Week 10: Standardisation/Rationalisation in Graphic Design

Politics and Ideology in the Graphic Design of Interwar Germany: A Tale of Two Modernisms

Title page Bauhaus Manifesto Lyonel Feininger, 1919

Bauhaus exhibition poster Joost Schmidt, Weimar 1923

Cover design for Bauhaus exhibition catalog Herbert Bayer, 1923

Book Jacket for Painting Film Photography Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Munich, 1927

Book Cover On Cubism L. Moholy-Nagy Germany, 1928

Covers for Bauhausbucher Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 1924-30

Banknote for the state of Thuringia Herbert Bayer, 1923

The art of our century, its mirror and its voice is Constructivism. Constructivism is neither proletarian nor capitalist. Constructivism is The art of our century, its mirror and its class voice is Constructivism.

ConstructivismIt is primordial, without and ancestor. neither proletarian nor capitalist. Constructivism is primordial, without class and ancestor.

It expressesthe the pure form ofform natural, the direct color, the spatial elements not expresses pure of the natural, the distorted by utilitarian motifs. direct color, the spatial elements not distorted Laszlo Mohoy-Nagy, MA 1922 by utilitarian motifs.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, MA 1922

Black Square Kasimir Malevich Russia, 1913

Suprematist composition Kasimir Malevich Russia, 1915

Pages from “For the Voice” El Lissitzky Russia, 1923

Pages from “For the Voice” El Lissitzky Russia, 1923

Various advertising posters Alexander Rodchenko Russia, 1923

Book cover Theo van Doesburg Germany/Holland, 1925

Piet Mondrian “Low Dunk” Nike 2008

Universal alphabet Herbert Bayer Germany, 1926

There is no large and small alphabet. It is not necessary for one sound to have a large and small sign. The simultaneous use of two characters of completely different alphabets is illogical and unharmonious. We would recommend that the restriction to one alphabet would mean a saving of time and materials. . .

Herbert Bayer, 1926

“German script is like a symbol of the inherent mission of the German people who, among all civilized races, must not merely defend but also act as a living example of its unique distinctive national character in all manifestations of life.�

Rudolf Koch, 1926

Decorative Display Types Designer Unknown USA, 1928

Cover for Elementare Typographie Jan Tschichold, Germany, 1925

Elements of “New Typography” • • • • • • • •

Objective presentation Rational functionalism Asymmetrical layout San-serifs typeface Multiple type weights Horizontal, vertical structure Rules, bars, boxes Photographic illustrations

Napoleon (movie poster) Jan Tschichold Munich, 1927

“The Trousers� (movie poster) Jan Tschichold, Germany, 1927

. . . its intolerant attitude certainly corresponds in particular to the German inclinations toward the absolute, its military will-to-order and its claim to sole power corresponds to those fearful components of German-ness which unleashed Hitler’s rule and the Second World War. Tschhold in defending his retraction of New Typography

Give, in the struggle against hunger and cold.

Winter relief work of the German nation, 1933-34

Ludwig Hohlwein Germany, 1933

Ludwig Hohlwein, Germany 1934 Ludwig Hohlwein, Germany c1935

Concert Poster Ludwig Hohlwein Germany, 1938

Poster for Deutsche Lufthansa Ludwig Hohlwein Germany, 1936

“New People” Racial Policy Office Ludwig Hohlwein Germany, 1938

Great German Art Exhibition Richard Klein Germany, 1938

Deutschland Typeface aka: “Jackboot gothic” Anonymous, 1934

The Fuhrer Promised a Motorized Germany Werner van AxesterHeudtlass 1935

All of Germany listens to the Furer with the people’s receiver

German propaganda using photomontage 1936

“Egyptomania”

Adler cigrettes Corty German c. 1920-25

High-speed steamship “Bremen” Bernd Steiner Germany, 1930

Auto Exhibition Noel Fontanet Swiss, 1930