Thursday, February 29, 2024

the importance of spelling names properly



This is a HISTORY class. History belongs in the Human Sciences, which means we pay attention to language and respect language conventions.

A name, by definition, has two parts: forename or first name, which identifies the person, and surname, which indicates family, tribe, and community. 

name = name + surname

Now comes the spelling of a name. Are we not a "diverse" society? 

Do you like it when someone who addresses you misspells your name? Of course, one may forgive an incidental misspelling (it happens to everybody) but not as a matter of habit. 

This is how to get a foreign name. Write it down several times until you memorize it.

SIMPLICISSIMUS, Le plus grand magazine illustré de tous le temps,


1- Simplicissimus combined brash and politically daring content, with a bright, immediate, and surprisingly modern graphic style.

2- Its most reliable targets for caricature were stiff Prussian military figures, and rigid German social and class distinctions as seen from the more relaxed, liberal atmosphere of Munich.

3- The list of contributors in itself speaks of a modern generation of European artists, such as Rilke, Hermann Hesse, Gustav Meyrink, Theodor Heine,  Frank Wedekind, Heinrich Kley, Alfred Kubin, Otto Nückel, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Heinrich Mann, etc.

Eduard Thony
Karl Arnold, the master of the (oval-figured & squared-figured)
Bruno Paul,

arts and craft manifesto (alfredo triff)

Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1933

Painting, sculpture or performance art are no better than bookbinding, stucco ornament, hand hammering, dry set masonry, or violin making.-- Anonymous exploited craftsperson 

The do's and don'ts

Stop cannibalizing art. Be original. To be original, search deep into your sources. Go back to your early drawings. Bring back the buried doodling.  

Don't try to be popular. You can't please everyone. 

Craft is the slow food of art. Bring craft back into your art. 

Don't explain your design. Good design doesn't need explaining.

Don't be sloppy. Whatever art you do, learn it thoroughly. 

Don't be a Mammon-sucker! If you hire someone to do artwork for you, credit them for the work.

Don't do art by just looking at art magazines. Imitation is a form of limitation.

Seek effect and affect. Appropriation is cheap.

Avoid Photoshop. Bring back your drawing skills!

What's your truest mark? YOU.

Bring more free-hand design! Trace your own experience of a process resembling its past development!

Go back to calligraphy! Free your hand and mind from the tedium of the mouse. 

Don't cheat. Achieving style is a slow process. 

Don't delegate any art/skill that you can master yourself.

Art doesn't comment. Stop making art to make comments about comments.

Art-making is community. Build community!

The hell with the past. Build futurity!

Stop mimicking Postmodern mimicking.

Good art is not political. It is political because it's good.

Don't cheat. Learn your craft from scratch. 

No shortcuts! 

_______________________
* Every line expressed here applies to this writer (he is YOU).

arts and crafts dissemination effected the evolution of graphic and other disciplines throuout europe and the US


Elbert Hubbard was a charismatic and zealous American missionary who promoted social reform through common sense, honest work and entrepreneurialism. After visiting Morris on his deathbed he started a peculiar style of production: affordable lamps, chairs, and other household objects conceived and designed in the spirit of Morris' work. The Philistine boasted a subscriber base in the hundreds of thousands. This cover reveals an Arts and Crafts influence, but the magazine celebrated a folksy attitude (rather than studied, elaborated or refined pose).  

it was not until the early twentieth century that designers purposely exploited and revealed new technical capabilities

richard harlfinger, 40th secession exhibition poster, 1912
 
what's unique about this design?
 
the expressionist "S" engufls the lettering blocks within its rhythm. 
 
the letters are hand-drawn, the design overwhelms any individual expressive quality. 
 
the weight of the negative space is expertly calibrated to strike a compact pulsing balance. 
 
this is both about abstraction and geometry. 
 
the organic motifs of the nouveau era have been left behind. the search for a universal language of form has begun. 

gustav klimt's first secessionist exhibition poster 1898 (and the sad story of "philosophy, medicine & jurisprudence"



Gustav Klimt is one of the most important and controversial artists from the early 20th century Viena.

now, why secession?


 medicine, detail, 1901
which is this,
medicine, the whole painting
then, 
jurisprudence, 1901
then, 

philosophy, 1901

the critics raged, and this was klimt's answer:

the goldfish, 1902

the vienese secession purged viennese design of decorative excess

frank vacik, 1912

egon schiele, 1918
 

The Secession was in large part responsible for the meteoric rise to international fame of several of its members, including Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, Koloman Moser, and Josef Hoffmann, who helped to a large extent put Austrian art back on the map during the first two decades of the 20th century and beyond.

koloman moser, tristan und isolde, 1919
 
The Vienna Secession's work is often referred to (during the years before World War I) as the Austrian version of Jugendstil, the German term for Art Nouveau. 

leopold stolba, design for ver sacrum, 1907

The decline of the movement happens around the early 1910s.

max kurzweill, dame in gelb, 1907


ernst störh, ver sacrum, 1901 


members of the Vienna Secession (1906) 
seated in big chair: Klimt, in front of Klimt, Moser; Störh with cap, reclining left: Carl Moll, man with hat and pipe: Leopold Stolba  

Peter Behrens a figure in between centuries



Behrens' The Kiss, a six color woodcut, controversial for its androgynous imagery (first reproduced in Pan magazine)

Peter Behrens is one of the most influential Twentieth-Century German designers. At the beginning of the century, he brought forth outstanding works in painting, architecture, graphic design and industrial design, which exerted a paramount influence in all these various fields, opening up uncharted territory for the generations to come.


