Raoul Hausmann, Tatlin at Home, collage, 1920s
So, we have Expressionism's contribution to printing, Schmidt-Rotluff, PROGAPGANDA, DADA and its different manifestations in the graphic arts (Max Ernst, Grosz, Hausmann, etc.), 1920's & 1930s Plakatstil, the contribution of Mehemed Fehmy Agha to graphic design in the USA, and the different sides of BAUHAUS: Gropius, Albers, Moholy-Nagy, van der Rohe, Klee, Kandinsky, etc. I tried to show more images this time. Pick anything from the list and elaborate on your comments. No echo chambers. If someone addresses a specific topic, move on to something else. That should work.
Go ahead.
15 comments:
Kandinsky was the father of abstract art. He is also often considered the inventor of abstract art. Upon researching and learning further information about Kandinsky I found he was a synesthete. Meaning that there is an overlap in his senses between colors and music. Some people believed that he associated yellow with a trumpet, red with a violin and blue with an organ. I find this fascinating because you can see in his work the raw display of colors and lines. His painting Blue Rider is his most famous, I believe this is because of the revolutionary way that Kandinsky used geometric shapes and colors in his work. This piece shows his romantic idealism and his connection with art and music. He was creating very original pieces that were revolutionary at the time. The idea of music is seen everywhere in his work, most of which was created as a response to hearing a song.
-Emily Collins
Since my interest in the history of art, I have been awed by the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. As a German expressionist, Kirchner’s works are known to be full of emotion, drama, and visceral purging. When considering Kirchner’s work in the context of the progression and advancement of art, it is interesting to see how inward his pieces are. While not abstract, Kirchner still attempts to translate something that is not tangible onto a two-dimensional plane: feelings. Through both advancing previous artistic conventions while simultaneously creating his own novel process, Kirchner expresses subconscious thought and emotion in such a way that feels almost palpable. What was noticeable to me in our previous discussion was the impact of time and the advancement of the creative process on graphic design. Specifically, the move from Kirchner’s emotional mark to a more minimalist approach to design, advertisement, and propaganda. The variation in aesthetic value has not necessarily changed, but altered to be more inclusive of multiple perspectives in regard to what is considered an “acceptable mark,” making this topic one that can promote significant discourse.
Divya Srinivasan
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was the third and last director for the BAUHAUS corporation and deemed one of the pioneers of modern architecture. Outside of our class and other art history classes, I have learned about Mies van der Rohe through much of my architecture curriculum. Not only is he referenced in history and structure lectures, but many of his projects are used as precedents during our design processes. Majority of his projects consisted of rectilinear forms, elegantly stitched together that followed his “less is more” approach. The iconic Barcelona Pavilion is at first glance, a plainly geometric structure of little ornamentation. But it is the building’s purposeful abstraction and use of high-end materials that epitomize the Bauhaus style. The plan of the pavilion follows a simple grid and is erected following the same logic with platforms and flat facades. The overall color palette is an array of neutrals, blacks, and whites with the occasional pop of color seen in extravagant marble and stone.
- Mary Gorski
Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a German born artist and educator. He famously taught at the Bauhaus and was the first living artist to receive a solo exhibition at both MoMA and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. His works span a variety of media, but his artistic legacy is most closely associated with his hard-edge, abstract painting series, “Homage to the Square”. In these seeming simplistic works, Albers pioneers modern color theory through systematic and conscious experimentation of color and shape. These works are an almost scientific exploration of the color scheme, local color, and color relationships within painted works. Albers was at the forefront of an entire generation of artists who would go on to continue pushing the boundaries of hard-edged abstraction and color and is responsible for leaving one of the most prolific contributions to modern color theory in the history of art.
- Ricky Durga
Architect Walter Gropius designed and founded the Dessau Bauhaus Building (c. 1919-1926) in Weimar, Germany. This building was arguably the single most influential modernist art, architecture, and design school of the twentieth century. It encouraged teachers and students to pursue their artistic talents together in centralised design studios and workshops, its ultimate goal being the idea of bringing art into everyday life by combining design with craft to improve living conditions within the society. From a designer’s angle, this building shows clean/crisp lines and modern aesthetics, allowing air and sun to be featured in the craftsmanship. It implemented the use of new technology and materials such as steel, glass, and concrete. Colours are used as symbols here, including black and white, also utilising the square which implies flatness with no ornamentation. In an architectural view it brings new objectivity, presenting a simple cubic design that utilizes steel and concrete in its base construction. Gropius illuminated how each room had a function; a twenty square foot clerestory-lit living room remained at the center of the building with specialized rooms surrounding it. By relying on concepts of reform and exploration, the Bauhaus Building unified principles of mass production with a focus on individual artistic vision. The royal and modern comforting feel of this architecture shows that modernity can be expensive as well as affordable, creating the idea that reality is magic.
