Friday, April 16, 2010

Constructivism/ De Stijl 2

So what is Constructivism? This is a primarily an art movement that was based in Russia in the early 20th century. It had a considerable link to the Russian Communist Revolution. They merged the arts with modern technological rationalism for political and ideological uses. Basically, it was a form of Soviet-era Russian propaganda.

The aesthetics of Constructivism is similar to the geometric abstract Suprematist paintings of Kasimir Malevich. Constructivism was also a departure from Russian Futurism that sought to break and destroy traditions (similar to Italian Futurism).



http://www.boredomisyourfault.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/russian.2.jpg
Russian.1
http://rebeccareilering.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/constructivism.jpg

Finally there was Social Realism that became the dominant form of propaganda during the regime of Stalin up until the fall of the USSR. This form of work can still be seen today and is most notibly used in China. Scroll down to another blog of mine that shows some examples of Social Realism. It was a return to a more “conservative” representational image that the modernists rebelled against.

A good early example of Soviet Social Realism is work of Gustav Klutsis’s work that used photomontage but you can still see the modernist geometric simplifications that the constructivists used.

Klutsis Poster

Klutsis Poster

If you notice, the Constructivists works are probably the most “difficult” out of the propaganda bunch. Here are some more examples of works of the Constructivist movement. I do want to make note that it seems as time went on the constructivists went from strict geometric forms and abstration to using photo and photomontage in conjunction with the abstract forms. I am thinking this had to do with political regime changes. Eventually abstraction was dropped all together for the social realism that came eventually.

Rodchenko Poster/Flier

Rodchenko Poster/Flier

shepard-fairey-say-yes

Shepard Fairey Poster

shepard1

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/rodchenkopopova/images/roomguide/X24714_lg.jpg

Soviet Propaganda Poster




_______________________

De Stijl was born in the Netherlands between 1915-17 and lasted till maybe the 1930s. Russian Constructivism grew simultaneously and there are some similarities and some overlap of artists and designers that are part of each movement. De Stijl sought to create a universal vision through abstraction and rationalism that was pure and austere. They sought a spiritual purity through precise organization and geometric abstraction. This was in a way to protest war, individualism, and nationalism.

De Stijl was a movement that would span though architecture, design, art. It’s principles could be applied to anything. De Stijl work was geometric and avoided the use of curves. It used simple forms and color was pure in its use. It had a grid-like structure. It was formal in its use of dynamic asymmetric balance, and interactions of simple forms (i.e. shapes) and space.

In the way of graphic design and typography, there was a strict adhesion to san serif type and the square was the basic element used for page layout. This use of the grid and geometric frame work and the use of san serif type would dominate graphic design for decades. It basically still dominates conservative corporate and government/public design. Helvetica was not De Stijl but it is a san serif font and is/was seen as the fruition of the perfect san serif font and dominates design that is meant to be authoritative. See the documentary Helvetica.

De Stijl aesthetic can be seen in the publication De Stijl that was produced by the architect Theo Van Doesburg and the man who designed the typography, Vilmos Huszar.

De Stijl Magazine Cover

De Stijl Magazine Cover

Hendrik T. Wijdweld founded the magazine called Wendingen in 1918. He chose a strictly square format and used san serif type. It was a little more eclectic in its design. It seemed to have an Asian influence in the use of Chinese paper and it was bound in a Japanese style binding. Note the typeface used is similar to the one used in the De Stijl publication. There is a use of color but it is minimal and pure in its hue.

Wendingen Cover featuring Diego Rivera

Wendingen Cover featuring Diego Rivera

There was also a magazine called The Next Call. It was created by Hendrik N Werkman. It was even more eclectic than Wendingen was was maybe more experimental and radical. However, I think you can see the geometric use of the format, pure and minimal color, a dynamic asymmetrical balance.

The Next Call

The Next Call

Other works attributed to the De Stijl movement:

Piet Mondrian

Piet Mondrian

Gerrit Rietveld's Schroder House

Gerrit Rietveld's Schroder House

The Schroder house is considered to be the pinnacle of De Stijl architecture.

