February 24, 2010. Bauhaus.

key points:

• ‘De Stijl’ means ‘The Style’ in Dutch. 
• Dutch Stijl and Russian Supremist deisgn pushed cubism to pure geometric forms, by isolating natural design.
• Mondrian based his designs on purely vertical and horizontal lines...also geometric forms.
• Bauhaus: Less is more
• Bauhaus school had 50% men and 50% women, even though women were mostly concentrated on weaving and caramics.
• Bauhaus moved around Germany, from Weimar to Dassau to Berlin, finances were always an issue.
• Bauhaus was focused on modern design, which was based on intuition, rather than technical finesse. The designs were too modern for people of the age.
• Bauhaus started having issues with Nazi Germany.
• Nazis had effect on art in that many people started evacuating Germany to find art jobs and similar in other countries, many which were in the US.
• The Bauhaus style focused on clean, flowy, lines.
• Mahaly Nagy: Single-handedly itemizes then applies the components of the Bauhaus graphic design legacy.
• Tschichold wrote a book called “Graphische Werbekunst” a.k.a “New Typography”. It proposed systems of typographic design with symmetrical organization and artificial-kinetic organization and artificial-kinetic asymmetrical design of contrasting elements.
• ‘Dynamic forces should be present in every design. Type should be in motion.’

The Bauhaus was certainly an important event in design history, their non-conventional design is what determined the ‘modern’ design style, and brought about international style. Many teachings were based off the Bauhaus that still influence art and design today. The teachings were a breakthrough in design and were therefore important. 

Class Session, February 17, 2010 --Avant Garde and USSR Design

• DADA’s usage of photo collage influenced Russian design
• Photography creates myth -- not to restate reality
• Rodchenko: Photographs became the primary design elements in his work.
• Photoraphs had greater capacity to engage vierwwes.
• Early Russian design was very structured ‘mechanical’, emotions had no place
• Attempt to create the USSR, and attempt at a utopia
• El Lissitzky co-edited with Hans Arp. 
• Pictorial spreads
• Advertisements were created for USSR monopolistic companies
• Designs were constant
• Designs promoted equality and unity between the sexes.

The lecture today shows what happens when we need ads for monopolistic companies. It also helps us view the old attempts and propaganda to develop the USSR before it fell. The hype regarding the development of the USSR was also interesting because they made it seem like a different world, and showed us a lot about what the minds were thinking at this time.

February 10, 2010. 20th Century Art.

Key Points:

• “Plakastil” or “Poster Style” emerged in Germany early 20th century.
• “Sachplakate”, “object poster” developed in Switzerland, had a reductive “flat color” design.
• Cubism made things more unrealistic
• The use of symbolism in cubism, rather than actual object rendering, was what made cubism special.
• Lucian Bernhard set the ground work for distinct professional identities such as logos.
• Automobiles became popular
• “Plakastil” developed into a tool for propaganda, especially during WWII.
• Allies focused on mythical realism and unity through effort, Axis was more focused on direct, simple, shapes and patterns for symbolism.
• Ludwig Hohlwein was skilled at expressing emotions through a natural style, plakastil master.
• Futurim was a nehilistic form of communication. 
• Semiology was put in the social sciences.
• Lewis Carol’s book, Alice in Wonderland (1886) worked with experimental typography to convey the story.
• Simulteneity -- text playing several roles at once. Both visual and verbal.
• Anta Karl made a very experimental and expressive piece called The Bats Meow, in which the letters for ‘Meow’ were used to form the shape of a kitty.
• Iconoclastic -- Attacks settled beliefs or institutions. 
• DADA developed iconoclastic imagery, which was vert experimental in the sense that they used mediums such as photocollage to convey their messages.
• Fine artist Duchamp was very influential in the world of graphic design because his art encouraged graphic designers to become experimental with different mediums.
• DADA despised conventions and traditional role of art.
• John Heartfield and Kurt Schwitters produced many photocollages, even though Heartfield was more political, and Schwitters saw the concept as simply art.
• MERZ generated much interest in emerging Holland and Russian movements.
• Avant Garde, Surrealism developed, and was more a visual expression of emotions and thoughts of the subconscious than actual portrayal of normal objects.
• Automatism -- A pure psychic exercise often used by surrealists.
• Man Ray was influential in the area of modern photographic expression, and created surreal art with photography.

The lecture today was primarily focused on 20th century art and uses, and their influence on graphic design. The designs shown from the WWII era were useful in the sense that they portrayed a lot about the cultures themselves -- their preferred communication. This teaches that simply looking at contemporary propaganda art and design can convey a message about the culture it’s created in, and therefore provides a powerful tool for cultural awareness. The Axis powers were mostly concerned with the direct portrayal, and strong, bold, symbols and shapes, the Allies were more concerned with ideological portrayal -- I thought this was very interesting. It also taught how modern art has developed into its liberal expression it conveys now, rather than following exact structures as it has in the past centuries. What else can we learn about other cultures and history through the examination of their art?