- Rose Bannon
Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. He was part of the Expressionist movement and artistic group called Die Brucke (“The Bridge”). The group was formed in Dresden, Germany by Schmidt-Rottluff and his closest friends and architecture students Eric Hecknel, Ernst Kirchner, and Fritz Bleyl. They each shared their own passion for architecture which eventually led them to create the group. The group's main purpose was to seek a new language that helped break with the past and created a modern, intensely emotional style. He also worked alongside artists in Vienna and Munich which helped shape the creation of German Expressionism. Furthermore, his Expressionistic brushstroke style has evolved over time and was influenced by painter Van Gogh. Among his artworks, we can find some of his pieces such as Portrait of Emy (1919), Evening in the Room (1935), and Still Life Sanseveria and Jar (1956). Overall, he was an important artistic figure in Germany based on his art Expressionist views.
-Joshua Escobedo
Expressionism is art in which the image of reality is distorted to make it expressive of the artist's inner feelings or ideas. Because prints and drawings were quicker and less expensive to produce, printmaking was significantly important to the expressionist movement. Nearly all expressionists were active in printmaking. Expressionists were also drawn to the directness and boldness of drypoint and woodcut, which suited the bold graphics that depicted the expressionist style. Traditional academic style underwent a dramatic transformation at the hands of the Expressionists, as prints became a depiction of the artist’s inner psyche.The iconic image The Scream which captures the definition of Expressionism is a great example of its contribution to printing. The image has been reproduced and commercialized more often than perhaps any picture in art. The figure in The Scream is not screaming as one might initially think but rather blocking out the scream of nature.
-Robert Bolton
Dada
When I saw this word, I feel confused about the main idea of this art movement. This is a kind of abstract concept. Dada rejected the traditional art style and devote to offense the art and emotion. Someone called Hans Richter said this is an “anti-art”. Dada emphasized on the absurd and nonsensical relates to contemporary art practices. This kind of artworks often featured collage, photomontage, and assemblage techniques, in which found objects and images were reassembled into new and unexpected combinations.
Grosz's most famous works is "The Pillars of Society". It is a series of drawings and paintings that satirized the German establishment of the time, including politicians, military figures, and industrialists. The series was highly critical of the corruption and moral decay that Grosz saw in German society during the Weimar Republic.
The art is influenced by the World War I in early 20 centuries. Personally, speaking some idea cannot be accept easily.
--Rui Zhu
SCHMIDT-ROTTLUFF was born in 1884. His work is usually in a concise style, but he uses expressive paint to create his works. To be honest, when I saw his work, I felt like I was punched by his work. His works are full of tension and power. His work is colorful. He has been influenced by the works of Munch and Van Gogh. For example, his "Self-Portrait with a Monocle". In the painting, the figure is dressed in a turtleneck green sweater, has a beard, and wears a single eyeglass, with an air of arrogance and complacency. Although the work looks simple in structure, he perfectly expresses the spiritual outlook and even the psychological state of the characters in the painting. The colors in the painting are strong and bright. Different colors are juxtaposed together, agitating and conflicting with each other in strong contrast, creating a sense of disharmony. But because of this discordant feeling, I can understand the feeling that the author wants to express at once. In addition, I think the rough brushstrokes in the painting reflect the intense emotion of expressionism. In addition, this unrestrained painting method is completely different from traditional painting techniques. This is probably what he meant when he created Brücke. He is a well-deserved expressionist genius painter.
--Kai Gao
I just have to talk about the DADA movement because studying art history for some time now, it has always been a time period I loved to dive more in-depth with. I have created some of my own work with some artists to motivate and give me inspiration from such as prints and paintings. I will speak about some artists that stroke me and helped me become my own artists over the years. Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp, better known as Peter Arp, born in Strasbourg in 1886was a German French sculptor, and an abstract artist. If you view this mans art, you will see how he structures his shapes and patterns. They specifically give you a certain feeling, and dimensionality. Creating a focal point, and how your eyes moves through the plane of the paper. I have taken a similar look with how I structure my focal points. One famous DADA artist you may know would be Salvador Dalí, was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work. You may know him for The Persistence of Memory pieces. These works consist of the melting clocks. I love how he distorts reality and it is almost like a figment of the imagination. He depicts and paints strange, yet understandable pieces. I have studied and observed, his work. A lot of what I do is nonrealistic/ abstract, with a combination of a realistic background, and that is exactly what he does. He distorts and manipulates reality. I find it so fascinating.