Theo Van Doesburg Diagram

Theo Van Doesburg Diagram 1923

Above is an isometric diagram of a building made up of “floating” geometric frames. These ideas were never realized in form and the closest thing really is Rietveld’s Schroder House in Utrecht. It does look like a 3-d Mondrian painting with its use of angular forms and primary colors. These drawings seem to be influential to constructivist architecture, the Bauhaus and eventually the International Style of architecture.



Art Deco

Charles Loupot, Sérodent ad, 1935


Art Deco Posters - A Few More Important Artists



Here are more of the best Art Deco Posters and their creators, working in Paris and beyond. Jean Carlu, the third of the three Cs working in poster design in Paris at the time, the other two: Cassandre and Colin , began his career as an architect. After losing his right arm in an accident, he concentrated on poster design.

His subject matter may not be as glamourous as the other two C's Shipping or Jazz inspired works, but his advertisements for soap (Mon Savon) and toothpaste demonstrate an equally formidable talent for Art Deco Posters.

Buy at Art.com
Gelle Freres
Jean Carlu
Buy From Art.com


Another great poster designer was known only as Orsi. He designed over 1000 posters including a stunning image for Josephine Baker at Theatre de L'Etoile, but the identity of this artist has remained a mystery!

The painter Jean Dupas, known mainly for his large scale murals, produced a lovely series of posters for Saks Fifth Avenue. His monumental image for the promotion of Bordeaux, his birthplace, is one of the most reproduced Art Deco images , with a large nude surrounded by stylished architectural columns, topped by a modern ocean liner, as well as a traditional sailing ship.

Jean Chassaing studied with the great poster designers Cassandre and Paul Colin and was heavily influenced by them. He was widely known as a collector of Art Deco posters, and it was only 65 years after his death that many of his own works were discovered, on the sale of his collection. His most striking poster was one of Josephine Baker in 1930.

Charles Loupot's most well known poster was for the 1925 Paris Expo, which influenced many later designers of Exposition posters.

Buy at Art.com
O Cap
Charles Loupot
Buy From Art.com


Much of the rest of his output was based on fairly mundane products such as alcohol, cigarettes, sun oil and hair products, but what heights of design and style he brought to these everyday items.

The chic and stylish tourism posters that Roger Broders produced for the French railway company PLM, are amongst the most popular Art Deco posters today.

Robert Bonfils' poster for the 1925 Expo uses images that have become typical Art Deco motifs, the Greek Maiden, and a leaping deer.

Buy at Art.com


Buy From Art.com


Outside Paris

Many European poster artists were inspired by the French graphic designers, particularly Cassandre, whose influence can been seen in the work of many poster designers throughout Europe and also Japan and America.

The Dutch artist Willem Ten Broek produced some fantastic shipping posters, as did the Belgian Leo Marfurt.

Buy at Art.com
Ostende-Douvres
Leo Marfurt
Buy From Art.com


Ludwig Hohlwein was a proflific German artist producing posters for a wide range of subjects, including horse racing and polo, golf, railways, and beer. Like Germany, Italy also had many excellent poster artists, until poster art was taken over by the Fascist propaganda machines in these two countries.Italian poster designers include Marcello Nizzoli,and Severo Pozzzati, although the latter worked in France under the name of Sepo. Posters for Olivetti and Fiat from Italy are becoming very collectable these days.

Fiat Giuseppe Riccobaldi
Buy at Art.com

Art Deco - Jean Carlu


Born in Bonnières, France, Jean Carlu came from a family of architects and studied to enter that profession. After an accident at the age of eighteen in which he lost his right arm, Carlu turned to graphic design. His early work reveals a fascination with the angular forms and spatial nuances of Cubism.

As Carlu's work evolved over the next two decades, it continued to show a concern with the geometric shapes of Cubism, but this was manifested in very different ways. Carlu sought to create a symbolic language in which color, line, and content would represent emotional values. His work thus achieved a distinctive, streamlined economy of form, rarely incorporating narrative or illustrative elements.


Carlu spent the years of World War II in the United States, where he executed a number of important poster designs for the government's war effort. Characterized by the same scientific precision of form as his other work, these designs were well suited to the promotion of industrial efficiency. Both American and international design traditions continue to reflect his influence.

