After Class: Day Fifteen 3/9/09

1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Alexis presented Chapter 13 yesterday for the beginning of class. We went over modern styles; Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism, Dada, and Futurism. A main point of Cubism was that it was done by Pablo Picasso. Filippo Marinetti started Futurism. Dada was a style that shocked and had strong negative feelings. Surrealism was the opposite of Dadaism. And there were two major German Expressionist group, "The Bridge" and "The Blue Rider", two different style of conveying emotions or lack of emotions. We then went over questions that we had from Chapter 12, regarding Frank Lloyd Wright, Ver Sacrum, and the style overall.

2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future.
Pablo Picasso was Cubism, use of geometric angles, lines, cubes. Dadaism was very shocking, had negative feelings associated with the works, used everyday objects as art (urinal). Surrealism used bright colors and dream like figures. Expressionism was divided into two major groups, who had different ways of expressing emotions or lack of emotions. And Futurism used poetry and words in the works.

3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today?

The most useful thing we did in class yesterday was the packet that Alexis had us do. It showed us the differences between the styles and gave us more example on the styles.

4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
I guess I still don't completely understand Dadaism. How can a signature on a urinal be art? How can a urinal be art?

Before Class: Chapter Thirteen

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
This chapter showed a lot of changes going on in the twentieth century, mainly political, but those changes influenced the introduction of new style in advertisement. Pablo Picasso used geometric lines combined with African tribal art to form Cubism along with Paul Cezanne. Both Picasso and Cezanna were demonstrating a new way of conveying feeling with abstract figures and geometric planes. Cubism has influenced how painting and graphic design are still done today. Filippo Marinetti was a poet during this time that began Futurism. Futurism was a movement where the arts were up against the new science and the industrial age. Typography and poetry were the main focuses of the chapter. The style during this time was very chaotic and not very harmonious. The Dadaists were a group who were rebelling against WWI, their works were meant to shock and have a feeling a strong negativity and destruction. Expressionism and surrealism were two other movements that were big in Europe during this time. Surrealism was the complete opposite of Dada movement/style with poetic faith in the spirits of mankind and humanity. Two larger expressionists groups that were big in Germany were "The Bridge" and "The Blue Rider". "The Bridge" expressed their emotions by working the subject matter, while "The Blue Rider" expressed their emotions through perceptions given by an object. There was also some changes in photography during this time. A big player, Man Ray used Dada and surrealism in his photography, manipulating things in the dark room, and using different set-ups. He also started using solarization to strengthen contours in photos.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
Man Ray and the photography section were the most interesting sections for me because of my interest in photography and seeing the changes that occurred during this different time periods. I enjoy seeing how photography and how pictures have developed since the time of the cameras creation.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
I was confused by some of the Dada works. I didn't understand the meaning behind some of the images, for example figures 13-32 through 13-38. What is the meaning behind some of these images?

Week Five Image

Let There Be Light




Describe what it is: This is an image of a metal screen that was cut into letters to form a cylinder "lamp shade" that creates a really cool shadow effect with the letters.

Describe its function: The main function of this image is art, this was a art project a friend of mine did. The other function of this would be a decorative lamp.

Describe where you saw it: This is my friend Amelia work, this was in her photos on Facebook. I was looking through some of her pictures and then decided to look through some of her art work, and I found A LOT of beautiful paintings, drawings, sculptures, and self portraits.

Discuss the style of the design & typography: The style of the piece is quite modern... I mean just using type for the whole design is quite bold and modern. The typography looks kind of like san-serif but I can't be to sure because I think that she did all of it by hand.

Discuss the quality of the artwork: The artwork quality is wonderful, the work that must have gone into making all those letters and making them perfect must have been difficult and tedious. But the end product was well worth it.

Discuss what attracted you to the piece
 (use adjectives). Describe how it relates to what we have discussed or read: When I first saw this I immediately thought modern art, but then I remembered that Peter Behrens was a designer that used san-serif typography and a grid system in his design layouts. He was known as an "industrial designer" with his innovations on the teapot and electric lamp, and this is a modern lamp. And I would assume that Amelia had to use some sort of grid system to create her design.

After Class: Day Thirteen 3/4/09

1. Name of graphic style (or topic) studied this session: Yesterday class consisted of Anna's presentation on chapter 12, Genesis of the Twentieth Century. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the major artist that she talked about, she also talked about "the four" aka the Glasgow style, the Vienna succession, Peter Behrens, and the London Underground. We also discussed the chapter with Laura more in detail. We also answered each others questions from chapter 11 that we had to blog about; we discussed everyone's question and were able to relate to the questions more and it helped us understand the chapter a little better.

