HisGD- 3/20/12

Bauhaus 1919-1933

1919- 1925- Weimar

            1923- first public exhibition

1924- letter of resignation

1925-1932- Dessau

            -evolves, designing for industry, made products

            -Groupious replaced my Meyer

            -replaced by Van der ro

1932-1933- Berlin

- nasty, dreary, old warehouse

Utopian desire for new society

Set desire to create a new society.

Unity of artist and craftsmen to build for the future.

Ideas from all advance art and designed were explored and applied

All about experimenting

Paul Kee                                 Miles van der Rohe

Moholy Nagy                          Walter Groupus

Herbert Bayer                        Kandinsky

Walter Gropius- Director of Bauhaus 1919-1928

“Taming the machine, work for society”

The Bauhaus Manifesto- lays out beginnings of the Bauhaus

Cathedral print- metaphor

-3 spires- painting, sculpture, architecture “all should be happening as one”

John Ruskin- also used cathedral as example.

“The ultimate aim of all creativity is a building”

3 Masters

-Gerhard Marks- Sculpture

-Lyonel Feringer- Painting

-Johannes Itten- Preliminary Courses

Johannes Itten

- Believed in the idea of a core program, set of skills.

- Fanatically about releasing each individual’s capabilities.

- Understanding of physical nature and materials. “ draw a piece of material”

- Basal School of Design- European.

- America, not theoretical, more pragmatic (practical)

- studies of contrast, studied old masters

- emphasis on contrast.

Joseph Smitt

-Elements of constructivism, cubism

-advertisement for first exhibition.

Laslow Nagy

-Hungarian constructivist

- interested in materials, for the service of society.

-experimenting with everything!

-replaces Itten for foundation program, incredible influence

-experimented with combining with imagery and typography

-creates Type-o-photos.

- emphasis must be on absolute clarity, legibility.

-Communication must not be affected by aesthetic.

- Photograms- plating with light sensitive paper, exploring new art.

-“What if?”

1925-1932

Golden Age of Bauhaus

Built own building! Huge glass curtains!

Begin selling student designed products

Replace idea of masters with science

Printing on glass?- look up Kyle Cooper

Herbert Beyer

- gives us Universal alphabet, omitted capitals, not successful,

- example of kind of thinking

-open implied grid, active negative space, asymmetrical, skewed

Nice van der Rohe

-rough, sturdy, roll up your sleeves and work!

Faculty voted in August 1933 to close Bauhaus

Jan Tchicochold

- hand lettered advertisement- 1922

-goes to Bauhaus exhibition when 21, rocks his world

- Writing an publishing paper on the new typography for designers in 1925.

Talwin Morris- practical application to Gasglow school

-1928- writes book “The New Typography”

Elements of Typographica style- get it!

- everything being done is WRONG! Start new!

The aim of every typographic work is to be the delivery in the shortest most efficient manner!!!!- Tchicochold

See the movie Pi

-harassed by the NAZIS for his typography! “Fight the Nazis with Typography”

“Free Tchichold!”

Escapes Nazi Germany, goes to Switzerland

Thoughts:

I've always wondered where the idea of core came from, although now it seems so obvious thats how an art education should start. The same system was used at my high school. The first two years were about materials, thinking, and exploring. The last two years are about experimenting and creating your own interpretation of the assignment. Johannes Itten believed in releasing each individual's capabilities. If nothing else comes out of an art education, having an identity as an artist is worth the time and effort. More and more I am beginning to realize that the true value of design is the thinking, followed by the design itself. Technology changes and styles are so numerous that requires the actual design part to change constantly.  But with thinking, it makes someone adaptable to change.

With the thinking comes experimentation. They go hand and hand together. I have found the computer to be a great tool for designing, but sometimes I long to feel it with my own hands. Recently, it has manifested in an interest in printing and interactive print design. Laslow Nagy had a high interest in experimentation, and brought it with him to the foundation program at the Bauhaus. He encouraged playing with all sorts of materials, even screen printing on glass. I would like to emphasize that "playing" and "experimenting" should be synonymous with each other. The process of experimenting should be fun and open to anything, just like playing with blocks as a kid. Nagy played with typography and created the the Type-o-photo, which combined the type with elements of the photograph. 

While he loved to experiment, he had strict beliefs about communication. Nagy said emphasis must be on absolute clarity and legibility. I agree that type should be legible and clearly presented, however I have been wanting to experiment with more expressive type and finding the fine line between creative and illegible. His theory on aesthetic and communication I find true, but difficult to over come. He states that aesthetic should not interfere with communication. Its true that a design should reflect what is being communicated, but the style should be interpreted through the filter of a personal aesthetic, or else everything would look the same.

Jan Tchicochold had a interesting remark on typography. He remarked "The aim of every typographic work is to be the delivery in the shortest most efficient manner." I agree with Tchicochold, the communication with type should as simple as possible, say a lot with little. But its also about the feel of the words, the physical sensation of saying them and how they are heard spoken. I do not like my copy long and clunky to say. 

