Another of the styles revived by P.P.S. was Art Nouveau
"Decorative style in architecture, furniture, consumer products, fashion and graphics throughout Europe and the US for two decades from about 1980. Known as Jugendstil ('young style') in Germany and as 'Stile Liberty' in Italy (after the Liberty retail business in London). The significance of Art Nouveau is much greater than an acknowlegdement of its characteristic organic fluidity and floral motifs would imply. It was an important catalyst in setting aside 19th-c. hstoricism and contributed to the early concepts of Modernism. Whilst the roots of the style are complex, there are obvious links with the Arts and Crafts Movement, the Pre-Raphaelites, Celtic ornament and Japanese woodcut prints. Although originally trained as fine artists, many Art Nouveau poster designers were quick t exploit the potential of Chromolithography, thus making the style widely accessible. The asymetrical typographic style and ornate forms of typeface associated with Art Nouveau imagery were still apparent thoughout the 1920s , with a late revival occuring the psychedelic 1960s. Influential designers were Jules Cheret, Eugene Grasset and Alphonse Mucha in Paris, Aubrey Beardsly, Walter Crane and the Beggarstaff brothers in England, Louis Rhead and Will Bradley in America, Henry van de Velde and Jan Troorop in Belgium, Gustav Klimpt and Kolomon Moser in Austria and the young Peter Behrens in Germany. (The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, 19)
"Each nation in which it was seeded invested the overall style with its distinct cultural tics and quirks, but there was a shared visual language rooted in the rejection of all things sentimental (Illustration a Visual History, 30)."
"Its practitioners were linked by their shared belief that "the total work of art" was not merely found on canvas or sculpted out of marble, but rather extended to a range of functional products residing in all realms of daily life - the cornerstone of modern design. The ethics (and aesthetics) of Art Nouveau were born in England, a direct descendant of William Morris's Arts and Crafts movement, and migrated to the continent. Originally it was practiced by the likes of Englishmen Arthur H. Mackmurdo, who wed Pre-Raphaelite symbolism to a naturalistic mannerism in his book cover for Wren's City Churches, and illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, master of eccentric eroticism. But by 1894 Art Nouveau in France and Belgium crystalized into distinct, unprecendented curvilinear stylistic manifestaion - some-what related to but not as antiquated or decadent as Baroque and Rococo - that derived from popular interest in traditional, naturalitic Japanese design, which was called Japonisme and was inspired by the great Japanese woodcut artists Hokusai, Utamaro, and Kuniyoshi. Indeed, much early Art Nouveau further drew inspiration from Byzantine art and Pre-Raphaelite art, as well as Symbolist painting that fixiated on the spiritual and sensual. With its frequent use of nymphs and devils, Art Nouveau was symbolism personified. Art Nouveau's break from the chains of historical precedent was important not only in its own evolution, but in the development of modern illustration. Artistic cross-fertilization from one country to the next was necessary to build a viable beachhead against the fortress of official art. Actually the underpinning of Art Nouveau was the radical idea that art was imbued in everything functional and applied, from advertisement to architecture. This was expressed through the common visual mannerisms employed in all these objects: curvilinear form drawn directly from natural surroundings. Mindless devotion to the rigidity of the academy was anathema to Art Nouveau. Instead, its progenitors, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, George Auriol, Eugene Grasset, and Alfons Mucha in Paris; Walter Crane and the Beggarstaff Brothers in England; Kolo Moser and Otto Eckmann in Vienna; and Thomas Theodore Heine and Rudlolf Wilke in Germany, fostered an abstracted, sometimes agonizing intricate interpretation of nature. Owing ton what became its typical, sinuously organic ornament, the terms "floreated madness' and "linear hysteria" were used to describe Art Nouveau's extremities (Illustration a Visual History, 30-32)."
"During the heyday of the style, artists, graphic designers, architects, and typographers a surfeit of stylishly distinctive wood and metal typefaces that complemented architectural and interior motifs, and so defined the style and movement. These were delightfully eccentric typefaces that tested the tenets of legibility but were nonetheless rooted in the fundamental of type design - balance, harmony, color (Illustration a Visual History, 34)."