"V for Victory - Franklin D. Roosevelt" Print


_________

vintage poster, Pepa Bonafe
Carlu, Jean
Pepa Bonafe, 1928

Carlu, Jean poster: Larranaga Havana Cigars (reproduction)

Carlu, Jean
Larranaga Havana Cigars (reproduction), 1929/1997

Carlu, Jean poster: Fetes de Paris

Carlu, Jean
Fetes de Paris, 1935

Carlu, Jean poster: Air France - France

Carlu, Jean
Air France - France, 1950s ca.


Carlu, Jean poster: Foire de Paris (1955)

Carlu, Jean
Foire de Paris (1955), 1955

Carlu, Jean poster: Air France - Europe (posters)

Carlu, Jean
Air France - Europe (posters), 1957

_________________________
Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: 2 Huiles Renault

Fix-Masseau, Pierre
2 Huiles Renault, 1934

Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: Paris - Venice Simplon Orient Express

Fix-Masseau, Pierre
Paris - Venice Simplon Orient Express, 1979

Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: Victoria Station London - Venice Simplon Orient - Express

Fix-Masseau, Pierre
Victoria Station London - Venice Simplon Orient - Express, 1981

Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: Hotel Cipriani Venice

Fix-Masseau, Pierre
Hotel Cipriani Venice, 1983

Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: Formule 1


Fix-Masseau, Pierre
Formule 1, 1988

Fix-Masseau, Pierre poster: Venice - Venice Simplon Orient - Express

Fix-Masseau, Pierre
Venice - Venice Simplon Orient - Express, 1992

_________________________________

Art Deco- Cassandre

Cassandre was one of the great poster designers of the 20th century. His real name was Adolphe Mouron. Born in the Ukraine in 1901, his family were forced to migrate to Paris due to the hostile political climate. He originally studied painting at the Écoles des Beaux Arts in Paris but, at the age of 22, he started designing posters under the name Cassandre.
Cassandre - 'Normandie'

Cassandre's posters celebrate the new modes of luxury transport that characterise the prosperous lifestyle of his day. He used stencils and an airbrush to create his stylised images of speeding trains such as “Étoile du Nord” and “Nord Express” which drew upon the art of Cubism and Futurism (an Italian variation of Cubism).


Cassandre - 'Étoile du Nord'

Cassandre's style is typically Art Deco and his posters have become iconic images of that period (mid 1920’s to mid 1930’s). The name, Art Deco, was coined retrospectively in the 1960’s as an abbreviation for the ‘Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Indstriels Modernes’, a 1925 design exhibition in Paris that celebrated modern living. Art Deco was a fusion of various early 20th century styles: a combination of Art Nouveau’s stylised curves with the geometric abstraction of Cubism, Futurism and Constructivism (a Russian form of abstract art). Art Deco also borrowed ideas from historical and ethnic sources such as the art of ancient Rome and Greece, Aztec, African and Egyptian art. The artifacts and treasures discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 had a strong influence on the Art Deco style. Art Deco objects often use unexpected combinations of materials like snakeskin, leather, marble, hardwoods, steel, alluminium, bronze, plastic, ivory, glass and crystal. The iconic Art Deco design comprises zigzag and streamlined forms in combination with formal geometric shapes. The designs always place the decorative style of an object before its functional qualities.
Cassandre - 'Air-Orient'

Cassandre’s designs greatly influenced advertising art in the first half of the 20th century. He believed that “Designing a poster means solving a technical and commercial problem....in a language that can be understood by the common man.” In 1926, Cassandre co-founded the advertising agency Alliance Graphique. His agency created many of the classic designs of the 20th century and evoked a particularly French style.
Cassandre - 'Dubonnet'

His posters for the Dubonnet wine company, “Dubo Dubon Dubonnet” (1932), were the first specifically designed to be read from fast-moving vehicles. He also introduced the idea of the serial poster: a group of posters to be seen in rapid succession to convey a complete idea.Cassandre - 'Dubo - Dubon - Dubonnet'

Cassandre designed several classic art deco typefaces: Bifur (1929), Acier Noir (1935) and Piegnot (1937). He only used capitals in his designs as he believed that they were more legible, especially when seen on a large scale. The way Cassandre links his typography with his images is one of the hallmarks of his design. Type is not a separate element but is integrated with the image to create the unified concept of the design.


