Monday 7 February 2011

Avante Garde



At the end of the 19th Centuary, art was becoming socially committed. Art was seeking to expand and progress forming a new movement of “Art for arts sake”. This poster is a Rodchenko poster from 1924, depicting the revelation of women’s illiteracy. The style used was modern for it is time. It was testing the boundaries, developing theories such as the linear conception theory. More people do it and follow it, which gives the practice acceptance in time and popularity. We could also begin to argue that this piece, labeled as Avant-Garde could very quickly become dated and common. It becomes the norm very soon after its first introduction. For example this Rodchenko piece has been clichéd. The Franz Ferdinand’s album cover (2005) follows very similar traits. Here is a prime example of Historical Determinism. The Rodchenko piece has been adapted and accepted, lying successful as art and now is an inspiration.

I have sourced a piece of graphic design, which in my opinion is not up to a satisfactory standard. It is the London 2012 Olympic logo. The piece doesn’t follow key basic rules of graphic design. The numeracy’s are not legible; the colours are not relevant overall the piece gives an immature impression. Even though this piece should have had high expectations it has failed but will still be accepted for what it is representing. Which is a rare honorees occasion, they seem to have lost their professional sense of direction. So could we introduce this in the future as an Avant-Garde piece? Will it be followed? Or will it been viewed as bad graphic design choices? Who knows if this piece will make history as Rodchenko’s piece clearly has.

Postmodernist Lecture

  • modernism. Born out of optimism an aspirational reaction to ww1 to improve lives
  • removes humanity and individuality. almost blind to rules.
  • Experimentation - innovative progress
  • building the future
  • Postmodern reacts to modern
  • Exhaustion, pessimism, disillusion with idea of absolute knowledge
  • Anti aesthetic anti modern
  • The end point of modernism is thought to be the demolition of the Pruitt housing building 20 year after been built.
  • postmodernism celebrates difference, disbelief and rejection of the current version of the world
  • Expression of modern life/technology/communication with postmodernism go against
  • Pop art is the post modern reaction to fine art

Photography Lecture

  • Documentary Photography
  • View from a window
  • Has a fascination compared to a document
  • Could instigate social change
  • Evidence, Record, a document of the world as it is
  • History for later years
  • Documentary photographs creates a bond with audience
  • Jamesnachtwey.com
  • How the others live
  • Show darker contents to the west
  • Photographer removed from scene creates authenticity
  • Photography isn't a neutral document
  • War photography, provokes empathy
  • Mundane scenes become popular, highly posed images of regular life/ Henri Cartier Bresson
  • Decisive moment/ composed images
  • Jacob Riis
  • Photographed lower class in New York 1880. to campaign to encourage reformation
  • Camera with a conscious/ curiosity from the rich
  • Artificially representative, posing for the camera as bandits, Gangs robbing, posing all wearing same clothes. using stereotypes of working class.
  • Lewis Hine
  • 1908 empathy and humanity
  • Get his images out into the world.
  • FSA Photographers 1935-44 depression 11 mil unemployed.
  • Given shooting scripts of what the government want to use as an emotive tool
  • Boy with Dog
  • Porothea Lange Migrant Mother
  • Propaganda
  • Victorian era Photography used for scientific purposes compare and contrast.
  • Brand People Racism. curiosity
  • Robert Capa
  • Magnum Group
  • humanitarian perspective.

Graphic Design Lecture

A Medium for the Masses.
  • Visual communication around for 1000's of year apparent from cave paintings.
  • William Addison Dwiggins. just adding text into painting is the earliest usage of Graphic Design.
  • Recording changes in society
  • Alphonse Mucha Advertisings 1890 early adverts for cigarette papers. is it fine art?
  • Motivational War Posters Uncle Sam
  • After the first world war the way graphic design was used changed.
  • Graphic Design is not just trying to sell things it is also trying to help society
  • English design conformed to traditional styles
  • 1921-2 the london underground map FH Stingemore.
  • 1933 Harry Beck London underground map.
  • Swiss design was very cutting edge
  • 1933 Hitler shuts dow the Bauhaus. didn't portray traditional ways of thinking which he didn't like. He put of a modern art exhibition just to show how bad it was.
  • Joseph Renaw Spanish.
  • Graphic design was an underground movement / cutting and pasting
  • New Commercial nature of graphic design Paul Rand. Think small VW campaign good use of negative space.
  • FHK Henrion. stop nuclear suicide poster 1960
  • Music of hippies.
  • Julian House Primal scream album.
  • Blue monday
  • Neville Brody Face magazine covers communicate a message.
  • David Carson's Ray gun Magazine

Modernism Lecture

  • Modernism is progress and productivity.
  • Modernity 1750- 1960
  • You modernise to improve not to make worse. New Labour
  • Urbanisation. Population move to where the work is which ins in cities. Transport progresses new ways of getting around railways, canals, car.
  • New concept of shift work and time off.
  • Enlightenment. Late 18C when scientific philosophical ideas leap. Less belief in religion becomes a scientific way of thinking.
  • Symbols of status become more apparent such as houses, clothes.
  • Haussmanisation. social control in Paris. 1850's push the poor to a slum on the outskirts of the city.
  • New modern life sent people mad.
  • Psychology was born, people has a lower attention span.
  • Artist produced responses to the new psychological change.
  • Monet was a prime example of this.
  • Modernism. emerge out of the subjective responses of artists.
  • Advertising controlled by design
  • Form follow function. the purpose of the product and the truth to new materials. let the material speak for themselves.
  • Anti historicism/not looking backwards.
  • Technology
  • Internationalism. Design needed to speak to many cultures and use a common language such as symbols.
  • Beauty comes in simplicity.
  • "ornament is crime" Adolf Loos (1908)
  • The Bauhaus. Moderist Art School
  • Design was supposed to be available to all although it didn't happen like that and again was controlled by the rich.
  • Technology and architenture tried to shape the world.
  • Sans Serif font is a result of modernism