Friday, November 20, 2009
Art Decco/Art Moderne
Another of the styles that heavily influenced P.P.S. was Art Decco
"Luxurious, international style of decoration that flourished c. 1918-39 in fashion, interiors, architecture, ceramics and industrial design. Named after the 1925 World's Fair in Paris ('Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderns'). Utilized bright, vibrant colors along with a distinctive range of motifs - floral, figurative and geometric. Sources go back to early 20th c., when designers were searching for an alternative to the overwhelming influence of Art Nouveau and its reliance on curvilinear forms. In graphic design Art Deco was less ornate than in other fields but displayed a strong emphasis on striking geometric shapes and patterns. The bold rectilinear typefaces of the period, which provided improved legibility, were in stark contrast to the florid creations of Art Nouveau. Artists like A.M. Cassandre in France and E. McKnight Kauffer in England created posters of great originality and exuberance, with the lettering carefully intergrated as an important graphic element. (The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, 19)
"Even prior to the war, leaders of French graphic, furniture, and product design began to develop a new national style to replace their old Art Nouveau - a new strategy that sought to combine a classical elegance with the eccentric madness of Art Nouveau into a stunning hybrid that was at once modern and futuristic (Illustration a Visual History, 53)."
"...it was a decidedly decorative approach to the human form that simplified and stylized all physical objects to inject them with an aura of streamlined elegance. While the aesthetic was most prevalent in poster, furniture, product, and packaging design, as well as in architecture, illustration conformed to the basic Deco tenets, too. For the most part, the style relied on patterns made up of reductive ornamentation. The airbrush was the defining tool - although other drawing and painting media were commonly used - becuase it enabled artists to create textures made from line, mass, and shadow. These textures had a smooth veneer that evoked a sense of motion. The airbrush was used to soften the hard edges, resulting in modeled, sculptural rendering (Illustration a Visual History, 53-55)."
"Deco was an immediaty identifiable graphic code - an amazingly popular international style - that telegraphed sophistication and contemorariness, and was hence used to sell goods to both high and low customers. Although rarely more than an ornamental approach to art, Deco offered some of its practitioners the opportunity to experiment by pushing the limits of picture making. In particular, the Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero stood out for his wildly colorful abstract imagery on the covers for Vanity Fair and various Italian journals. Art Deco remained vogue for almost two decades until the austerity binge of World War II made this look of extravagance seem superfluous to world crises. It was nonetheless revived a decade after the war and continues to be a presence in commercial art, if only as pastiche. Art Deco was the first commercial design style to emerge simultaneously in almost every industrialized nation. It was also an attempt to give the bourgeoisie contemporary flair and thus resuscitate flailing sales of consumables. Later, it was a lively alternative to austere, orthodox Modern design, combining the aesthetics of Mayan, Egyptian, and Asian motifs with twentieth-century European avant-garde idioms of Cubism, Italian Futurism, and Russian Constructivism (Illustration a Visual History, 55-58)."
"Luxurious, international style of decoration that flourished c. 1918-39 in fashion, interiors, architecture, ceramics and industrial design. Named after the 1925 World's Fair in Paris ('Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderns'). Utilized bright, vibrant colors along with a distinctive range of motifs - floral, figurative and geometric. Sources go back to early 20th c., when designers were searching for an alternative to the overwhelming influence of Art Nouveau and its reliance on curvilinear forms. In graphic design Art Deco was less ornate than in other fields but displayed a strong emphasis on striking geometric shapes and patterns. The bold rectilinear typefaces of the period, which provided improved legibility, were in stark contrast to the florid creations of Art Nouveau. Artists like A.M. Cassandre in France and E. McKnight Kauffer in England created posters of great originality and exuberance, with the lettering carefully intergrated as an important graphic element. (The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, 19)
"Even prior to the war, leaders of French graphic, furniture, and product design began to develop a new national style to replace their old Art Nouveau - a new strategy that sought to combine a classical elegance with the eccentric madness of Art Nouveau into a stunning hybrid that was at once modern and futuristic (Illustration a Visual History, 53)."
