Summary 4

CHAPTER 12: THE GENESIS OF THE 20^TH CENTURY DESIGN:

·         Pinnacle moment. Perfection of processes.

·         Century invites introspection. One tends to look within themselves as opposed to the outside.

·         Conventional wisdom questioned by artists and writers. Also search for new possibilities for changing the circumstances of culture.

·         End of 18^th century: birth of new category of typeface design=modern style.

·         200 yrs. later: Neoclassical revival of Greco-Roman forms in architecture, clothing, painting, and illustration replaced Baroque and Rococo design.

·         20^TH century: designers from disciplines of architectural, fashion, graphic and product design in search of new forms of expression.

·         New design vocabulary of Art Nouveau challenged conventions of Victorian design.

·         Art Nouveau proved inventing new forms, instead of copying from nature/historical models= viable approach.

·         Potential of abstract and reductive drawing and design was explored by designers in Austria, Germany and Scotland. They moved away from the Serpentine beauty of Organic drawing as aesthetic philosophy was sought to address the changing conditions: social, economic and cultural.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AND THE GLASGOW SCHOOL:

·         FRANK LLYOD WRIGHT :( 1867-1959).

·         Curvilinear Art Nouveau to Rectilinear approach to spatial organization.

·         Rejected historicism in favour of philosophy of organic architecture with reality of building which existed not in design of façade but in dynamic interior spaces which was where people lived and worked.

·         Organic design had entity= the part is to the whole as the whole is to the part.

·         Space= essence of design.

·         Repetition of rectangular zones, use of asymmetrical spatial organization was adopted by other designers. His border designs were executed in fragile freehand line describing lacy pattern of stylized plant forms.

·         CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH (1868- 1928) : abstract interpretations of human figure.

·         J. HERBERT MCNAIR (1868- 1955): rising verticality and integration of flowing curves with rectangular structure= hallmarks of mature work.

·         SISTERS:

·         MARGARET (1865- 1933) AND FRANCES MACDONALD (1874- 1921): strong religious beliefs, embraced symbolist and mystical ideas. Unprecedented transcendental style: feminine, fairyland fantasy and melancholy disquietude.

·         MCNAIR MARRIED FRANCES AND MACKINTOSH MARRIED MARGARET.

·         =THE FOUR = GLASGOW SCHOOL.

·         Unique style of lyrical originality and symbolic complexity, symbolic imagery, stylized form. Bold, simple lines define flat planes of colour.

·         Geometric style of composition by tempering floral and curvilinear elements with strong rectilinear structure.

·         JESSIE MARION KING (1876- 1911): inspired by the four, medieval-style fantasy illustrations accompanied by stylized lettering. Grace, fluidity, romantic overtones influenced fiction illustration during 20^th century.

·         TALWIN MORRIS (1865- 1911) : Art director of Glasgow Publishing.

THE VIENNA SUCCESSION:

·         Like Glasgow School, was countermovement of floral art nouveau, flourished in parts of Europe.

·         Austria, Sezessionstil= Vienna Secession. 3 April 1897.

·         Younger members of Kunstlerhaus, Viennese Creative Artists Association resigned in a stormy protest. Refusal to allow foreign artists to take part in Kunstlerhaus exhibitions. Clash between tradition and new ideas from France, England and Germany was at conflict.

·         PAINTER: GUSTAV KLIMT (1862-1918) led the revolt.

·         ARCHITECTS: JOSEPH MARIA OLBRICH (1867-1908), JOSEF HOFFMANN (1870-1956) AND ARTIST-DESIGNER, KOLOMAN MOSER (1868-1918): major role in defining approach to graphic design. = KEYLINE MEMEBERS.

·         Benchmark posters for VS exhibitions showed groups rapid evolution from illustrative allegorical style of symbolist painting to French inspired floral style.

·         Inspiration came from Glasgow School.

·         KLIMT: Greek mythology.

·         Ver Sacrum: Sacred spring.

·         ADOLF LOOS (1870- 1933). FAMOUS ARTICLE: POTEMKIN CITY- BY POLEMIC AUSTRIAN ARCHITECT. Organic was not curvilinear but use of human needs as standard for measuring utilitarian form.  And simple geometric features.

·         ALFRED ROLLER (1864- 1935) masterly control of complex line, tone and form.