He is viewed as the founder of modern objective industrial architecture and modern industrial design.

Behren's AEG Turbine Factory (1908-1909)

so what's behren's importance?

he contributed the hexagonal trademark of the AEG, its catalogs, and its office stationery, products such as electric fans and street lamps, and retail shops and factories. 

in 1909-1912 he built the AEG factory complex. his turbine assembly works with its glass curtain wall was the most influential building in Germany at that time. 

added bonus: during this period Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier worked in his office!

The magic of Marcello Dudovich


Born in 1878, was a lithographer and illustrator of advertising posters. He also became involved with the blossoming cinematographic industry. In 1900 he was awarded the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris; in 1920 and 1922 he participated in the Biennale of Venice. 

Dudovich was one of the most acclaimed advertising poster artists of his time. (Above, Dudovich's Poster for Campari, 1901).
 

what do we have here?

* intense red all over (the color of the amaro) hinting at strong emotions. 

* the two glasses, one over a handkerchief (hinting who drank from it). 

* Dudovich is giving us an intimate psychological moment of seduction.

Josef Hoffmann's amazing Stoclet Palace (1905-11)



Josef Hoffmann was a German architect whose work was important in the early development of modern architecture in Europe.

The idea here is to go against the grain and create an asymmetrical compilation of rectangular blocks underlined by exaggerated lines and corners. 




Take a look at the opulent interior decoration:
 



what do we have here? 
 * this is a suburban palace for Adolphe and Suzanne Stoclet to entertain the European artistic elite. 
* it mixes formality and informality, while keeping immense sophistication. 
* the overall facade is balanced bu asymmetrical, 
* the stepped stair tower with its attached sanctuary 
* bow windows and the port cochere. 
* facade covered with thin stone slab veneers with linear moldings, to accentuate planarity, 
* there's a bit of Mckintosh influence in the house, 
* inside we have the Klimt mural decorations!

this is early 20th century aristocratic bohemianism.

Gaudí, el modernista

casa battlo 

casa milá

sagrada familia

what do we see here?

1- novel treatment of ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork, forging and carpentry,

2- French Gothic (Le Duc) and Mozarab influences,
 
3- this is full Spanish Modernista, subjectivity, romantic & catalonian revivalism,

4- Gaudí's favorite geometric forms: paraboloid, helicoid & conical,  

Lucien & Esther Pissarro (the next thing is coming....)


Lucien & Esther Pissarro's pages from Ishtar's Descent to the NetherWorld (1903), where image, color, and ornament combine to generate an intense expressionistic energy. In Britain Lucien (Camille Pissarro's eldest son) established friendly contacts with the Pre-Raphaelites and plein-air painters. In 1894 he founded the Eragny Press (the name comes from a place near Dieppe), which played a significant role in the development of European book art. In 1911 he became a co-founder of the Camden Town Group and in 1919 a co-founder of the Monarro group, which propagated Impressionism in England.

Jugend Magazine












Jugend Magazine was a cultural weekly publication. It soon became a style-setting icon that launched the German art nouveau movement, named Jugendstil after the magazine. Within its slim 20-page-or-less weekly format, Jugend published works on art and literature, reproducing paintings, drawings, and other fine artworks by up-and-coming young artists whom the editors favored.

Among them, Ernst Barlach (one of the great Jugendstil sculptors and illustrators), Julius Klinger (a German artist of Jewish descent who worked for Jugend from 1896 to 1903), Peter Behrens (a German architect who did a good deal of art for Jugend in the early years of the publication) and Hans Heinrich Christianson (well known as a graphic designer, painter, commercial artist, and decorative artist) amongst others. 
 
Though to the modern eye, the artwork seems vastly dissimilar in style, there were common elements throughout, and the style of art selected by the Jugend editors as a whole came to be known as Jugendstil. This style was distinct from the other arts and crafts movements in that it focused on Germanic themes and mythologies, reinforcing the unification of the German states. (ASTG)

Here's the link for Jugend Magazine. 

The Beggarstaffs. A lesson in simplicity



The Beggarstaffs (Sir William Nicholson, English, 1872-1949 & James Pryde, Scottish, 1866-1941) Under a pseudonym, they virtually created the modern poster with clear outlines and large areas of flat color.

