Modernism Research Booklet

Modernism

Versus post-modernism

Why did modernism happen?

Modernism was born at the turn of the century and encompasses the belief that certain forms of art were becoming outdated and were in need of a ‘change’. Modernism itself was not a singular movement but rather a collection of ‘isms’ that evolved into the collective term we understand it as today. Modernism was preceded by romanticism. It focused on the representation of light, atmosphere and colour, producing a direct reproduction of what physically appeared within the world around them. This is where the modernist’s chose to take a hugely different view on the world. The word ‘reality’ became increasingly fluid, lacking a solid definition as the movement grew in power and popularity.

The focus began to switch to the artist’s perception of the world as opposed to what physically existed.

This gave a huge sense of individuality to the artists and led to radical changes within the art world. As the convention began to change, artist’s were no longer confined to translating what the rest of the world could see, through stunning realism. Instead they were able to focus on showing the world what only they could see, an individual statement commenting on the world that surrounded them.

The early modernist’s work concentrated on emotion rather than atmosphere and thought rather than compositon. However, as the world entered It’s darkest period, the time of the first and second world wars, modernism embraced the social changes and exploded in popularity.

Modernism after the war

Whilst emphasizing continuity with the past idealisms that the movement was founded upon, artists embraced a change in the artistic direction the movement took. Leaving the more emotionalistic and irrational aspects of pre-war modernism behind, movements such as constructivism began to work more systemtically, becoming useful to society, an important factor to almost every economy in the post war climate.

The huge advances in technology also altered the way artists worked and perhaps more importantly, the views they had.

As the world was becoming increasingly enthused with cars, air travel, the telephone and other technological advances. The modernist artists saw the need to embrace this. The need to work, and live with these life changing inventions created social change. The modernist movement went through possibly the most rapid social changes and the art and views that were reflected throughout this time were always on the edge of what was new. Often pushing the boundries of convention and challenging people’s perception of ‘art’.

Modernism timeline Impressionism (1870-1890)

Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time. The artists at the time radically changed the way art was produced.

Impressionist artists chose to concentrate on the freeness of their brushstrokes as opposed to the realistic lines and contours. They also used pure, unmixed colours, by not shading or blending they hoped to create an intense colour vibration.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Impressionism started in late 19th century france and it’s main focus was to accurately depict light, and how its qualities changed with time.

The artists within the movement also changed the way images were composed. Their predeccesors ensured that the main focus of the piece obvious, so to command the viewers attention. Impressionists sought to let subject and background exist cohesively and in doing so created work that looked as if it were a scene taken as it was naturally made with no human intervention, as was the case with many of the pre-impressionist work.

Moodboards

Impressionism

expressionism

Moodboards

fauvism

cubism

Moodboards

futurism

dada

Moodboards

constructivism

bauhaus

Modernist

Inspiration...

Armin hoffman Armin Hofmann (HonRDI) is a Swiss graphic designer. Hofmann followed Emil Ruder as head of the graphic design department at the Schule fĂźr Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) and was instrumental in developing the graphic design style known as the Swiss Style.

He is well known for his posters, which emphasized economical use of colour and fonts, in reaction to what Hofmann regarded as the “trivialization of colour. His posters have been widely exhibited as works of art in major galleries, such as the New York Museum of Modern Art. He was also an influential educator, retiring in 1987.

In 1965 he wrote the Graphic Design Manual, a popular textbook in the field. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Hofmann

Laszlo Moholy Nagy László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.

understanding of vision had to specialize and modernize. Artists used to be dependent on the tools of perspective drawing, but with the advent of the camera they had to learn to see again. They had to renounce the classical training of previous centuries, which encouraged them to think about the history of art and to reproduce old formulas and experiment with vision, thus stretching human capacity to new tasks.

Moholy-Nagy believed that humanity could only defeat the fracturing experience of modernity - only feel whole again - if it harnessed the potential of new technologies. Artists should transform into designers, and through specialization and Moholy-Nagy’s interest in qualities experimentation find the means of space, time, and light endured to answer humanity’s needs. throughout his career and transcended the very different media His interest in photography he employed. encouraged his belief that artists’

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-moholy-nagy-laszlo.htm

Max bill

“Even in modern art, artists have used methods based on calculation, in as much as these elements, alongside those of a more personal and emotional nature, give balance and harmony to any work of art.�

Bill is widely considered the single most decisive influence on Swiss graphic design beginning in the 1950s with his theoretical writing and progressive work.His connection to the days of the Modern Movement gave him special authority.

rationalist -as is typically thought- but rather a phenomenologist. One who understands embodiment as the ultimate expression of a concrete art. In this way he is not so much extending as re-interpreting Bauhaus theory.

As a designer and artist, Bill sought to create forms which visually represent the New Physics of the early 20th century. He sought to create objects so that the new science of form could be understood by the senses: that is as a concrete art. Thus Bill is not a

He made spare geometric paintings and spherical sculptures, some based on the MĂśbius strip, in stone, wood, metal and plaster. His architectural work included an office building in Germany, a radio studio in Zurich, and a bridge in eastern Switzerland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Bill

Post Modernist

Inspiration...

Neville Brody He studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and first made his way into the public eye through his record cover designs and his involvement in the British independent music scene in the early 1980s.

As the Art Director of Fetish he began experimenting with the beginnings of a new visual language that consisted of a mixture of visual and architectural elements. Later he was able to put these ideas into practice and to set new precedents through the innovative styling of The Face magazine (1981-1986). It was his work on magazines that firmly established his reputation as one of the world’s leading graphic designers. In particular, his artistic contribution to The Face completely revolutionised

the way in which designers and readers approach the medium. Though Brody rejected all commercialisation of his graphic style, his unique designs soon became much-imitated models for magazines, advertising and consumer-oriented graphics of the eighties. Brody also won much public acclaim through his highly innovative ideas on incorporating and combining typefaces into design. Later on he took this a step further and began designing his own typefaces, thus opening the way for the advent of digital type design. http://www.fontshop.com/fonts/designer/neville_brody/

Barbara kruger Barbara Kruger (born January 26, 1945) is an American conceptual artist. Much of her work consists of black-and-white photographs overlaid with declarative captions—in whiteon-red Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed. The phrases in her works often include pronouns such as “you”, “your”, “I”, “we”, and “they”.

Addressing issues of language and sign, Kruger has often been grouped with such feminist postmodern artists which she was interleaved by Jenny Holzer, Sherrie Levine, Martha Rosler, and Cindy Sherman. Like Holzer and Sherman, in particular, she uses the techniques of mass communication and advertising to explore gender and identity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Kruger http://en.wikipedia.