"...it was a decidedly decorative approach to the human form that simplified and stylized all physical objects to inject them with an aura of streamlined elegance. While the aesthetic was most prevalent in poster, furniture, product, and packaging design, as well as in architecture, illustration conformed to the basic Deco tenets, too. For the most part, the style relied on patterns made up of reductive ornamentation. The airbrush was the defining tool - although other drawing and painting media were commonly used - becuase it enabled artists to create textures made from line, mass, and shadow. These textures had a smooth veneer that evoked a sense of motion. The airbrush was used to soften the hard edges, resulting in modeled, sculptural rendering (Illustration a Visual History, 53-55)."
"Deco was an immediaty identifiable graphic code - an amazingly popular international style - that telegraphed sophistication and contemorariness, and was hence used to sell goods to both high and low customers. Although rarely more than an ornamental approach to art, Deco offered some of its practitioners the opportunity to experiment by pushing the limits of picture making. In particular, the Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero stood out for his wildly colorful abstract imagery on the covers for Vanity Fair and various Italian journals. Art Deco remained vogue for almost two decades until the austerity binge of World War II made this look of extravagance seem superfluous to world crises. It was nonetheless revived a decade after the war and continues to be a presence in commercial art, if only as pastiche. Art Deco was the first commercial design style to emerge simultaneously in almost every industrialized nation. It was also an attempt to give the bourgeoisie contemporary flair and thus resuscitate flailing sales of consumables. Later, it was a lively alternative to austere, orthodox Modern design, combining the aesthetics of Mayan, Egyptian, and Asian motifs with twentieth-century European avant-garde idioms of Cubism, Italian Futurism, and Russian Constructivism (Illustration a Visual History, 55-58)."
D.I.Y. Dylan Poster
The famous Bob Dylan poster by Milton Glaser is an excellent example of how P.P.S. drew from past artists and art movements. The poster has been described as a combination of Persian miniature and a Marcel Duchamp Portrait.
Dylan Poster by Milton Glaser. 1966.
http://www.marcelduchamp.net/images/Self-Portrait_in_Profile.jpg
1958. Torn colored paper on black background. 14.3 x 12.5 cm. Private collection.
Persian Miniature
Mash-up of Duchamp Self Portrait and Persian Miniature
Michael Clayton 2009, digital
Dylan Poster by Milton Glaser. 1966.
http://www.marcelduchamp.net/images/Self-Portrait_in_Profile.jpg
1958. Torn colored paper on black background. 14.3 x 12.5 cm. Private collection.
Persian Miniature
Mash-up of Duchamp Self Portrait and Persian Miniature
Michael Clayton 2009, digital
Victorian Influence
One of the many influences of P.P.S. was Victorian era. This period was heavily influenced by the industrial revolution and the mechanical advantages it brought to both life and the production of art.
"Victorian book and magazine illustration was often turgidly formalistic yet conceptually freewheeling, running the gamut from incredible fantasy to biting satire, with many shades of black and gray inbetween. (Illustration a Visual History, 16)"
"It was also a time when graphic arts - drawing, typography, lettering - assimilated Byzantine, Romanesque, and Rococo sensibilities and reveled in excessive revivalist ornamentation that was both quaint and exciting. The Victorian era was the bridge between the Industrial Revolution and the twentieth century, and its distinctive illustration and design is an enduring symbol of these times. Graphic stylists - from job printers to book makers - incorporated the decoration of Victorian facades and monuments. Magazine and newspaper illustrations were minutely detailed with ornate filigrees, often in which typefaces and customized lettering appeared to be carved as though in stone or made from twigs, leaves, and logs. Considering the cumbersome wood and metal engraving techniques necessary to create these eccentric concoctions, the results are remarkably and intricately precise (Illustration a Visual History, 20)."
"It came to reprsent a style of illustration that was at times eerie and absurd, realistic and idealistic, fanciful and farcical, and at all times intricate and layered with stylistic mannerisms (Illustration a Visual History, 24)."
"With contemporary aesthetic standards in decline, Victorian artists turned to the past for inspiration. Taking special delight in medieval ruins, they saw parallels in the Gothic art and architecture of previous centuries to their present-day Christian virtue (Graphic Style, 15)."