What's the Beggarstaffs' secret?


1- cut and paste (yes, scissors and colored paper)


2- flat treatment of form, silhouette of 

3- stylized simplification of shape, 

4- Japanese-like handling of perspective (with no influence of Toulouse Lautrec and of the Nabis),

Henry van de Velde's unique combination of style, abstract sense of functionality and elegance

chemnitz villa, germany

stairs of the sanatorium in Trzebiechów, poland


van de velde's wife showing a van de velde's dress made for her

Van de Velde co-founded the German Werkbund, an association to help improve and promote German design by establishing close relations between industry and designers. next follows the debate between Van de Velde and Hermann Muthesius in 1914:

1. van de velde called for the upholding the individuality of artists, he believed that standardization could begin an era of imitation, which in design is like destroying the embryo in the egg (he ignored that the new is fostered by in-built obsolescence). 

2. Muthesius called for strict standardization as a key to development.

who won? Muthesius. but why?

Muthessius was in tune with the times. Germany was ready to embrace a full cultural/industrial standardization as stimulus of export excellence.  






Poster for Tropon food concentrate (1899) by Henry van de Velde: This swirling configuration may have been inspired by the separation of egg yolks from egg whites.Van de Velde's dress, specially designed for his wife. Staircase of the Sanatorium of Trzbiechów and the Villa Esche in Chemnitz.

my paella ("socarrat")

the three photos show the process of cooking the paella for socarrat

1. water boiling with the sofrito and the liquid (white wine & beef broth)

2. the paella is done, not the socarrat, now comes to the complex process of getting the right rice toasting consistency, neither cooked/soggy nor burnt. this was my simile with Gutenberg's press, i.e.,  socarrat is to paella what a fine indelible print is to a page. Gutenberg's pages are masterful in that the ink trace on the page's surface has a unique "flavor" to it. 

3. the socarrat is already formed. as you scrape the pan's surface you end up with an upside-down uniform film of paella. amazing!

Jan Toorop


Jan Toorop, a leading Dutch Symbolist Painter, exhibited with Les XX in Brussels, as early as 1884. He developed a unique Symbolist style, with dynamic, unpredictable lines based on Javanese motifs, highly stylised willowy figures, and curvilinear designs. Toorop shows interest in literary metaphor, evocative form, and the linear depiction of scenes in a highly decorative manner of organic nature, often depicting women (he achnowledged Beardsley's influence). Above, Jan Toorop's Psyche (1898).

there was a great toorop site that is gone. here is a short video of his work.  

the internationalization of "Art Nouveau," "Jugedstil" and "Modernista"

stairwell in Riga

Known as Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria, Modernista in Spain, and Stile Liberty or Stile Floreale in Italy. 

Art Nouveau has become the general term applied to a highly varied movement that was European-centred but internationally current at the end of the century. 

Xavier Schoelkopf, Yvette Gilbert's House, 1899

a link to Hôtel Yvette Gilbert, Paris (destroyed in 1950)


gate of the castle Beranger, hector guimard

Art Nouveau architects gave idiosyncratic expression to many of the themes that had preoccupied the 19th century, ranging from Viollet-le-Duc's call for structural honesty to Sullivan's call for organic architecture. 

Taken from Le Duc's Dictionary of French Architecture 9-16th century

The extensive use of iron and glass in Art Nouveau buildings was also rooted in 19th-century practice. In France, bizarre forms appeared in iron, masonry, and concrete, such as the structures of Hector Guimard for the Paris Métro (c. 1900), the Montmartre church of Saint-Jean L'Évangéliste by Anatole de Baudot, Xavier Schollkopf's house for the actress Yvette Guilbert at Paris, and the Samaritaine Department Store (1905) near the Pont Neuf in Paris, by Frantz Jourdain. 

Hector Guimard, Entrance of the Metro, Paris



Art Nouveau architects' preference for the curvilinear is especially evident in the Brussels buildings of the Belgian Victor Horta. In the Hôtel Van Eetvelde (1895), he used floral, tendrilous ornaments.  



Decorative exploitation of the architectural surface with flexible, S-shaped linear ornament, commonly called whiplash or eel styles, was indulged in by the Jugendstil and Sezessionstil architects. The Studio Elvira at Munich (1897-98) by August Endell and Otto Wagner's Majolika Haus at Vienna (c. 1898) are two more significant examples of this German and Austrian use of line.

What do we have here?

(1) make beautiful objects & constructions available to everyone 

(2) no object is too utilitarian.

(3) Art Nouveau sees no separation in principle between high and low and applied or decorative arts 
(ceramics, furniture, and other practical objects)

(4) Nouveau reacts against the precise and clean geometry of Neoclassicism. It's a form of maximalism.

(5) a new graphic design language, as far away as possible from the historical and classical models employed by the art academies. It's pretty free-spirited within the conventions of the time,

Who doesn't want 1-5??