Kaiser, Ben. "A Brief History of Graphic Design." YouTube, commentary by Ben Kaiser, 17 May 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AbeV15Kpk.
Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016.
“MoMA Learning.” MoMA, www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/what-is-modern-art/.
Staff, Creative Bloq. “The Easy Guide to Design Movements: Modernism.” Creative Bloq, Creative Bloq, 22 Oct. 2013, www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/easy-guide-design-movements-modernism-10134971.
Wanczura, Dieter. “Modern Art Movements.” Artelino, Artelino GmbH, 25 Dec. 2018, www.artelino.com/articles/modern_art_periods.asp.
The German art school Bauhaus: home to the 20th century's most influential centers for design. It had a utopian desire to have a unity of artists and craftsmen work together in collaboration. Due to the Industrial Revolution, jobs turned specialized. This movement wanted a way for isolated craftsman - architects, painters, sculptors, etc... to work together again. The intention was to “breathe a soul into the dead product of the machine.” (Meggs). The Bauhaus principle is that functionality dictates form (Staff).
The Bauhaus movement, described in detail in Chapter 15 of Megg's History of Graphic Design, incorporated many design movements of Early Modern art. Wassily Kandinsky, an Expressionist, was on staff at Bauhaus. De Stijl was introduced to Bauhaus by Josef Albers.
Hungarian constructivist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s passion for typography and photography gave Bauhaus interest in visual communications. He saw graphic design evolving as “the new visual literature.” He saw Photography influencing poster design… which is largely how posters are represented nowadays in current graphic design. Photography of Early Modern art focused on pattern and structure found in the world instead of depicting objects and things. Methods of visual organization found in Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism, and Expressionism influenced processes to peel apart and create new ideas with lenses, exposures, and printing.
The Nazi regime, which grew in the time between WW1 and WW2, did not appreciate Bauhaus as they felt it was non-traditional to Germany, even taking offense to the sans serif typefaces and not favoring traditional German font Fraktur. Eventually Bauhaus was pushed out of Germany. America & Switzerland largely absorbed the refugee artists which further influenced their own Art Deco & Swiss International movements (Kaiser).
Herbert Bayer taught at Bauhaus; his workshop helped in soliciting printing orders to balance the budget of the school. Sans serif typeface fonts were used almost exclusively in Early Modern Art and at Bauhaus, striking typographic design innovations along functional and constructivist lines.
Bayer experimented with flush-left & ragged right typesetting. He also used extreme contrasts of type size and weight used to convey visual hierarchy and an implied grid system (Meggs).
Other known typeface creators:
Constructivism took a different approach to the social rebellion and needs of art. In contrast to Suprematism, Alexander Rodchenko devoted himself to industrial design, visual communications and applied arts servicing the new communist society. He implored other artists to stop making art for art's sake. The 3 main principles in constructivism are tectonics, texture, and construction. Rodchenko abandoned painting and turned to visual communication because his social views called for a sense of responsibility to society instead of to personal expression. His work featured orderliness and commanded attention, giving rise to graphic design as we know it today.
El Lissitsky felt similarly to Rodchenko and used this idealism of art to promote social justice creating an emphasis on graphic design and mass communication instead of art for personal aesthetic. This movement emphasizes use of white space, overlapping color, and sans serif typography (Kaiser).
Gustav Klutsis is the master of propaganda photomontage, often compared to John Heartfield’s work. He was convinced photomontage was the medium of the future and all other forms of realism would be obsolete… like John Heartfield, he created essentially the Adobe Photoshop of the Early Modern art. He most likely knew of Heartfield’s work. Though he and his work supported Stalin and Communism, Stalin prefered social-realist painting & did away with all early modern aesthetic during his reign. Klutsis was arrested and he died in a labor camp in 1944 (Meggs).
Launched out of the Netherlands in 1917, the founder of the De Stijl movement is Theo van Doesberg (Staff). Horizontal, vertical, diagonal lines and shapes separated by spacial intervals, abstract geometric style, adhering to universal laws of balance and harmony (Moma).