"The early Victorians reveled in ostentation. After the Great Exhibition of 1851, the taste for ornamentation based on historical forms was passionately indulged. Victorians believed that that the corpulent display of material gain gratified the eye; ornament appeased their need to have visible evidence of their social status. The exaggerated embellishment of virtually every article in the Victorian home created an atmosphere of unshakable comfort and contributed to the decidedly cluttered look of the style (Graphic Style, 15)."
"Victorian commercial printed matter was characterized by the era's pervasive ornamentation, often imitating contemporary architectural eccentricities; images were frequently crudely drawn and engraved; typography was decidedly poor. If a compositor lacked a lower-case g, for example, he would not hesitate to use an upside down b in its place. Sometimes, however, a merchant's demand for distinctive announcements did result in truly original display faces, composed of odd, and even ingenious, woodblock letters. Designers of new display faces savaged the elegant eighteenth century Bodoni and Didot types, distorting and making them larger and blacker. These bastardizations, called Fat Face types, became emblems of the Victorian look. As wood engravers mastered their medium, outline, whiteline, and shadowed letterforms gained greater exposure. The Egyptian faces - sqaured serif letters apparently influenced by the revival of interest in that country after Napoleon's excursions - joined the Fat Faces as one of the most original typographic forms of the century. Wood display types were popularized in Britian and abroad through frequent use by commercial printers. And the distinctive Victorian style of layout - extreme variations of type size and weight crammed within a single headline - was an invention of expedience, allowing the printer to utilize every inch of precious space (Graphic Style, 15)."
"Victorian woodcuts and engravings, and the slab-serif and Gothic types, ultimately gave way to more sinuous, organic, and curvilinear forms. Indeed, during the seventy-five years that Victorian style was dominant, it evolved from a nostalgic Gothic revival into a precursor of Modernism (Graphic Style, 15)."
"Victorian book and magazine illustration was often turgidly formalistic yet conceptually freewheeling, running the gamut from incredible fantasy to biting satire, with many shades of black and gray inbetween. (Illustration a Visual History, 16)"
"It was also a time when graphic arts - drawing, typography, lettering - assimilated Byzantine, Romanesque, and Rococo sensibilities and reveled in excessive revivalist ornamentation that was both quaint and exciting. The Victorian era was the bridge between the Industrial Revolution and the twentieth century, and its distinctive illustration and design is an enduring symbol of these times. Graphic stylists - from job printers to book makers - incorporated the decoration of Victorian facades and monuments. Magazine and newspaper illustrations were minutely detailed with ornate filigrees, often in which typefaces and customized lettering appeared to be carved as though in stone or made from twigs, leaves, and logs. Considering the cumbersome wood and metal engraving techniques necessary to create these eccentric concoctions, the results are remarkably and intricately precise (Illustration a Visual History, 20)."
"It came to reprsent a style of illustration that was at times eerie and absurd, realistic and idealistic, fanciful and farcical, and at all times intricate and layered with stylistic mannerisms (Illustration a Visual History, 24)."
"With contemporary aesthetic standards in decline, Victorian artists turned to the past for inspiration. Taking special delight in medieval ruins, they saw parallels in the Gothic art and architecture of previous centuries to their present-day Christian virtue (Graphic Style, 15)."
"The early Victorians reveled in ostentation. After the Great Exhibition of 1851, the taste for ornamentation based on historical forms was passionately indulged. Victorians believed that that the corpulent display of material gain gratified the eye; ornament appeased their need to have visible evidence of their social status. The exaggerated embellishment of virtually every article in the Victorian home created an atmosphere of unshakable comfort and contributed to the decidedly cluttered look of the style (Graphic Style, 15)."
