Incunabula (spread around two pages, moveable discs) Petrus Apian, Astronomicus Cesareus, 1530
last class we discussed specific moments in the development of graphic design from late middle ages to renaissance and humanism. we covered incunabula, newspapers, maps, moveable type and specific book masterpieces: the nuremberg chronicle, plantin's biblia poliglota, geoffroy tory's champsfleury, edhard ratdolt's works, manutius' hypnerotomachia polyphili (and bembo), tyndale's bible, albert dürer's four horseman, william blake, vesalius' de humanis corpora fabrica and the best book ever produced: the gutenberg's bible!
go ahead.
10 comments:
The incunabula are something incredible I did research finding out that the Incunabula means swaddling clothes or the crib, and for me, it makes a lot of sense because it represents the start of a new complete era that was emerging by the technic that Gutenberg create. But something that I like even more is the draws or illustrations in this book. In fact, I know that all the "artificial writing" was made by this technique, but all the draws and Capital letters were made by hand. This made me though the amount of time, effort, and dedication that the persons in the past use to have to create anything. Taking Gutenberg as an example, he was someone that was in a terrible situation economically asking always for loans to complete his creation, and in the end didn’t receive a final loan to complete the job, losing his business, and consequently leaving him in a terrible monetary situation, and dead before archiving the recognition of his job. But now coming to my point I feel that in the present we have all the capabilities to archive everything we want by ourselves, eventually, you will need help or someone to stay by your side, but you can deny yourself, you need to continue to aliment that effort and dedication, and possible you can finally change the history like Gutenberg.
Roman Moscato
William Blake is an artist that has intrigued me for many years, from the time I first was introduced to him by an English professor in high school. There is something utterly intriguing about his art and the characters he depicts. His style is otherworldly and almost too modern for the era he inhabited. I see his art as a display of deep emotion and imagination. It seems as though some of his stuff is almost supernatural and, in a sense, slightly schizophrenic. I get the feeling that these characters were all effects of himself. They were versions of his own psyche that he let out onto a canvas with paint and brush.
It is so interesting to compare his fame back in his time to now. His work is very expressive, but it was obviously too much for the time he was in when he created his masterpieces. A lot of other artists shied away from using their imagination and yet Blake seemed to move forward I full force into a world of wonder and exploration. Blake used his characters to create other worlds in which he could escape into his own mythology—something that was probably frowned upon in his lifetime.
Olivia GInsberg
I have always found it interesting to draw connections that may at first glance seem pointless, such as the analytical comparisons Geoffroy Tory made between anatomy and Roman typefaces. It is connections like these that show how creativity goes beyond divisions of genre or subject and really show how interconnected art and science are, even if the original design was not made with the actual anatomy in mind. Tory’s Book of Hours created in 1525 and published in 1531 also introduced the idea of book design as an art form in itself. His form of illustration and design within that book broke all traditions of the time, much like William Blake’s artwork did. William Blake especially was seen not as “genius,” but as someone who was so far from what was deemed traditional that his work was not appreciated until after his death. At the time, his work led him to be seen as a “madman” by contemporaries, while later critics commend his expressiveness and creativity. This is much like many artists throughout history: in hindsight, the breaking of tradition is seen as the tipping point between styles/eras/periods, while in the moment the deviation from the norm is looked at critically.
Alejandra Moros
I love artists that are in both, the poetry and drawing worlds. For some reason I see them as some of the most powerful ways to truly see someone’s soul, and each of their unique ways of expression complete each other. I didn’t know much about Blake, other than have read some of his poetry, but when further researching and seeing his drawings in class, I found this quote I believe truly symbolizes his work, “in Life of William Blake (1863) Alexander Gilchrist said William Blake ‘neither wrote nor drew for the many, hardly for work’y-day men at all, rather for children and angels; himself ‘a divine child,’” (poetry foundation). Blake’s work has a different aura - the colors, movement in his image- truly isn’t everyone that would see and know how to appreciate it during his time, reason why he was not recognized in his life time. I love how with this quote instead of undermining Blake’s work, it actually almost gives him a high standard - there aren’t many that have the special eyes to be able see his work, since he was someone who had a unique mind. “‘My style of designing is a species by itself’ and Blake too can perhaps be best characterized as a species in himself.”(new statesman) I guess nowadays one would say Blake has a very unique yet clear and consistent “branding” - a graphic designer that through unique illustrations and poems conveys a reality that otherwise many would never see or think of.
Julia Martins
When I was a kid, I remember sometimes perusing maps, being interested in both finding places that I knew and discovering new ones, and that my favorite topic in social studies was geography. Looking back on it now, I’m sure some of that interest was in part due to the design of maps. Between cartography and graphic design, there are both theoretical and practical similarities. Both fields use similar techniques and have similar goals: to communicate information in an effective and useful way. Five of the main principles of cartography are legibility, visual contrast, figure-ground, hierarchical organization, and balance. Together these form a system for seeing and understanding the relative importance of the content in the map, and without these, that communication could fail. A principle of graphic design, “form follows function,” which states that the shape of a building or object should primarily relate to its intended function or purpose (Wikipedia), could also be useful in the area of map-making. Additionally, graphic design can be inspiration for cartographers when their projects allow for less conventional design. Maps can have aesthetic value and take place in one’s memory, just like other mediums.