·         BERTHOLD LOFFLER (1874- 1960): Reductive symbolic imagesof thick contours

PETER BEHRENS AND THE NEW OBJECTIVITY:

·         German Artist, Architect, Designer: PETER BEHRENS= 1^st INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER. Played major role in charting a course for design in the 1^st decade of the new century. He pursued typographic reform, was an early advocate of san-serif typography and used grid-system to structure space in design layouts. He did designs for manufactured products: streetlamps, arc lamps and teapots. Worked at AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft) = first comprehensive visual identification program. Peter did architectural buildings which pioneered non-load-bearing glass curtain walls spanning spaces between support girders. He used square formats, ratios such as 1 square wide, by 1.5 or 2 squares high.

·         Studied in Hamburg, moved to Munich, Renaissance in German Arts and Crafts began. His paintings: of poor and industrial landscapes.

·         Abandoned social realism and embraced 1890s German Jugendstil Movement.

·         1900: Grand Duke of Hessen established Darmstadt artists’ colony, to encourage cultural and economic growth in light manufacturing: furniture, ceramics.

·         Colony’s 7 artists: including Behrens and Vienna Secession Architect, Olbrich.  Applied arts experience.

·         He designed his own house and furnishings, furniture, cutlery and china= total design.

·         Relationship of art, design forms to social, technical, and cultural conditions.

·         BERTHOLD FOUNDRY: 10 SAN SERIFS. AKZIDENS GROTEK= Standard.  Remarkable harmony and clarity. Inspired by san-serif typefaces of post-WORLD WAR II era.

·         BEHRENS 1^ST TYPEFACE = BEHRENSCHRIFT - 1901. Reduction of any poetic flourish marking forms and to make them more universal.

·         DUTCH ARCHITECT J.L. MATHIEU LAUWERIKS (1864- 1932). Geometric form, grids= square circumscribed around circle, numerous permutations made by subdividing and duplicating basic structure. Behrens was influenced and inspired by him.

·         1907: founding of DEUTSCHE WERKBUND (German Association of Craftsmen). ADVOCATED A MARRIAGE OF ART WITH TECHNOLOGY.

·         Groups leaders: HERMANN MUTHESIUS, HENRY VAN DE VELDE, AND BEHRENS= INFLUENCED BY WILLIAM MORRIS.

·         Behrens typeface for AEG =Behrens-Antiqua.

·         PETER BEHRENS DESIGNS FOR TEAKETTLES: 3 basic kettle forms, 2 lids, 2 handles and 2 bases. 3 materials: brass, copperplate and nickel-plate. 3 finishes: smooth, hammered and rippled.

DESIGN FOR THE LONDON UNDERGROUND:

·         1890: world’s first underground electric railway system opened.

·         FRANK PICK (1878-1941) vision to lead underground group for innovative publicity and design.

·         Underground station signs: 1908- solid red disk with blue bar across middle bearing the station’s name which was in white san-serif letters.

·         Bright and simple designs stood out against urban clutter.

·         Posters were eclectic and wide-ranging.

·         Focus = destination rather than transportation.

·         Bus, street-car, and subways were obtainable as the heartbeat of the city provided access to movies, museums, sports and shops.

·         PICK: personal responsibility to select artists and approve designs.

·         Posters for underground ranged in style from lyrical romanticism to beginnings of mass-media modernism. Design advocacy included signage, station architecture and product design. Also train and bus design. Station platforms and coach interiors= human use and design aesthetics.

·         EDWARD JOHNSTON (1872-1944), calligrapher was chosen to design exclusive and patented typeface in 1916. Designed new version of station signage and logo by using his typeface on blue bar in front of red circle instead of solid disk.

·         Typeface was to have bold simplicity shown by distinctive letters from preceding epochs.

·         San-serif typeface: strokes have consistent weight. Letters have basic proportions of classical roman inscriptions.  Functional clarity, simplest forms: M = perfect square, 45 degree diagonal strokes meet in exact centre of letter, O= perfect circle. All letters have similar elemental design. Lower case l= has tail to avoid confusion with capital I.

·         Late 19^th and early 20^th century: Designers in Austria, Germany and Scotland broke with Art Nouveau to chart new directions in response to personal and societal needs.

·         Concern for spatial relationships, inventive form and functionality formed groundwork for design.