"Victorian commercial printed matter was characterized by the era's pervasive ornamentation, often imitating contemporary architectural eccentricities; images were frequently crudely drawn and engraved; typography was decidedly poor. If a compositor lacked a lower-case g, for example, he would not hesitate to use an upside down b in its place. Sometimes, however, a merchant's demand for distinctive announcements did result in truly original display faces, composed of odd, and even ingenious, woodblock letters. Designers of new display faces savaged the elegant eighteenth century Bodoni and Didot types, distorting and making them larger and blacker. These bastardizations, called Fat Face types, became emblems of the Victorian look. As wood engravers mastered their medium, outline, whiteline, and shadowed letterforms gained greater exposure. The Egyptian faces - sqaured serif letters apparently influenced by the revival of interest in that country after Napoleon's excursions - joined the Fat Faces as one of the most original typographic forms of the century. Wood display types were popularized in Britian and abroad through frequent use by commercial printers. And the distinctive Victorian style of layout - extreme variations of type size and weight crammed within a single headline - was an invention of expedience, allowing the printer to utilize every inch of precious space (Graphic Style, 15)."
"Victorian woodcuts and engravings, and the slab-serif and Gothic types, ultimately gave way to more sinuous, organic, and curvilinear forms. Indeed, during the seventy-five years that Victorian style was dominant, it evolved from a nostalgic Gothic revival into a precursor of Modernism (Graphic Style, 15)."
Push Pin Studios: An Introduction
"New York graphic-design group founded in 1954 by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser and illustrators Reynold Ruffins and Edward Sorel. During the 1960's they challenged the the orthodoxy of the dominant International Typographic Style, offering a witty, eclectic alternative with immediate consumer appeal. The studio drew endless inspiration from diverse historical sources, such as Italian Renaissance painting, Victorian letterforms, comic books and primitive woodcut illustrations. The Push Pin Studio style was characterized by brightly colored narrative illustration, with forms exaggerated, flattened and unexpectedly juxtaposed to humorous effect. The group specialized in book jackets, record covers, posters and magazine illustrations. Prior to the establishment of the studio, the designers and collaborated on the bi-monthly Push Pin Almanac, featuring illustrations alongside editorial material pillaged from old almanacs. The journal evolved into the acclaimed Push Pin Graphic, which promoted work for the studio. Young designers/illustrators launched at Push Pin include Paul Davis and Barry Zaid. (The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Graphic Design and Designers, 179)
"New York's Push Pin Studios, founded in 1955, had a defining impact on illustration and graphic design of the late 1960s and 1970s. Through its reinvention of passe ilustration and design mannerisms, it triggered stylistic shifts in commercial art distinct from the rationalism of the late Modern movement on the one hand and the staid conventions of common commercial practice on the other. While exhuming Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco mannerisms from the vaults - two decades before Postmodernism encouraged similar reappraisals of the past and the cliche - Push Pin was not simply nostalgic for the past, but developed a visual language that incorporated it. Push Pin's cofounders, Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser, brought distinct tastes to the style. The former savored American comic strips, while the latter was passionate for Italian Renaissance painting. Despite these formal distinctions, both shared the conviction that postwar design and illustration should not be limited to prevailing sentimental Realism or reductive simplicity. They rejected rote methods and rigid styles while concoting incomparable ways of transforming old into new.
During a period when photography was emerging as the dominant medium among art directors, Push Pin stubbornly used paint, brush, and collage in expressionistic ways. Moreover, Push Pin revived the once seamless intersection of art and typography - illustration design - deemed quaint by Modernists who revered machineage tools and aesthetics. Illustrated posters with original lettering formed a significant part of Push Pin's repertoire. Yet, contrary to appearances, Push Pin was not solely about revivalism; the work achieved newness while avoiding the more dogmatic aspects of Modernism. For example, Glaser's famous 1967 "Dylan Poster," a harmonious marriage of a Persian miniature and a Marcel duchamp self-portrait, is a characteristic example of transmuting two conflicting historical references into a single work.
The year that Push Pin Studios began, neo-Romantic Realism continued to reign, with only a few expressionist blips appearing in magazines. Illustration was literal and narrative (often images were taken verbatim from text passages decided upon by editors or art directors and then captioned to avoid ambiguity). Push Pin's more conceptual and Metaphorical image making pried an opening in the conservative precincts of illustration, especially by changing aesthetic attitudes toward book jackets and record covers - and sprucing up advertisements, too.
