rudi Erdt, U Boats Out! , 1916

Poster reached its zenith as a medium of communication during

World War I. Printing technologies had been perfected.

Radio had not yet come into prominence.

Governments used posters as propaganda.

Public morale needed to be boosted.

Armies needed to be recruited.

Julius Gipkens, poster for an exhibition of captured airplanes, 1917

Stark graphic shapes project boldly against a white field. A symbolic eagle sits triumphantly upon the red, white, and blue destroyed icon of captured allied aircraft.

Alfred Leete, 1914 James Montgomery Flagg, 1917

Ludwig Hohlwein, early 1940’s

Allies approach to propaganda was more illustrative.

Joseph C. LeyendeckerPoster celebrating a successful bond drive1917

Promotes patriotism on all levels of society

AFTER THE WAR…

Strong belief in the machine and technology was recognizedin the expression of art and design.

Technical, machine made, and industrial forms became an Important design resource.

Cubist ideas of spatial organization and synthetic imageryInspired new directions in pictorial imagery.

Post-Cubist pictorial modernism

Fernand Leger, The City 1919

E. McKnight Kauffer

1890 - 1954

American born.

Incorporated cubism into his designs.

Moved to Europe after negative response to cubism in the states.

Posters for the London Underground, 1924

A.M. Cassandre1901-1968

Produced a series of posters that helped revitalize French advertising art.

Bold, simple designs emphasize two-dimensionality, and are composed of broad simplified planes of color.

Reduced subjects to iconographic symbols.

1925 Poster for the Paris Newspaper L’Intansigeant

Constructed on a rectangle echoing the rectangle of the posters edges.

Exaggerating the scale difference between ship and tug boat, displays a monolithic quality used to signify

strength and safety.

1931

Austin Cooper

Poster for the Southern Railroad, undated -

Operates symbolically for visual communications purposes.

Fragments of images and bright color convey fun and excitement.

Lively movement is achieved by shifting planes, sharp angles, and the superimposition of lettering and images

Austin Cooper

Across the Alps…

Herbert Matter

1935

Swiss designer

Pioneered extreme contrasts in scale, and the integration of black and white photography, symbols, and color areas.

Travel poster for Switzerland, 1934 The angular shift conveys a sense of movement appropriate to winter sports. A screen tint under the large head introduces a skin tone, while the airbrushed color around the crosses is red , the sky area is a pale blue.

Paula Scher, 1985

Walter Herdeg

Poster for St. Moritz,1936

Light and shadow create a dynamic, angular composition conveying the thrills of skiing. The trademark sun becomes part of the photograph

Created designs through the selection and cropping of photographic images

To the future…

Joseph Binder

Schulz-Neudamm

Poster for the film Metropolis,

1926

Review

1 - Bernhard scores with Priester.

2 - The poster goes to war.

3 - Designers go Cubic …er, Cubist.

4 - Swiss Mr. Matter collages photos, illustration, and typography.

Project

Create a dynamic poster to communicate a new take on an exciting travel trip/destination/location to the average American. You want to create an interesting image that will entice the viewer to be a part of the experience.

Document size 11” x 17” horizontal or vertical.Must be at least 150 dpi. (resolution)You may scan photographs that you have taken for your design.Use one word in your design Include graphic elements (geometric, free form shapes, lines)

Use flat color.Incorporate Contrast and a clear hierarchy of elements.Final version should be created in Illustrator.

Make thumbnail sketches of your ideas?Think about the colors being incorporated into your design.Think about the structure to your design.Simplify – “Less is more”