The most widely known De Stijl artist is Piet Mondrian who painted purely abstract and only in 3 primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) influenced while in Holland by the Philosopher M.H.J. Schoenmakers. This was the evolution of abstraction. Mathematical structure was important as and the movement was deeply concerned with the spiritual and intellectual climate of their age (Meggs).
"The war to end all wars."
Posters were a significant medium of propaganda and visual persuasion in the World War I effort, as there was still little electronic medium to reach people. Radio was still new and was only newly being used. Governments needed to recruit armies and boost public morale. Art was given a social role in politics. Posters made by opposing sides were quite different:
Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary):
Simple messages were conveyed in the Plakastil style of Lucian Bernhard, while some even went back to the traditional medieval pictoral symbols representing Germanic spirit.
The Allies (France, Russia, Great Britain, US):
Britain & America chose illustrative, literal imagery, protecting traditional values like home and family.
The most effective British poster during WWI was the widely imitated 1915 military recruiting poster by Alfred Leete showing the British secretary of war directly pointing at the viewer, then imitated by James Montgomery Flagg for an American military recruiting poster featuring Uncle Sam. Patriotism in the US ran high when entering WWI to "make the world safe for democracy."
Joseph Leyendecker "effectively captured the American experience and attitudes during the two decades between the world wars”. He combined visual symbols to evoke patriotism. His career spanned 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post, his popularity boosted from the war propaganda posters.
Side note:
Adolph Hilter was an aspiring artist early in his life. He wrote in his WWI prison memoir Mein Kampf that the propaganda “should be popular and should adapt its intellectual level to the receptive ability of the least intellectual citizens”. He felt the posters used by Germany & Austria-Hungary during WWI were “wrongheaded” and that the slogans and illustrations of the Allies were more effective. He had an eye for visual propoganda, adopting the swastika as the symbol for the Nazi party in the lead up to WW2. He wanted a uniformed look throughout which would spearhead design innovation sybolism. Germany had a very successful wartime propaganda campaign during WW2 under Hitler's keen eye and design leadership (Meggs).
Kasimir Malevich founded a style called Suprematism. It is often referred to as "Cubo-Futurism" as well. He sought only “expression of feeling, no practical value, no pre-conceived ideas”. He rejected utilitarian function and pictorial representation. Malevich refused the idea that art should take part in political activism (Meggs).
When Malevich died, this painting hung above his casket. He specifically painted something for which he would not be distracted, which did not need to be represented by anything else.
Plakastil is a design school that emerged in Germany. It adheres to reductive, flat-color design.
Lucian Bernhard's Poster for Priester matches, 1901 included one word and 2 matches. Created for a design competition, it was initially tossed in the garbage by the judges until 1 judge retrieved it and thought it was genius! Plakastil is known for decorative shapes, bright clear colors, simple lettering, and highly reductive design. It has influenced generations of poster advertising to this day. “Moved graphic communications one step further in the simplification and reduction of naturalism into a visual language of shape and sign.” (Meggs). In 1923, Lucian Bernhard moved to NYC but his work was far too modern for America’s tastes then. In 1928 he contracted with the American Type Founders to design new typefaces.
Expressionism originated as an organized German movement prior to World War I, though much work that remains relevant today was created after the war. Instead of showing objective reality, it displayed subjective emotions and personal responses.
Fauvism is a similar movement taking place in other parts of Europe at a slightly earlier time. The French word "fauve" translates as "wild animals" which makes one understand how emotions play a large role in this movement (Wanzcura). Check out the following link to learn more about Fauvism and Expressionism: https://www.artelino.com/articles/modern_art_periods.asp
Wassily Kandinsky described “improvisation as a spontaneous expression of inner character having a spiritual nature.” (Meggs). Color, drawing, and proportion were often exaggerated. Symbolic content was important. Thick paint, loose brushwork, and color contrasts were intense. He is often known as the father of abstract art.
