we covered the development of graphic design during Renaissance and Humanism with some heroes in between: Ratdolt, Vesalius, Tory, Tyndale, Plantin (the fourth language of his Biblia Polyglota I stumbled on is Syriac, sorry about that), Griffo/Manutius, and of course the master of masters GUTENBERG.
VERY IMPORTANT: see how community usually makes for great design! Griffo is the punch cutter (and designer of typefaces) working for Manutius (the great humanist publisher and scholar), together they produce marvels such as
this,
& this,
& this,
which makes for a pretty good contribution to Italian culture, and a good argument as to why Bembo was so influential -and Gothic could not prosper in the south. Can you imagine Dante's Paradiso printed is in Gutenberg's black lettering?
Look at the difference,
4 comments:
During last week’s lecture, one of the things that stood out to me was Geoffroy Tory’s contribution to graphic design. He was very well rounded considering he was a publisher, printer, author, orthographic reformer, and even more. Despite Gothic being very popular in the north Tory helped popularize the roman letter in France, not only that but he introduced basic punctuation marks like the comma and apostrophe which we didn’t have before and we depend on now. Tory also plays with margins and the placement of the type on a page, making the design dynamic rather than static, it allows the reader to interact with the book and pages differently than before. Even though it was incredible the way scribes could write things perfectly, in the same size, and in a straight line with even spacing all the way down a page; I find it more interesting when the type either resembles the images within the text or with the introduction of new shapes like triangles and circles rather than a square or rectangle. I think it had a great impact on graphic design because now one can see text in so many different ways, even enough to create an image with text.
I would like to start by saying that completing the calligraphy assignment made me appreciate the hard work that all the artists and scribes have done. There were two specific instances during last class that I was mesmerized by the works presented. First, when looking at Gutenberg’s Bible makes me appreciate his craftsmanship and his mind even more. The design of the pages, the images on the margins, the letters, the layout and every element of the pages are so unique. His ability to make plain text look like a work of art is something that I appreciate. Besides his contributions to printing, I cannot help but wonder what people reading this religious text thought of his work. Reading religious text is already something that is spiritual, and heightening the senses through the use of color and motifs must make the reader have a heightened sense of emotion. Second, I appreciated Andrea Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis. The attention to detail, the muscles, the pose and the ability to portray human anatomy in such a realistic manner is incredible. It is evident that the artist has skill but also has the knowledge of the human body. We talked about how the artist was able to examine organs and bodies, which allows the accuracy of the said images. I think that that piece is proof that you cannot just begin to create your “mark” but rather it requires craftsmanship and knowledge to be a true master of it. I cannot imagine having to draw figures like that because the human body is so complex, yet the artist has made it seem so naturalistic and simple.
First off, I would like to say that I agree with Denise. Writing calligraphy is extremely difficult and tedious. I have a new appreciation for anyone who practices calligraphy. After studying Gutenberg’s Bible and other books created around that time period, I often think about the time and precision it took to create such perfect and symmetric writing.
I was also fascinated by the image of the Renaissance division of labor picture. Often times when we think of printing today we simply picture an electronic picture. The division of labor picture educated me on how human hands recreated images. After looking at the man turning the printing device I realized that I had no idea that it took so much force to print a picture.
I also enjoyed the other part of the lecture about the human body especially Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man. I actually drew this piece for a school assignment. It was very difficult to get the proportions right in order to fit the body inside a circle and a square. I was also impressed by De Humani Corporis. I think it is interesting how he created images of corpses and skeletons in graceful versions of living poses. This brings forth a somewhat eerie and disturbing feeling because we are not used to seeing dead bodies positioned in human poses. In a way, its somewhat unnatural. I think it is important to recognize that the recreation of these images would not have been possible without the development of technology and the development of printing.
I appreciated seeing the difference in works especially as the technology gradually evolved from literal copying to movable metal type. This is obviously apparent in the uniform quality of the text in works like Gutenberg's Bible, which had not been previously possible to achieve by just copying by hand. I wonder, especially in relation to previous texts, how works like Gutenberg's bible were valued when you begin to think of them as mass produced as opposed to a one of a kind work(A printed copy vs copied by hand). I don't think this would question the value of the artistry of the works, but it does question whether an individual copy in this instance is significantly different from one that is produced by hand, even if the difference is an abstract one.
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