Questions:

Recently, I read an article about how Encyclopedia Britannica is ceasing print production of their books and switching to digital. What do you think this says about the appreciation of print and why everything is going digital? I bring this up because I was thinking about Nagy's experimentation with photos and glass printing. At first, the inherent value seems to benefit physical design like print, but how could it be reinterpreted for digital? Could there be a class that involves taking experimentation with materials and applying those elements to say a website? Imagine an entire website designed with trash or scrap wood and nails? 

“If you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not making art.”

HisGD -3/13

Quiz next week!

“If you’re not pissing someone off, you’re not making art.”

“The solution is in the problem”

Kel Lissitzky- influences constructivism, de stijl, and the Bauhaus

Lissitzky and Kandinsky- two very different people

Lissitzky- explores the intersection if painting and architecture

-P.R.O.U.NS- experiments to explore intersection( projects for establishment of a new art)

  Beat the whites with the red wedge- Lissitzky

-writes book “The –isms if Art”

-interesting page system, mathematical graph system

Columns separate languages, used sans serif fonts, established grid

Analyze the geometry to solve the design problem

 Lissitzky

- about the whole, not the individual

Experimentation in art and cinematography

-Serge Issenstein

-looking for the new art

Alexander Rodchenko- lived up to 1956

-Showed paintings at 5x5 show, considers painting dead and done.

- begins supremacist, moves to constructivism

Constructivism- creativity with a social need

De Stijl

Netherlands

-based on utopian approach to aesthetics

rectilinear planes void of decoration

-black, white, red, yellow, and blue

-express mathematical structure to explore the universe and universal harmony

Piet Mondrian- well known member

Theo van Doesburg- founder, De Stijil ends when he dies.

Dadaism- the world is chaos, so art should be.

Van Doesburg embraced Dadaism- believed that “in order to have new art, the old must be destroyed.”

Piet Mondrian

                                

Van Doesburg vs. Mondrian- Van Doesburg wanted diagonals, Mondrian didn’t.

“At Christmas, I’ll come to you house and ask who Walter Groppious is?

The Bauhaus! 1919-1933

-Utopian idea to change the world

-Looking for a unity of artist and craftsmen to find a new world.

-about rebuilding

1919-1925     Weimer

            1923   First exhibition

            1924   Letter of Resignation

1925-1932     Dessau

            1928   Groupius replaced by Meyer

            1930    Meyer replaced by van der Rohe

1932-1933      Berlin

Thoughts

I think the Constructivism and supremacism movements in Russia, though limited my government influence, were able to grow and experiment within their own boundaries and produced incredible examples of design. Lissitzky was able to explore the intersection of painting and architecture. His piece "Beat the whites with a red wedge" was an interesting exploration of geometry and color. His interest in geometry later influenced his book on the Isms of Art when he organized his book into 3 columns with a different language in each one. It refers to a quote from class about "using geometry to solve a design challenge." In this case, Lissitzky wanted to write the book in three different languages. Instead of writing 3 separate books or separating each language in order, he put all three on the same page using columns. Constructivism design created a style synonymous with propaganda art including the modern day Shepard Fairey work. The crisp geometric shapes and bold colors create strong emotion responses. 

What surprised me was the amount of experimental work being done at the time, especially so early in its history. Its a shame I do not see much of that these days. In the Motion Design presentation, there were examples of work that involved scratching and manipulating film with tools and chemicals to create imagery.  I imagine these days that could be done with both digital and analog tools. Perhaps some traditional stop motion or animation could be done. It might be also interesting to combine old photo techniques with film manipulation.

I had mixed feelings about Alexander Rochenko's comment's on painting being dead and gone. Did he refer to the tradition of realistic rendering from the previous periods? Because the symbolic nature of painting has never died from its history before it inception. In fact, the paintings of suprematism and constructivism are absolutely dependent on symbolism in order to evoke the emotion they desire with color. I may be wrong, but I would like clarification on what he means by "painting" being dead.

 With Destijl and Dadaism, I believe they serve the same purpose in tow different ways. The Destijl movement I find to be more appealing with the work of Mondrian and Van Doesburg. Its also a very academic way to approach art with the inclusion of mathematics to interpret their surroundings. The geometric forms and lack of decoration emphasize the simple but powerful. It challenges the elaborate nature of arts and crafts and especially the previous movements of Rococo and beyond. Dada. however, specifically attacks the idea of what art is. While personally I am not appealed by dada art, their challenge if the idea of art was vital if creating the environment that would lead to the rise of abstract expressionism. It was a fulcrum movement that shifted the art world from one direction to another. Duchamps' fountain, actually a urinal on its back, questions whether ordinary objects could be considered art. My question is if artist like Duchamp were turning solo ordinary objects into art, then did that possible lead down an avenue of thinking that lead to appreciation of say product design?

For the world of design, nothing can undermine the importance the of the Bauhaus. The idea of changing the world with design was an ambitious but refreshing approach and important for an art school. The work reflected a carefully planned, meticulously crafted, and minimalistic approach that I believe can still be seen today. It integrated what was happening with modernism in the fine art world with the practical design world. 

Questions

Many of my questions are mentioned above but a few highlights are:

-When Rochenko siad painting was dead, what do you specifically think he meant by that ? I need clarification

- Did the dada movements appreciation of ordinary objects as art lead to an avenue of thinking that created an appreciation of say product design?

