Historical Influence in Modern design
In class we started looking at the 18th century and the things that happened. We looked at how these things influenced the art around that time and even how modern and contemporary artists are inspired by the 18th century. The 18th century has been explained as the age of enlightenment or age of reason. The expansion of empirical knowledge and seeing and thinking for yourselves. It was also the century where the industrial revolution started. We looked at some work from famous landscape artists William Turner and John Constable and the influence the industrial revolution had on their work. You can see in this painting by John Constable that the buildings and city have a dark cloud risings up from behind them. In the foreground it is mostly grass and animals which represent the countryside. I think this painting is showing the industrial revolution taking over the country side and almost representing it as a dark evil towering over the country.
We were asked to research into a chosen art or design movement from the past and show how it could be reinvented in a contemporary way. I chose the Pop Art movement which emerged in the 1950s in Britain and the late 1950s in the US. I looked at some classic work from artist Andy Warhol and thought about how it could be modernised into contemporary art.
This is a famous portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol in 1967. I thought this work was interesting because of the colour used. The colours at the time will have been very modern and eye catching whereas today the colours would be considered as quite pale. I thought that this piece could be modernised by using even more bright vibrant colours like neon. Or even using a complex more detailed pattern instead of the block pastil colours.
18th Century Styles
We started to look into 18th century styles in our last contextual studies lecture. We started by looking at the style Rococo. It gets its name from the French word Rocaille which means rock or broken shell motifs that often form part of the design. The style is decorative, fussy, elaborate and is completely style over substance. Wedgewood was a famous teapot craftsman that could be associated with having a rococo style.
The next style we looked at was Gothic which first appeared in the 12th century around Paris. This was primarily an architectural style that included key features like pointed arches and vaulted ceilings. In the 18th century the style was about making a creepy or horror atmosphere. The book Vampyre was wrote in 1819 which was the first vampire story along with Mary Shelly's famous Frankenstein. These books both have gothic influence.
We also looked at Chinoiserie which is a oriental inspired style. The name comes from the French word 'chinois' which means Chinese. Often artwork would be copied straight from Chinese objects like buildings and plants. For example lotus flowers and Pagodas were very popular in the Chinoiserie style. The famous furniture artist Chippendale used the style in his work. The style was mostly inspired by the heavy flow of imports from China around the time like silk and porcelain.
The last style we looked at was neo classicism which was the most influential style in the second half of the 18th century. It was inspired by ancient classics such as Greek pots or any other decorative items from ancient times. There was a lot of inspiration from the Roman Empire in neo classicism as a style. This was because around the 18th century a lot of rich and wealthy would go on tour around the world, the tour would usually include visiting the ancient city Rome.
We were asked to research into a 18th century style of our choice and show how we could incorporate it into our own work in a modern and contemporary way. I chose Gothic as I think this is still a very important style in the modern world. There is a lot of typographic styles that have influence from the gothic style.
Here is a gothic font, you can tell by the high arches and the spikes in the letterforms that it is gothic inspired. I could use the gothic style in my designs for branding and prints. I like the creepy, horror themes that the style uses. For graphic design having certain themes in a style is very important when creating visual brand identities. I would use the gothic style if I was to brand a tattoo shop for example. A lot of tattoo design and artwork has gothic influence. I think the style would suite the branding of a tattoo shop (shop sign, business card, flyer, logo etc.)
The Aesthetic Movement & Pre Raphaelite Paintings
The Aesthetic movement was prominent in the 19th century, it put emphasis on the aesthetic values as opposed to the political and social aspects within art, music and literature. The Pre-Raphaelites were a brotherhood of artists, poets and critics who's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered as mechanistic views from artists Raphael and Michelangelo. They focused on complex detail, colour and composition.
I have decided to research further into the aesthetic movement and some of the work and design that has come from it. I found a useful resource on Pinterest which has some interesting pieces of work from the Aesthetic Movement. (http://www.pinterest.com/ginnyhuxford/aesthetic-movement-1870-1900/)
I have decided to look into the interior design of the Peacock Room designed by artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The room was painted between 1876 and 1877 and is one of the finest examples of aesthetic interiors and of the Anglo-Japanese style which was a style developed from a new interest in Japanese design and culture. The room was decorated using a palette of greens and blues with over glazing and metallic gold leaf. The Peacock Room was originally designed as a dining room in a townhouse located in Kensington, London owned by the British shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland.