Ellie Massaro
I don’t know if I would necessarily refer to myself as a ‘romantic’, but I do find myself drenched in pessimistic thoughts about the present and I mentally I live in a space surrounded by beautiful nature untarnished by the human touch. If it were up to me, I would be running around naked in the woods as a hunter and gatherer and away from the depressed over-worked technological world we adhere to today. I like Blake’s work because he dared to be different, and maybe that wasn’t even on purpose. He created what he felt, even if he was seen as odd or misunderstood by his peers during that time. He wished to be in a different world, as I do, too. You feel something when you look at his work, which brings me to something you said in passing in class: “I’m just telling you the way I feel about it”. This is a phrase you say often in class, and I think it really hits the main point about art. The point of our marks, our designs, what we leave behind, what we create, is to make us feel something. It doesn’t matter what your neighbor thinks or your colleagues, but how it makes you feel when you touch it, look at it, sit with it. Blake was seen as mad and crazy by contemporaries, but I think we’re all a little nutty.
Meghan Morrison
I wasn't in class last week because of a migraine but i really enjoyed reading everyones comments! I really liked what Meghan talked about because I also fantasize about living alone in the woods and the solace that would acompany that lifestyle. I also agree that it is important for everyone to look at art or markings through their own perspective and find what they gravitate to. I think often times when people analyze art they say "this is what this stands for," in the absolute, assured that they are right. But who is really to say why an artists put a brush stroke on the canvas? Wasnt the intention of the artist to teach the viewer about themselves and how the world works? There are no definitive or purely abstract analysis of art.
Emma Pitcairn
What I found most interesting about last week’s lecture was Vesalius and his emphasis on the human form. Vesalius’s De Humani Corporis has this provocativeness yet technical insight of the human anatomy. De Humani Corporis is a series of seven books on the human body published in 1543.This book paved the way for major developments in the study of the human body. This brought Vesalius prominence in Europe making him selected physician to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Throughout history the human form has been a beloved and cherished figure by many. From the humanistic sketches done by Leonardo da Vinci to the many sensual paintings and sculptures constructed by many artists from years past, the human body remains an object of appeal and is still the center of pop culture today. With the careful craft of refined woodcut engravings, he was able to creates a dynamic diagram of artistry and method from his Paduan’ lectures and practice. The use of the hand placement, the curvatures and sensuality of the bodies make the observer to look beyond anatomy but to admire the human body. The bodies take on this movement and structure that create a bridge between design and science.
Max Speziani
Calling myself a romantic is probably a bit of a stretch, but I can admit that I have an understanding of the world that most would see as pessimistic for the simple fact that I accept reality for what it is, regardless of the circumstances. I really hope that doesn’t sound conceited, I just don’t have an issue with the truth or telling the truth, and coming face to face with what life has to throw at us. “Life isn’t fair and it certainly isn’t kind.” The action of viewing the world with this type of mindset can at times leave me thinking why anything even matters to begin with, because there is you and me and a thousand other beings that roam this planet and we’re all gonna be dead eventually so what’s the point? And even with the ups and downs of the past, or the questions of the future, I ride a fine line of acceptance and disconnect, which leaves me in a dreamscape most of the time. Within my imagination I have the ability to be anywhere but here in a handful of moments due to literature and art or simply boredom, cause my mind wanders off like a dog without a leash. Who wouldn’t be tempted to dream or believe in a different plane of existence other than this one once they have recognized or placed themselves in another space where things in that moment, in that story, were even just a little bit better? I looked into Blake’s work and was absolutely enthralled, with his confidence and his philosophies of being a spiritual being “a divine child,’ whose playthings were sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth.” He did not shy away from what he wanted to share with the world, even if there was a popular philosophy that strongly went up against him during that time that entailed viewing humanity as industrial beings bound by laws rather than imagination and creativity, which honestly sounds like an actual nightmare.
-Darian Valentino
The renaissance in Italy was a decided shift away from the earlier Gothic period. Renaissance itself means rebirth, so it is only logical that the style of art, architecture, and of course literature takes a humanistic approach. Humanism relates back to Greco-Roman traditions which focused on "symmetry, proportion, geometry, and the regularity of parts" (Wikipedia). As mentioned in class, Greeks were obsessed with "squaring the circle", Designer Leon Battista Alberti saw the circle and square as the divine choices for all aspects of design which included, architecture and typography. A famous calligrapher at the time, Poggio Broccolini, was one of many who sought out "ancient" text which they assumed were Roman but were in fact from the Carolingian period and were from the Carolingian manuscript. The letterforms that were created from this new revival were named Antica, which when translated from Italian to English means ancient. The mixture of art and science that captivated Leonardo Da Vinci also influenced the letterform of the time. Bartolomeo Sanvito, another influential typographer of the time, took many liberalities from ancient Roman tombstones. His hand and dedication to the craft and expiration of fonts and how they were presented on the page played a big role in the replacement of gothic scripted and ushered in the age of italics.
(source designhistory.org)
-Sam Zeigler
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