Cassandre - 'Nord Express'

  • Jean Adolphe Mouron was born in Ukraine in 1901.
  • He studied painting at the Écoles des Beaux Arts in Paris, but at the age of 22, he turned to designing posters, under the name Cassandre.
  • Cassandre's posters celebrate the luxurious transport and modern machine technology of his day.
  • Cassandre used stencils and an airbrush to create his posters, and drew upon the styles of Cubism and Futurism (an Italian variation of Cubism) for his inspiration.
  • Cassandre's work is typically Art Deco and his posters embody the style of that classic design period from the late 1920’s to the mid 1930's.
  • In 1926, Cassandre co-founded the advertising agency Alliance Graphique.
  • Alliance Graphique created many of the classic designs of the 20th century and evoked a particularly French style that characterised the Parisienne lifestyle.
  • Cassandre believed that “Designing a poster means solving a technical and commercial problem....in a language that can be understood by the common man."
  • Cassandre was the first graphic artist to simplify his designs so that they could be read from fast moving vehicles.
  • Cassandre introduced the idea of the serial poster: a group of posters to be seen in rapid succession to convey a complete idea.
  • Cassandre was also the designer of the art deco typefaces: Bifur (1929), Acier Noir (1935) and Piegnot (1937).
  • Cassandre only used capitals in his designs as he believed that they were more legible, especially when seen on a large scale.
  • The way Cassandre links his typography with his images is one of the hallmarks of his design.
  • Cassandre died in Paris in 1968.




Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Mausoleums

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

In 353 BC, the great and tyrannical King Mausolus passed away. For more than twenty years, Mausolus ruled over the Greek state of Caria, which is a costal region along the Aegean Sea now occupied by Turkey. Mausolus’s wife Artemisia planned a splendid funeral and ordered a great burial site to be erected in his honor. However, not any burial plot would please the queen. She desired an architectural marvel unlike anything that the world had ever seen. Indeed, only the great Egyptian pyramids would rival the tomb’s grandeur. Within a mere three years, Caria’s best architects would create a mausoleum at the capital city Halicarnassus. One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was born.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Wikipedia:
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the mausoleum. A Christian mausoleum sometimes includes a chapel.
Taj Mahal, in Agra, India is the world's most famous and most photographed mausoleum.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Taj_Mahal_in_March_2004.jpg

Lenin's Mausoleum:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Lenins_Mausoleum.jpg

The entrance to Higashi Otani Mausoleum in Kyoto, Japan:

File:HO Mausoleum EntranceIn KyotoJapan.jpg

Habib Bourguiba's mausoleum in Monastir, Tunisia:

File:Tunesien - Moschee.jpg

Kumsusan Memorial Palace, Kim Il Sung's mausoleum in Pyongyang, North Korea:


File:Kumsusan Memorial Palace, Pyongyang.jpg


Churches:

St. Peter's Basilica:

http://toddweston.com/Personal/Images/St%20Peters%20Basilica%20--%20Vaticano.jpg

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/images/st-peters-basilica-vatican-city.jpg

http://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/admin/photos/WakefieldCathedral_small.jpg
http://www.oxfordtraveltours.co.uk/images/SalisburyCathedral2.jpg

Smolny Cathedral, St. Petersburg:
http://www.aditours.com/photos/Smolny%20Cathedral%20Outside%20for%202007%20Festival.jpg

Santa Prisa, Mexico:


Church of the Savior on Blood, St.Petersburg:


Isaac Cathedral, St.Petersburg:



St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow:



Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow:



Notre Dame de Paris:



Canterbury Cathedral, England:
http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_nls/canterbury-cathedral.jpg

Leon Cathedral:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/6/6c/20070423085225!Leon_cathedral_facade_night.jpg

Sienna, Italy:
http://aphs.worldnomads.com/stowaway/2413/sienna1.jpg


Bodega, California:
http://www.takemytrip.com/images/448_DSC03122.jpg

http://images.travelpod.com/users/ericalee/ring_of_fire.1193889300.the-famous-church.jpg
http://jahdai.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/church.jpg
http://www.autumnskystudio.com/pix/WhiteChurch.jpg