early modern movements

7/28/2019 Early Modern Movements

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Early Influences of modernismEarly Modernism was a movement characterized by its deliberate

break from design patterns and traditions of the past.

Reacting against Victorian sensibilities, and distraught by politicaland social upheavals across the globe, these artists sought to

create a new concept of design through experiments in

simplicity, geometry, color, and photography.

Early modern designers drew inspiration from modern art

movements, and frequently traveled through Europe to drawinspiration from each other as well.


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Early InfluencesEarly pioneers of Modernism began to

experiment with geometric forms.A major player in the early days of

Modernism, Peter Behrensdesigned for the Allgemeine

Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft (AEG).(Top)

This cover for the Berlin Electric Works

Magazine (bottom right, 1908)

demonstrates his geometricapproach to design problems.

Edward Johnston contributed an

exclusive typeface for the LondonUnderground, in addition to this

revised symbol (bottom left) whichwas used until 1972.


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Modern Art Influences

Around the world, modern art was in a constant state of change.

Pressing economic and political turmoil pushed artists to find

new ways of expression, resulting in a series of modern art

movements that went on to influence graphic design.


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CubismCubism began to appear in the first part of

the 20th century. Cubist art often

displayed its subject using a series ofgeometric planes, allowing the viewer to

see multiple angles in one piece.

The geometric abstraction present in Cubist

paintings became a pivotal influence on

modernism.

Left: Woman with a guitar, by GeorgesBraque, 1913Right: Le Guitarist Pablo Picasso 1910


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FuturismFuturism was a movement launched by Filippo

Marinetti, designed to express the speed and

noise of 20th century life.

Futurist artwork used typography and writing as its

own expressive means. Words used color,

character attributes, and position to express whatimages could not.

Top: Carlo Carra,Guerrapittura (War-Painting), 1915.

Bottom: Cover and page

design for Zang TumbTumb: AdrianopoliOttobre 1912 by Filippo

Marinetti.


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Dada

Dada was a short-lived movement reacting tothe horrors that fell on society during and

after World War I.

Dadaists sought to destroy tradition through the

use of shock and nonsense, and the

movement became a means for protest with

a deep underlying negativity.

Left: Dada 6 (Bulletin Dada), Tristan Tzara1920Right: John Heartfield, Hitler tells fairy tales II,

INSCRIPTION: ...and then the poor GermanMichel screamed so long, that finally the

whole world believed him: Help, help, I'msurrounded!


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SurrealismArtists found a means of expressing fantasy and

intuition through Surrealism.

Surrealist works often included dream-like

images, unexpected juxtapositions, and non-

sequiturs.

Top: The Difficult Crossingby Rene Magritte, 1926.Bottom Left: The Red Tower

by Giorgio de Chirico. 1913.Bottom Right: Salvador Dali.

(Spanish, 1904-1989). ThePersistence of Memory.1931.


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ExpressionismExpressionism extended beyond

its subject to depict emotionsand personal responses usingcolor, line and proportion.

Images were often exaggerated ordistorted in symbolic

representation.

Top: Woman with Dead Child by KatheKollwitz, etching, 1903Bottom Left: On White II by Wassily Kandinsky,

1923.Bottom Right: Henri Matisse. Portrait of

Madame Matisse. (The green line). 1905


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PhotographyAlthough not a new medium, photography

was rapidly developing during this timeperiod. Artists began to explore

photographic options such as multiple

exposures, and differences in light and

shadow.

Often these photographic discoveries

intersected with surrealism, resulting in

dream-like images.

Left: Man Ray (Rayograph) Untitled,Right: Alvin Langdon Coburn, Vortograph, 1917


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Art NouveauArt Nouveau was a movement characterized by its

simplification of objects.

Subjects were drawn with very little detail, and littleor no tonal variation. Modernists expanded onthis idea, simplifying objects even further.

The result was a mechanized, often geometricrepresentation of subjects that embodied thecultural shift toward reliance on technology andindustry.