The uniqueness of the Push Pin style (aside from its principals' vision) was its keen appreciation of vintage reference material, from illustrative to typographic. The slab serif Victorian, curvilinear Art Nouveau, rectilinear Art Deco, spiky German Fraktur, and other esoteric typefaces, as well as the fount of cartouches, swashes, flourishes, borders, and fluerons borrowed from old type catalogs, were customized for the studio's use. Push Pin routinely created distinct motifs that both defined its own look and influenced others. Chwast for instance, was attracted to 1920s decorative art, which he transmuted into so-called "Roxy Style." This style, along with Glaser's variation on the same theme, influenced the 1960s Art Deco revival and morphed into psychedelic art. They created a style that defined 1960s illustration and transcended it (Illustration a Visual History, 88-89)."
In summery: Push Pin Studio's (P.P.S.) was founded in 1955 by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Reynold Ruffins and Ed Sorel. While many artists came and left P.P.S. throughout it's history P.P.S. is noted for it's diverse base of past artistic inspiration. In a peroid where the international style and romantic realism were the norms P.P.S. broke that those standards and opened up the world of illustration and graphic design to a number of "new" artistic tastes.
"New York's Push Pin Studios, founded in 1955, had a defining impact on illustration and graphic design of the late 1960s and 1970s. Through its reinvention of passe ilustration and design mannerisms, it triggered stylistic shifts in commercial art distinct from the rationalism of the late Modern movement on the one hand and the staid conventions of common commercial practice on the other. While exhuming Victorian, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco mannerisms from the vaults - two decades before Postmodernism encouraged similar reappraisals of the past and the cliche - Push Pin was not simply nostalgic for the past, but developed a visual language that incorporated it. Push Pin's cofounders, Seymour Chwast and Milton Glaser, brought distinct tastes to the style. The former savored American comic strips, while the latter was passionate for Italian Renaissance painting. Despite these formal distinctions, both shared the conviction that postwar design and illustration should not be limited to prevailing sentimental Realism or reductive simplicity. They rejected rote methods and rigid styles while concoting incomparable ways of transforming old into new.
During a period when photography was emerging as the dominant medium among art directors, Push Pin stubbornly used paint, brush, and collage in expressionistic ways. Moreover, Push Pin revived the once seamless intersection of art and typography - illustration design - deemed quaint by Modernists who revered machineage tools and aesthetics. Illustrated posters with original lettering formed a significant part of Push Pin's repertoire. Yet, contrary to appearances, Push Pin was not solely about revivalism; the work achieved newness while avoiding the more dogmatic aspects of Modernism. For example, Glaser's famous 1967 "Dylan Poster," a harmonious marriage of a Persian miniature and a Marcel duchamp self-portrait, is a characteristic example of transmuting two conflicting historical references into a single work.
The year that Push Pin Studios began, neo-Romantic Realism continued to reign, with only a few expressionist blips appearing in magazines. Illustration was literal and narrative (often images were taken verbatim from text passages decided upon by editors or art directors and then captioned to avoid ambiguity). Push Pin's more conceptual and Metaphorical image making pried an opening in the conservative precincts of illustration, especially by changing aesthetic attitudes toward book jackets and record covers - and sprucing up advertisements, too.
The uniqueness of the Push Pin style (aside from its principals' vision) was its keen appreciation of vintage reference material, from illustrative to typographic. The slab serif Victorian, curvilinear Art Nouveau, rectilinear Art Deco, spiky German Fraktur, and other esoteric typefaces, as well as the fount of cartouches, swashes, flourishes, borders, and fluerons borrowed from old type catalogs, were customized for the studio's use. Push Pin routinely created distinct motifs that both defined its own look and influenced others. Chwast for instance, was attracted to 1920s decorative art, which he transmuted into so-called "Roxy Style." This style, along with Glaser's variation on the same theme, influenced the 1960s Art Deco revival and morphed into psychedelic art. They created a style that defined 1960s illustration and transcended it (Illustration a Visual History, 88-89)."
In summery: Push Pin Studio's (P.P.S.) was founded in 1955 by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Reynold Ruffins and Ed Sorel. While many artists came and left P.P.S. throughout it's history P.P.S. is noted for it's diverse base of past artistic inspiration. In a peroid where the international style and romantic realism were the norms P.P.S. broke that those standards and opened up the world of illustration and graphic design to a number of "new" artistic tastes.
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