how graphic design presented jazz (1950-1960s)

oliver nelson's the blues and the abstract truth, 1959, for impulse

oliver nelson was a composer and arranger, the album above is considered his best and one of 1959's best albums. this is produced by impulse, already at a time when record companies felt it was better to have photos instead of illustration. jazz was mature and sophisticated enouch that it can withstand the postraits of the players. 

jim flora design, pete jolly trio, RCA 1955

this is the early 1950s style with RCA album covers. 

david stone master, charlie parker with strings, 1947-1952, mercurty records

david stone master, lionel hampton big band, clef records, 1954

 paul chambers, bass on top, 1957 for blue note (blue note presented a unified design throughout, showing the sophistication of jazz through the realistic photos of the musicians

neil fujita, dave brubeck, time out, 1959, columbia

 

paul bacon,from a de chirico painting, for thelonius monk's misterioso, riverside, 1958

neil fujita,kind of blue, miles davis, 1959, columbia

a very cool sonny, resembling pitcher don newcomb a pitcher for LA Dodgers, blue note, 1957

h. p corbissero design for SUN RA, jazz in silhouette, for evidence, 1959

,

clifford brown ensemble, featuring zoot sims, 1955, for pacific jazz records, 1957

Alexander Lieberman, the VOGUE master (1950s-1960s)

Alexander Lieberman (1912-1999) was a russian-american publisher, painter, and sculptor. born in kiev, he was educated in paris, where he began his publishing career with the early pictorial magazine Vu. 

After emigrating to NYork in 1941, he began working for Conde Nast Publications, rising to the position of editorial director, which he held from 1962-1994. liberman used photographers such as Penn, Beaton and Miller, contributing to a new look at Vogue. later he was appointed editorial director to all Conde Nast publications until his retirement.

 
See how graphic design turns into sculpture. 

Is this the same Lieberman? 

or this?

 yes, it is. 

The genius of Norman Rockwell

The irony is that Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime.

Many of his works appear overly sweet in the opinion of modern critics, especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life.

This has led to the often-deprecatory adjective, "Rockwellesque". I disagree. 

So, what's Rockwell's importance? 

1. His illustrations, especially those for The Saturday Evening Post, depicted scenes of everyday American life, from family gatherings to local events, creating a strong sense of familiarity and nostalgia. 

2. A close-knit community, strong families, and a positive view of American values. 

3. Rockwell's paintings evoked a strong emotional response in viewers, making them relatable and memorable. 

4. His style and storytelling techniques influenced generations of illustrators, filmmakers, and artists, shaping the way visual media portray American life. 

5. His paintings of the Four Freedoms during World War II were incredibly influential, inspiring a generation and visualizing American ideals. While initially known for his commercial success, 

6. Rockwell is now recognized as a significant contributor to American visual culture, with art historians acknowledging his impact.

7. He was the designer anthropologist of his time.

BAUHAUS (the designer's angle)

Walter Gropius, Dessau Bauhaus Building, (1926)

clean lines, 

air and sun,

modern aesthetics,

technology rules,

new materials: glass, steel, concrete,

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square (1965)

the square,

colors as symbols,

clean and crisp,

László Moholy-Nagy, Photogram (1926)

photography as technology,
black & white is a color,

Hannes Meyer, Konstruktion ca. 1927

Meyer's teaching manifesto applied to Bau: 1. sex life, 2. sleeping habits, 3. pets, 4. gardening, 5. personal hygiene, 6. weather protection, 7. hygiene in the home, 8. car maintenance, 9. cooking, 10. heating, 11. exposure to the sun, 12. services - these are the only motives when building a house. We examine the daily routine of everyone who lives in the house and this gives us the functional diagram - the functional diagram and the economic programme are the determining principles of the building project.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona chair (1929)

comfort (you are royal/modern)
curves can be sexy (use with caution)
modern can be expensive and affordable

Paul Klee, Red Balloon (ca. 1919)

think like a child,
color like a child,
reality is magic,

Wassily Kansdinsky, Composition VIII (1923)

art and music are best friends,
geometry can dance!

Walter Gropius, Sugar Bowl (1969)

this is late Gropius,
modern tao,
feminine wins!

Lyonel Feininger, OberWeimar, (1921)

urban,
jagged,
proto-cubist,

Marcel Breuer, Wassily Chair (1927)

tubular comfort,
modern = steel + leather
furniture = sculpture

El Lissitzky, from the series Proun (early 1920's)

I. K. Bonset, typefaces, early 1920's

typeface for the machine age,
pre/digital premonition,
letters sound! blikken trommel = tin drum

Karl-Peter Röhl,Construction (1925)

Erich Dieckmann, Model Furnishings (1928)

 Xanti Schawinsky, Circus Stage Project (early 1920's)

Johannes Itten, Copper foil panel and stained glass (1916)

modern spirituality,
esoteric is cool,
make up your catalog of symbols,

Herbert Bayer, Lonely Metropolitan (1932)

photomontage as propaganda,

be nasty with symbols,

forms of dada collage (graphic design where the making is as automatic as the product)

cubomania is a collage in which pictures or images are cut into squares and the squares are then reassembled without regard for the image, at random.

decoupage. one cuts up smaller images or portions at random, and rearranges them to create a new image or text. The cut ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing. Dali used a lot of decoupage in his early work.

décalcomanie. a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other materials. 

meanwhile in Germany & Austria: Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity, circa 1926)

Otto Dix, The Jeweler Karl Krall, 1926

Max Beckmann, portrait of a Turk, 1926

Otto Dix, Sylvia von Harden, 1920s

George Grosz, The Poet Max Hermann Neisse, 1927

Otto Dix, Self-Portrait, 1928

Barthel Gilles, Self portrait with Gas Mask, 1930

George Grosz, Portrait of Felix Weil 1926

Jeanne Mammen, Schaccista, 1929

Christian Schad, Self-portrait, 1927

Otto Dix, Alfred Flechtheim, 1926

Otto Dix, Portrait of Hugo Simmons, 1925

1- Neue Sachlichkeit artists embraced realism in defiance of trends towards abstraction,
2- they renounced the idiosyncratic subjectivities espoused by early German Expressionists.
3- they combine their realism with the biting protest of the Dada movement.
4- this realism is not traditional, rather it's a distorted and dark realism to expose the moral degradation in German society.
5- you see portraiture, and self-portraiture,
6- there's a tension in the portrait between the individual being represented and the type, role, that people plays in society.
7- the portraits exhibit unflattering details or unsettling psychological effects,
8- there is intimacy,

9- caricature &

10- Kriegstrauma,