Left: Folies-Bergere,Jules Cheret

Right: Ambassadeurs,

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec


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Plakatstil (Poster style)Early expressions of modernism are evident in the simplistic

and flat-colored Plakastil (poster style) design school.Plakatstil artists often included nothing more than a single

background color, a large simple image, and the product

name.

The Sachplakat movement in Switzerland was closely related

to the Plakatstil, sharing characteristics of minimalism.

Left: Ludwig Hohlwein, Gaba(bookplate), 1926Center: Otto Baumberger, Hotel

St. Gotthard Zurich, 1917Right: Lucian Bernhard, Breisgau-

Perle, 1914


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Political & Social ClimateThe political and social climate during the

first part of the century was a major

catalyst for modernist ideas.Starting before World War I, many

countries were facing growingtensions and unrest in the socialorder.

These tensions became evident in thedesign world as modernists sought to

break from past ideologies, andexperiment with new forms thatechoed their dissatisfaction withtradition.


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World War IWith the onset of World War I in 1914, applied

art took on a new role as a means of

propaganda.Countries seeking to justify their involvement in

the war to end all wars launched postercampaigns to acquire resourcesnecessary for the conflict, and to garnersupport from the public.

Modernist ideals of simplistic form andgeometric expression are evident in these

examples of propaganda from variouscountries.


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The Nazi RisingThe National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party, led by

Adolf Hitler, rose to power during the economic andpolitical turmoil in Germany that followed World War I.

Hitler and the Nazi party launched a massive, andpsychologically powerful propaganda effort in order toadvance their views and gain power.

These posters, like propaganda used during World War I,embody the ideals of modernist theory. Even the swastikasymbol of the Nazi party (right) embraces the puregeometric form loved by modernists.


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The Russian Revolution and the

Spread of SocialismLike Germany, Russia was facing serious political and economic

turmoil following the war.

Political and social upheavals resulted in the overthrowing of

Czar Nicholas II and the end of Russias Romanov dynasty.

Shortly after, the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin, gained

power, establishing rule in what was to become the Soviet

Union.

Under the new socialist regime, the artists sole purpose was to

advance socialist theory. Art for arts sake was denounced,

and artists who refused to comply were severely punished.

Unable to express themselves, many artists and designersperished in the Gulags (Soviet prison and labor camps).


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ConstructivismA result of changes in Russia (USSR), a new movement of art

and architecture called Constructivism was born.

Constructivists believed that pure art had no purpose in

society, and that arts only application was to serve the

new socialist regime.

Dominant motifs in constructivist art include minimal use of

colors (generally red, black, and white), and a strong

geometric element.

Advertising poster for the state airline Dobrolet. 1923. A.

Rodchenko and V. Stepanova Archive, Moscow

Klutsis, Gustav, Millions of qualifiedworkers for the 518 new factories, 1931


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De Stijl

De Stijl was a short, yet influential,movement launched in the

Netherlands in summer 1917.

De Stijl artists sought universal harmony

and order through the use of pure

abstraction. Subjects were reduced in

form and color.Characteristics of classic De Stijl design

include strong horizontal and vertical

components, and the use of primary

colors with black and white.

Proponents of De Stijl include its founder,

Theo van Doesburg and Piet

Mondrian.

Composition withYellow, Blue, andRed, 1939-1942,

Piet Mondrian

Arithmetische Compositie, 1924, Theo vanDoesburg


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BauhausAt the height of the

Modernist movementemerged one of the most

influential design schools

of all time, the Bauhaus.

The Bauhaus was opened in

1919 in Weimar, and

closed in 1933 as aresult of Nazi

persecution.

Even after its closing, the

Bauhaus continued to

leave its mark on the

world, through influences

on graphic design,architecture, and

furniture design.


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BauhausFaculty and students from all over the world

united at the Bauhaus to combine new

design approaches using elements from a

variety of movements.