I chose to research into this piece of design as I think the colours of the whole interior are quite modern for its time and hugely decorative. I also appreciate the level of detail in the illustration of the peacocks on the front door and I could really take inspiration from this. Another thing I found interesting about this room is that it reminded me of the Chinoiserie style as both are of eastern influence.
Cubism, Futurism & Art Nouveau
We started to look at cubism and futurism which started around the early 20th Century. Picasso and Braque were massively influential artists around this time and their cubism art was all about re-representing what they could see in a futuristic or abstract way. This was seen as a very modern technique at the time and was also associated with futurism and De Stijl. Futurism is all about breaking away from the past and bringing out new ideas and techniques in art. Filipo Marinette was a futurism artist who's work was hugely influenced by the industrial revolution and his work shows a lot of representation of movement and speed. Art nouveau was also a modern art movement of the early 20th century. A common style associated with art nouveau was 'whiplash' which is the use of over exaggerated natural forms and fluid style. Wiener Werkstatte or Vienna workshops founded in 1903 furthered the ideas of the Viennese succession. This industry kick started the use of logos in companies (or the use of a trademark to communicate your companies identity).
I have decided to research into Italian futurism artist Fortunato Depero who was also a writer, painter and graphic designer. This is one of my favourite pieces from Fortunato. It is called New York and was painted in 1930. I like this painting because of the graphic elements he uses like block shapes and bright colours. This is a perfect example or futuristic artwork around the time. I like the abstract way that the buildings and city is represented and think that this will have been very new and experimental for the time. You can see the obvious influence from the industrial revolution and the growth of big cities such as New York. I feel like this work could influence my designs as it has a very graphic style which I appreciate. I could also learn from the abstract way Fortunato interprets what he is painting, I could bring this through into some of my designs.
The Festival of Britain
The post war council of industrial design set up the national festival in 1951 to give Britain the feel of recovery after the war. This was founded by the board of trade which later became the Design Council in 1972. Its mission was, 'to challenge great design that improves peoples lives' in other words to tell people what and what isn't good design. This is a Photograph of the festival along the South Bank of the River Thames
The festival was held all over the country in different cities although the main site was at Battersea Park which was a bomb site in the war in London. Structures included, The Dome of Discovery and the Skylon which towered 300ft high. The era in which the first festival was held (1950s) was strange because people were still rationing until 1954. A lot of the attractions in the park were about the collaboration of sciences and and art and the huge advances in each of these fields. The logo for the festival was designed by Abram Games and it shows a compass with the royal Britannia Helmet and buntings to represent celebration (after the war).
We have been asked to design something for the festival of Britain with reference to styles and artist around the time. I desided that it would be appropriate to design a outdoor shaded and ventilated setting area for the public at the festival. I chose modular windows for the sides of the shelter which have gaps in to ventilate the area. I thought this was quite modernistic because of the modular style windows. I also took inspiration from the big metal structures at the festival site like the Dome and the Skylon as metal industries were advancing in the 1950s due to the end of the war and more focus from the industrial side of Britain towards art.
Post 1950s
In todays session we started to look into post 1950s artwork, styles and general social and cultural norms and values. We first started to look into pop art and the artist Richard Hamilton who's work was very modern and influential at the time as he used new and contemporary techniques for his collage work like shown in this piece shown below called 'Just what it is that makes todays homes' made in 1956. I think this piece is showing the modern day items around that era that would be found in around the household like a hoover and stereo system which were considered as modern around that time. The idea of his work and other pop artists was to break away from the previous establishment of art (i.e. traditional painting and printing).
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'Just what it is that makes todays homes' 1956
A lot of the influences came from Scandinavia and the USA. The use of a lot of colour within art around the 1950s derived from post war consumerism who no longer wanted plain and traditional art. The styles of art around that time came from all aspects of design and art as art from previous times stuck to one style. This was part of the post modernism art movement.
Around this time sub cultures started to derive specially within the younger generation as they had more money to spend on things they wanted as opposed to need. The younger generation had a lot more money and time to spend on creating their own style.