I love the DADA time.
-Gianna Guirgis
Kandinsky was a revolutionary artist who played a significant role in the development of abstract art. His art aimed to evoke emotion through his use of vibrant colors, shapes, and forms. Kandinsky's early paintings were representational, but by the early 1910s, he had developed a unique abstract style characterized by bold colors, geometric shapes, and dynamic compositions. He believed that color could communicate specific emotions so he used bold and bright colors to create a sense of energy. Kandinsky also used form and symbolism to explore abstract forms and their impact on composition. Another important aspect of Kandinsky's work is that he believed art should be a visual representation of the spiritual world and that abstract forms and colors could convey emotions and ideas more effectively than traditional representational art. His painting "Composition VII" (made in 1910) is an example of this. Kandinsky's work inspired many artists who came after him and his legacy has continued to shape the art world today.
- Milla Nader
Josef Albers was a German-born artist and educator who was associated with the Bauhaus school of art and design. He was known for his explorations of color and form, and his influence on the development of abstract art in the 20th century. Albers began teaching at the Bauhaus in 1922, where he eventually became the head of the preliminary course. He believed that color was a subjective experience, and that the way colors interacted with each other could create a range of visual effects and emotional responses. This idea was central to his most famous series of paintings, "Homage to the Square," which he began in 1949 and continued until his death in 1976. In these paintings, Albers used squares of different colors arranged in various configurations to explore the optical effects of color relationships. By using a limited range of colors and a simple geometric form, Albers was able to create a wide range of visual experiences. His "Homage to the Square" series has become one of the most influential bodies of work in modern art, and continues to be studied and admired by artists and designers today.
-Sydney Essex
It was very interesting the way we discussed the mission of graphic design being to sell culture and act like a consumer engineer to those who had contact with it and sell ideas rather than products for profit. However, I'm not necessarily arguing that this mission remains exactly the same with time or that it doesn't change at all with society. As we have seen in early poster designs and advertisements from World War I, they do showcase various reasons as to why the graphic has been created. They can be didactic, focus on a call to action, be patriotic, highlight news, or serve as propaganda. While seeing those posters, people can understand much more about how communication took place during the Great War as well as the distinct perspectives of it. The Library of Congress contains a collection of posters from that period as well as details on specific symbols, designers, and topics that they encompassed.
- Roberta Macedo
Maholy-Nagy (1895-1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer, as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. I chose to discuss his work further because of the scientific aspects. Moholy-Nagy was the first interwar artist to suggest the use of scientific equipment in the making of art. He experimented with using the photogram, microscopes, telescopes, and radiography. One of his main focuses was photography, and he coined the term Neues Sehen for his belief that the camera could create a whole new way of seeing the outside world that the human eye could not. This idea really encapsulates the way he approached art. His work is fascinating and the use of other non-art related tools really took his art to the next level with radical innovations. He was also a proponent of the idea that art and design should be integrated with everyday life, and he believed that designers had a responsibility to create functional and beautiful objects that could improve people's lives. Maholy-Nagy founded the New Bauhaus school in Chicago, which later became the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Moholy-Nagy's legacy has had a lasting impact on modern art and design. He was a pioneering figure in the development of the International Style, which emphasized simplicity, functionality, and the use of new materials and technologies. His work also paved the way for the development of graphic design, particularly in his use of typography and photomontage.
Gigi Moynihan
Plakatstil as a style of art intrigued me the most during this lecture. The characteristics of this movement are bold letters with 2-D illustrations. The colors are flat but also eye-catching and contrasting with a solid background. By focusing on one central object in the center, the plakatstil are effective in marketing or getting a point across. A point that was brought up in class that I found interesting was the resemblance between propaganda posters and plakatstil. As Professor Triff mentioned, both of the styles were developing around the same time, exchanging elements and forming many similarities. Another thing I would like to list from the class lecture is the definition of propaganda versus advertisement. While propaganda is selling ideas, advertisements, which plakatstil were often used for, are selling products. This also explains the similarity in their style in the early 19 hundreds.
Eva Klovatskiy
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