2. Describe specific qualities of this style (or if it’s a topic-highlights of that topic) that will help you identify it in the future.
This chapters artists were more organic feeling, used total design (Frank Lloyd Wright concept), used female form, flowers, were more radical, and almost had a 70s vibe with some of the pieces of art. This design was breaking away from the older Victorian style and was influenced by the Art Nouveau period.

3. What is the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today?

I really liked Anna's presentation portion that focused on Frank Lloyd Wright, I just love his design and his concepts. I didn't realize that he came up with the idea of "total design" and how interesting that is. Some "total designs" were a little insane but the ideas were very original and very pretty.

4. State at least one question you have after the class. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
Did the Vienna Succession "magazine" Ver Sacrum get banned in certain areas due to it being controversial and being different then everything else out there?

Before Class: Chapter Twelve

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
Chapter 12 started out talking about "the four" and Frank Lloyd Wright. "The four" were four distinct artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, J. Herbert Mcnair, and the sisters Margaret and Frances Macdonald, who created the Glasgow School, and developed a unique style of lyrical originality and symbolic complexity. They worked with geometric styles and combined tempered floral and curvilinear elements with strong rectilinear structure into their designs. They also influenced architecture along with their influence in graphic design, Mackintosh had more of an influence on architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, who saw space as the essence of design. Wright defined organic design as having entity, "something in which the part is to the whole as the whole is to the part, and which is all devoted to a purpose..." Another artist from this time period was Peter Behrens, a German artist, architect, and designer who played a major role in charting a course for design in the first decade of the new century. He has been called "the first industrial designer" , he worked for the Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft or AEG, ans he designed their logo. And the remainder of the chapter discussed the the design of the London Underground, which was the first underground electric railway system that opened in 1890. The design of the logo was a white background with a red circle in the middle, a blue rectangle going through the center of the circle, that read UNDERGROUND in white sans serifs. This is a very geometric, basic logo which is still being used today.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
The design for the London Underground was very interesting, just the thought that a design from when the railway system was opened is still being used today is really cool. It just shows that a good design can last for a long time if it is done in good taste and is well liked.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
Why were teakettles such a big deal for AEG? Why were they talked about so much, regarding different materials, components, and designs?

After Class: Day Twelve 3/2/09

Victoria's Question from Chapter Eleven

My only confusion is what happened in America with this "new art." Some of the many artists covered in Chapter 11 visited, and I believe a couple lived here. But it seems to me that this style was mainly in Europe. Am I correct in believing this? Or did the United States have an impact on (and was impacted by) this style?

The United States had an impact on Art Nouveau because some of the artists lived here, so one could imagine that they would have made an impact on the art nouveau style with ideas from the United States or things that were going on here. One example from the chapter was Louis Comfort Tiffany, who was a famous American glass artist whose work had a sizable influence in Europe.

Before Class: Chapter Eleven

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
Art Nouveau, the decorative style that took place from 1890 to 1910, encompassed all design arts including architecture, furniture, fashion, and graphics. The term art nouveau began in Paris, a art gallery called Salon de l'Art Nouveau, which included Japanese art and "new art" by European and American artists. Ukiyo-e was the art movement that captured Japan and the West; "pictures of the floating world" blended realistic narratives with influences of decorative design. The chapter mention a few more commonly know Japanese artist; Hishikawa Moronobu who was widely respected as the first master of ukiyo-e print, Okumura Masanobu was among the first artists to move from hand-coloring single-color woodcuts to two-color printing, Kitagawa Utamaro was popular for his portrayal of beautiful women, and the most renowned artist, Katsushika Hokusai, who produced about 35,000 works during his life time. Art Nouveau was the bridge between Victorian clutter and modernsim. Artists like Cheret, Toulouse-Lautrec, Mucha, and Steinlen were popular poster artists during this time period, even though Mucha is the only artist's name synonymous with the art nouveau period. Aubrey Beardsley was popular in England for about five years with his bold pen line and white and black design. The art nouveau style moved on to America where it grew with Louis Rhead and Will Bradley, who mostly designed magazine covers and layouts.

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
One thing that I found to be really interesting from the chapter was Ethel Reed. She was the first American woman to achieve national prominence as a graphic designer and illustrator. She became well known as a book illustrator and poster designer at the age of eighteen.

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
Why was the art nouveau period so short compared to other periods we have studied?