At the same time propaganda started to break away from war and more towards the perfect household and family. Like in this image below about the perfect 'housewife' bringing in the idea of women being housewives and men bringing in the money (i.e. working to support the family) which in todays culture would be seen as absurd and unequal between sexes.
Around this time plastic industry was booming so the production of clingfilm, acylic was a lot more common and in most households. Also there was a huge increase in DIY around the household. A lot more homemaker table ware etc. was in production so the working and middle classes could afford to have these kind of stylish items around the house.
In this piece of art that I found from the mid 1950s, I found interesting as the idea of tanned skin was undesirable pre 50s. This shows that post 1950s the consumer market was focusing on products specifically for pleasure and consumers as opposed to need like pre war advertising or propaganda.
This poster shows that post 50s consumerism was on a huge rise and there was less advertisement or graphics for propaganda and need and instead the advertisement and propaganda was more focused on consumerism and want.
As a piece of individual study we were asked to research into a 1950s designer or artist and illustrate examples of some of their work in relation to 1950s culture, society and design. I chose to look into the work of graphic designer Max Huber.
He was an iconic swiss graphic designer who's work is hugely appreciated within graphics. During world war 2 he moved to Milan to avoid being drafted into the swiss army. He then had to move back to Switzerland in 1941 when Italy joined the war to start working on the influential magazine 'Du'. Du is a swiss art magazine which he worked on past the end of the war and in 1954 was awarded the 'Compasso d'oro award' for his work. He exhibitied work all across the world and later became a graphic design teacher.
This is a cover designed by Max Huber in 1955 for the italian magazine 'Imballaggio'. You can see that the cover has clear modern influences because of its simplistic design and colour. Artists in the 1950s were trying to break away from traditional art and include a lot of colour in designs as this is what people wanted after the war. This design reminds me of the pre war style De Stijl because of the use of primary colours and white background. You can see that his work is massively influenced by 1950s society and culture. This use of colour would have been very modern at the time and is what people were looking for post war. The imagery in the centre of the design reminds me of a molecule or a chemical structure of something. This is because of the scientifically advances around the time which also massively influenced design.
1960s
We started to look into 1960s art and design. The 1960s was the age of when celebrities really started to boom which shows clear advances in pop culture and the real start of mens fashion. The idea of multi sex clothes came about which never happened before. Clothes were, for the first time made from plastics and metals which allowed a lot more variety in fashion styles. As this was also the time of the moon landings and space travel a lot of the clothes made were inspired by this and the metals and plastics used around the time backed this up. We looked at the cover for times magazine from 1966 which is titled 'London: The Swinging City'. This is a good example of graphic design from around that time and includes a lot of iconic images from the 60s like The Who, Ian Flemming, the classic london double decker bus and even road signs which we still use today. The swinging city suggests that people were starting to join this pop culture and everyone was about moving forward and breaking away from the past. 
The 60s was the first for a lot of things including boutique shops, celebrities, mens fashion and also where the whole glamorous style started. This was influenced by art deco and the celebrity culture around the time which inspired people to want a glamorous lifestyle and fashionable clothes. This was really the time where people were wanting to move forward and do things that hadn't been done before. There was a book called 'Lady Chatterleys Lover' which was wrote in the 1930s but was considered too explicit or pornographic around that time. This book was finally released 30 years later in the 60s where people were more modernized and the book was socially acceptable to read. This shows that people were forgetting about the past and moving forward.
As a research task we were asked to find a piece of design from the 60s that reflects the culturural, social and technological changes around the time.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkponk/2269903043/in/set-72157600267969060/
This is an example of 1960s graphic design. This is a record cover for Capitol Records designed by John Van Hammersvelp and was directed George Osaki. You can see that it has been painted probably using water colours. This piece of design reflect cultural changes in the 1960s because of its psychedelic influence. LSD was created in 1938 by scientist Albert Hofmann whilst trying to find a blood stimulant. This then became hugely popular as a recreational drug in the 1960s across America and the United Kingdom. Psychedelic Art came out of this experimentation with the drug and popularised cover artwork for bands such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys as they both produced some music related to LSD. Also the colours and shapes in the artwork is quite surreal which shows an advancement in Art Movements. Breaking away form the past and moving forward into subcultural art. I think this artwork shows clear influence from these scientific and cultural changes around the time.
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