Arts and Crafts- social conscious, reaction against industry

-Break away from comfort house

Abstraction, anything other than real, continuum

Versccum- can advertise if artist designs ads

-60s design came out of Art Nouveau art in San Fran.

-everything is a remix- watch series

-try to be new, the grade does not matter

p22- revival- vernacular type

Art Nouveau- Gasglow- Secessionist

Peter Behrens- designer for AEG- German power company

-early advocate for sans serif font

-first comprehensive identity package-AEG

- pioneers non-load bearing walls

- 1904-interested in relationship with circles and squares

-1906- designs linoleum pavilion- combines circle and square

Make 3D lamp based on Behrens’s geometry!

1907-hired by AEG- artistic adviser

1908- copyrights logo- metaphor of honeycomb for design.

         - identity should have connecting elements

         -colors, type, layouts, elements, etc.

applies system of base units to tea kettles- Taco Bell mentality!

Turbine building design- form follows function- modernist thinking

1890- first electric cars in London

1914- WWI, AIGA founded!

Lucion Bernhard- At14, gets kicked out of house

Designs Priester poster- rejected at first but chosen anyway

-leads to an entire school of poster design

-rides idea all the way

-did not like Bauhaus and theories, only a job- longest running debate in GD

Placostil- poster style

Sophisticated, not literal- abstract

WWII posters

-AXIS- graphic, well designed, decoding

-ALLY- illustration, spoon fed

James Flagg- “I want you” poster- most reproduce image

Ludwig Hohlwein- poster designer, master

-1914- figure ground play

-reputation tarnished by association with Nazis

-Nazis had great designs

-Hitler did not like the design aesthetic, called axis posters “wrong minded” and ally had best, spoke to lowest common denominator

-Hohlwein good at emotion with contrast

- “And you?” poster

 

1918- example of modernism and cubism

abstract, not pictorial representation 

A.M Cassandre- one of the greatest poster designers in 20^th century.

-poster for telegraphy

-built on base grid , rational decisions, internal recognition  

The solution is in the problem, the more you define the problem, the more obvious the solution

Grids, ratio, and proportion tell you how to solve the problem

   

 

 

Dunonnet Liquor

Name breaks down in to multiple meanings

Dubo- doubt

Dubon-some good

Dubonnett

Paul Rand revisits this

Suprematism

- how do I express emotion?

-influenced by futurism (kinetics), cubism

-art for art’s sake ( no flowers or puppies, just visceral emotion)

-rejects utilitarian function, pictorial representation

-everything can be  said with this relationship, theoretical approach

-Kazimir Malevich

 

Constructivism-Russia

-Tatlin, Rodchenko, Lissitzky

Thoughts

I am starting to discover that I am highly influenced by modernist design. An interplay of shapes, colors and textures is something I always try to apply in my art. The approach Versccum took by having artist design the ads I find to be very refreshing when ads were not very appealing at the time. Plus the art nouveau approach I find to be more interesting than the illustrative approach found often in the states.

         I consider Peter Behrens to be one of my design heroes. For a while, comprehensive or integrated design has interested me and to see Behrens be the first guy to apply such an idea to design in remarkable. Behrens’ approach to AEG’s identity has carried over into how branding is approached today. Behrens’ interest with the relationship between squares and circles fascinates me as well, something I may experiment with later on.

         As much as I am 100% American, form a design perspective, I have more of an appreciation of the Axis propaganda posters than the Ally posters. May it has to due with my appreciation of modernist design, but it seemed to be more forward thinking at the moment than the current but over-played illustration-with-type approach. Hohlwein’s “and you?” poster was dark but highly effective and well designed. It has a expressed rule-of-thirds but is broken by the figure. The image is also vague enough to disguise the eyes in the top third and forces the viewer to “discover” the image in some way.

         The image that struck me the most was A.M Cassandre’s poster with the ship. I am a believer in the grid system so his work appeals to me but this onw stands out the most. His simple but creative approach to depicting the ship with the long vertical and dramatic contrast in size makes this a dynamic piece! The geometric feel and grid broken beautifully by the type and smoke creates a great eye flow through the composition.

         Concluding on the note of suprematism, I have great respect for the artist who can design with only a handful of shapes. I have seen this approach in Russian and Scandinavian art. While I do not design to that level of simplicity, that level of simplicity and clarity of communication is the nirvana of design. Some other work I’ve seen from Swedish designers Pierre Keller and Max Bill reflect the suprematism ideals with more color in some pieces. Looking at Kazimir Malevich’s work, I am grabbed by it and I do feel my eye moving around the piece even though there may be at most 2 squares. It definitely shows how powerful the choice of color, size, and shape can be.

Questions

All of this amazing work has mostly occurred in Europe, so when do these styles and approaches reach the U.S?  How is it translated and what may differentiate similar work done in the U.S to the work done in Europe? Much of the European work is image-based, are there any examples of Type-based work? Recently, I’ve been noticing a sizable modernist influence in a lot of design, does it seem plausible that the a gradually rebirth of modernism is occurring or a reinterpretation of it?