Staatliches Bauhaus, Weimar, 19191923,1923, Walter Gropius

Bauhaus Ausstellung Poster, Fritz Schleifer, 1922


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Modernism in Furniture DesignModernist ideals became a pivotal influence in other areas of design as well.

These examples show how furniture reflected modernist principles.

Red and Blue Chair, GerritRietveld, 1917

Nonconformist Chair,Eileen Gray

The Barcelona Chair, Mies van der Rohe

The Barrel Chair, Frank LloydWright


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Modernism in

Architecture

These examples show modernisms influence

on early and present day architecture.

The Bauhaus Gropius House in

Lincoln, Massachusetts, WalterGropius

I.M. Pei, Architect -Herbert F. JohnsonMuseum of Art at

Cornell University

The Berlin HolocaustMemorial, Peter

Eisenman.


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Walter gropius

(1883-1969)


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More concerned with the social implications ofmachine construction.

Work must be established in palaces that give theworkman, now a slave to industrial labour, not onlylight, air and hygiene, but also an indication of thegreat common idea that drives everything. Only

then can the individual submit to the impersonalwithout losing the joy of working together for thatcommon good previously unattainable by a singleindividual.

Advocated an architecture of technicalrationalism; in this stage of his career he

believed thatthe machine can be

spiritualised by means of art.


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He opposed Mathesius (typifying) for his

legislative, totalising, bureaucratic approach

Like Behrens: nature and technology can

be transfigured by spirit (Geist)

According to Gropius, the spirit of

modern times was crystallized not inglass and iron construction like glass

palaces or bridges, which possessed no

architectural

qualities for him, but rather in those

anonymous

buildings, absolutelydetermined by

function, without any link to historical

architecture.


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THE GROPIUS HOUSE

68 Baker Bridge

Road,

LINCOLN,

MASSACHUSETTS.


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Gropiusproposed a truly modern

design, with a longrectangular shape for the

body of the housein a two-floor, upper and

lower layout. The shape

was quite simple andunadorned, with a

simple projecting entryway

with a long sloping roof offof the front of the house

and anexternal spiral staircase

leading the second floor.

The appearance of the house was

still decidedly European built on an asymmetrical plan with a flat roof and second-storyterrace; ribbon windows and extensive use of plate glass; and prominent use of

industrial

materials like steel columns, spiral iron staircase and glass block. With the sole

exception

of the stair rail, all of the fixtures and building supplies were factory-made items readily

available from catalogues and supply houses in this country.


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Gropius used his the

traditional modernist

language when

designing the house

but then he

responded to the

local building

materials seen in

New England.

The exterior of the house

was covered in white wood clapboards that were

commonly used throughout New

England, but he turned the clapboards vertically instead

of running them horizontally as

was typical.


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The second

floor terrace and screened in porch

invite the occupant to physicallyinteract with the

exterior environment.


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THE LIVING ROOM

KITCHEN

SPIRAL STAIRS TO FIRST

FLOOR


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BAUHAUS, DESSAU.1926

The ultimate end to all artistic activity is building.


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TOTAL AREA: 2630 sq. m

Concrete skeleton with brickworkBlock ceilings on bearers , mushroom floors for base storey.

accessible flat roofs covered

with solderedasphalt sheets on

torfoleum insulation layer


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Non- accessible flat roofs with cold-cut varnish on jutefabric on torfoleum insulation layer and levelling

concrete.

Drainage by cast-iron pipes inside the building with no

zincsheet.


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Outer skin cement rendering with keim silicatepaint.

All windows in double overlaid iron sections

glazed with plate glass.


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The first major structuresrealised in his dynamic

functionalmanner

The body of the school wasbroken into programmatic

elements; reassembled into

an open form


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Staircase

Auditorium


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Bauhaus furniture


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Bauhaus design steps for architects


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Bauhaus tea set


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Bauhaus fabric design


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Bauhaus lamp


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Bauhaus font

early modern movements

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