Kathe Schmidt Kollwitz, as the wife of a Berlin doctor in the working-class district, had firsthand knowledge about the miserable conditions of the working poor after WWI when Germany suffered defeat and a devastated economy.
Expressionism influenced graphic illustration and poster art as well as social and political activism. Inspiration was drawn from children and unschooled artists (Meggs).
Surrealism has a distinct impact on graphic design in liberating the human spirit. Open composition is incorporated into graphic design in this movement. Art invites dreams and the unconscious realm. This movement was greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams, 1899. The idea of the subconscious mind which encouraged a freeing of the mind from rational and utilitarian values and constraints. While critics scoffed at the movement, it proved extremely influential in the literary and art world until today and beyond (Meggs).
Post World War I, the Dada movement responded as the anti-art, carrying a destructive element which included much shock, protest, and satirical nonses. Rejecting tradition and seeking freedom, Dada was originally founded as a literary movement by Hugo Ball in Switzerland. "Dadaists did not even agree on the origins of the name Dada, such was the anarchy of the movement (Meggs).
French painter Marcel Duchamp became the most prominent visual artist of the Dada movement not by creating art, but by mocking and defaming society which he felt had gone insane. He painted mustache on Mona Lisa, not to defame her but to go against traditional norms. While the art may seem absurd, Dada cultivated a culture of purposeful art: make sure any and all art is done with reason.
Dada claims to have invented photo montage with famed artists Hannah Hoch & Raoul Hausmann. German artist John Heartfield wanted to promote social change using photomontage as a propaganda weapon. He did not take photographs. He did not change images. He simply worked with the glossy prints he procured from magazines and newsprints, essentially creating a manual Adobe Photoshop craftsmanship and style. It is close to much of the graphic design we see today where pictures have been altered, mashed together, and stripped apart.
Food for thought: Considering there is current political influence surrounding attacking the press, this piece has become relevant again 90 years later and it’s craftsmanship still appears modern in silhouette. What do you think?
Filippo Marinetti, an Italian poet, called for a typographical revolution against the classical tradition. Harmony was rejected; the use of “intentionally confrontational typography” was celebrated. Futurism was born.
Conditions of the 20th century life were evermore noise and speed. Futurism took those elements and attempted to express motion and energy within the art. Koenig's steam powered printing press was printing work faster than ever. Mergenthaler's linotype printer could set type and custom pages. Daguerre's work in lens imaging pushed photography. Designers were finally not encumbered with limitations for mass production. Movement is fast and furious. Futurism is often dubbed as “the art of violence.”
Fortunato Depero, produced posters, typographic and ad design work. He was a jack of all artistic trades and referred to himself as a “free complex genius” (Meggs). He received commissions from cosmopolitan magazines such as Vanity Fair and Vogue. Early Modern art designers saw themselves as masters of communication, minimizing creative chaos & providing visual hierarchy, as with the work below:
E. McKnight Kauffer, showed how Cubism and Futurism could make a strong communications impact on graphic design (Meggs).
The Father of Cubism: Paul Cezanne.
The Cubist painters saw two key elements in Cézanne’s late work which influenced them the most.
Cubists followed Cézanne in breaking the traditional rules of perspective, and then went further by introducing multiple views of the same subject from different perspectives at the same time, called Analytical Cubism. The development of Cubism was also inspired by other art forms, such as African art, but Cézanne played a key role. His work was so influential that he has not only been called a father of Cubism, but also a father of modern art itself.
Famous Cubism artists: Pablo Picasso & Georges Braque worked very closely together to take Cezanne's style and develop it further.
“Cubism has a strong relationship with the process of human vision. Our eyes shift and scan a subject; our minds combine these fragments into whole." "It's a new approach to handling space and expressing human emotions" (Meggs).
A direct application of Cubism to graphic design was made by Austin Cooper in England who designed 3 collage inspired posters using lively movement, shifting planes, sharp angles, and bold geometric shapes and colors.
Cubism changed graphic design, pushing it towards geometric abstraction and pictorial space (Meggs).
