Modern Art
Modern Graphic Design
Modern Art
Modern Graphic Design
Europe after World War I
CUBISM
* 1910-1939 modern art styles were used in European design
* Modern art was a painter’s movement
* Designers tried using geometric, abstract patterns like the painters
Paris, France. Montmartre was the neighborhood of the modern artists
* Cubism – 3-d objects are represented as 2-D objects
Modern Art: Cubist Painters
* Pablo Picasso
* the major painter of 20th century art
* 1881-1973
* He and friend George Braque
developed the idea of cubism
Slide #1
Pablo Picasso
“Glass Bottle of Suze” 1912
Modern Art: Cubist Painters
Slide #2
Georges Braque
“Nude Descending a Staircase”
* Georges Braque
* Cubist subjects were still lifes and
portraits – things that wouldn’t draw
attention away from their unique
technical style
Modern Art: Cubist Design
* Employers did not want to hire
modernist graphic designers
* The London Underground was a new
experiment in travel
* Modernist designers worked designing
hundreds of poster decorating the
hallways of the underground, signs for
travelers and logos
Slide #3
Austin Cooper
“Its warmer down below”
1942
Modern Art: Cubist Design
* The London
Underground brands
itself as The Tube. Has a
typeface and a logo.
* Focused on high
technology and exciting
modern experience
* Logo is abstract
* Typeface is modern,
like the logo and posters
Slide #4
Harry C. Beck
“Map, London Underground”
Modern Art: Type
* Serif
* San Serif
Modern Art
Modern Graphic Design
Europe after World War I
De Stijl and Constructivism
Modern Art: De Stijl and Constructivism
World War I shocked the world. The conflict caused artists to
rebel against pre-war styles.
The conflict caused new trends in graphic design
Dutch De Stijl and Russian Constructivism were inspired by
Cubism. Artists thought that individuality and ego had lead
to war. Geometric, abstract design was the new Universal
style.
Modern Art: De Stijl
Slide #1
“The Cow”
Theo van Doesburg
1916
De Stijl started in the Netherlands. It was based on an idea of universal harmony and rejected
excess and decoration.
See how the non-objective painting is based on objects from nature? The second step shows
how De Stijl is based on cubism.
Non-Objective Art: doesn’t have a relationship to the natural world. It is totally abstract.
Modern Art: De Stijl
Slide #2
“Tableau 2”
Piet Mondrian
1922
De Stijl
Slide #3
“Delft Salad Dressing”
Bart van der Leck
1915
Van der Leck was a graphic designer.
Designed this poster for factories in Delft.
He took a drawing and started filling in the
negative spaces with primary colors, then
erased the outlines.
Sacrifices legibility for style
Was rejected by the Delft factory that had
commissioned it.
Modern Art: Russian Constructivism
World War I = the fall of the Russian imperial government.
Two competing groups of citizens tried to take control. This lead to the Bolshevik
Revolution (1917)
Organizations tried to oust the Bolsheviks, leading to Russian Civil War (1918-20)
The Bolsheviks establish the
Communist state as a kind of utopia.
Communism – property and
success are owned equally by all citizens.
Utopia- a place or state of mind where all things are perfect
Modern Art: Russian Constructivism
To support their new utopian government,
Constructivists renounced fine art. They
wanted to serve the cause of the workers,
so began using industrial materials.
“Dobrolet”
Alexander Rodchenko
1923
They designed workers clothes,
government buildings, and propaganda
posters.
This is first ever example of branding in
Russia.
Branding- images, colors, and fonts that are associated with a particular company.
Modern Art: Russian Constructivism
Photomontage was just being
developed in Russia. Russian
artists were technically innovative,
and loved technology.
“The Constructor”
El Lissitzky
1924
They found ways to combine text,
photos, and drawn images meant
to startle people away from being
passive
Photomontage- cutting out parts of photos and gluing them back down in a different order