WEEK 6
Art Nouveau Ukiyo-e Arts and Crafts Movement The Victorian Era
REVIEW
Art by: Charles Ricketts
Victorian Era The Victorian Era is designated as the period of the reign of Queen Victoria (1819-1901) (Meggs 152). The design style associated with the Victorian Period was tightly knit to the values of the era. Gothic style was popular and the themes used included idealized sentimentality, beauty, religion and patriotism (Meggs 152). In 1851, a large international exhibition occurred at Crystal Palace in London, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition. This idea was of Prince Albert’s, Queen Victoria’s husband (Meggs 153). Design from the Victorian Era can be easily recognized by the realistic imagery and the use of chromolithography, decorative type and ornamental borders (SDCC). Ephemera, a type of collage or scrapbooking technique, were made from chromolithographed images such as from Louis Prang cards and advertisments (SDCC). Louis Prang was a printer/lithographer who immigrated to America from Germany. His works have a great influence internationally. In 1856 he opened a firm Prang and Mayer to produce lithographs. He popularized coloured printing of advertisments (Prang, Wikipedia).
KEY NAMES Louis Prang Aloys Senefelder
KEY TERMS Chromolithography Victorian
In 1796 AloIs Senefelder invented lithography. He was German playwright. After having money issues with printing one of his plays he experimented with a new etching technique and invented lithography that literally means “stone printing” (Meggs 153). This was a breakthrough because, unlike previous printmaking techniques, it allowed the artist to draw directly on the plate for printing, rather than requiring advanced craft skills (Meggs 153). This invention laid the groundwork for the explosion of printed art that would come over the next century. In 1837, full colour printing lithography was developed in Europe. This process was called chromolithography. This required the use of multiple plates to lay down layers of color to create the full image (Meggs 153).
KEY IMAGES
KEY DATES 1796 Senefelder invents lithography 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace
Joseph Morse: multicoloured woodcut poster, 1856.
Louis Prang - Christmas card
L. Prang and Company: Range of graphic ephemera printed by chromolithography, 1880–early 1900s.
Krebs Lithographing Company: poster for Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, 1883.
Schumacher & Ettinger: cover and pages from Our Navy premium booklet, 1888.
Title page for The Pencil of Nature, 1844
S.S Frizall (artist) and J.H. Bufford’s Songs (printers): Poster for the Cleveland and Hendricks presidental campaign, 1884.
Package designs chromolithographed on tin for food and tobacco products.
THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT The Arts and Crafts Movement was an antiindustrial movement that occurred in England from 1880-1910. It rejected the idea of decadent, ornamental, classical, Victorian style in favour of simplicity and traditional craftsmanship. This movement greatly influenced Art Nouveau designers (Arts and Crafts Movement, Wikipedia). Design from the Arts and Crafts Movement is a stark contrast to that from the Victorian Era. It can be easily recognized by its distinctive characteristics as listed on (SDCC); stylized natural forms (leaves, flowers), Horror vacuii (a crowding of design elements in the field), use of past styles especially medieval figures, black and white and sometimes red and the typography changes from decorative (Victorian) to a revival of classical fonts. William Morris began the arts and crafts movement and was also associated with the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood. He founded the Kelmscott Press in 1890 which produced books using traditional methods rather than the contemporary mechanized and mass-production methods which were prolific at the time (Morris, Wikipedia and Meggs 172). William A Dwiggins, an American book designer and type designer, coined the term “graphic designer� to define his work in visual communication, including book design, illustration, and typography. He is also credited for designing a popular book face called Caledonia (Meggs 186).
KEY NAMES
KEY TERMS
William Morris
Pre-Raphaelite Graphic Designer
Henri van de Velde William A. Dwiggins
KEY IMAGES
Arthur H. Mackmurdo: title page for Wren’s City Churches, 1883.
Selwyn Image: woodcut from The Hobby Horse, 1886.
William Morris: trademark for the Kelmscott Press, 1892.
Rudolf Koch: Halbfette Deutsche Schrift, 1911-13.
Rudolf Koch: Specimen of Neuland, 1922-23.
William Morris Border
After Japan opened trade with Western countries in the late 1800s, the impact of Asian design on European and North American design was prevalent (Meggs 190). Ukiyo-e is an art movement with the main artistic genre as woodblock prints and paintings. Western artists were greatly influenced by Ukiyo-e because of the calligraphy and simple shapes and lines used, rather than capturing detailed images. The main themes used in designs were landscapes, historical tales, theatre, and entertainment (Ukiyo-e, Wikipedia). The word Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world”. These pictures reflected the lifestyles found in Edo, now Tokyo, Japan. As the city of Edo saw a boom in it’s recreation and entertainment industry, so did its need for Ukiyo-e. Ukiyo-e differed from other art forms like painting as it was cost effective, easy to massproduce and affordable.
Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e was produced in a number of themes, Yakushae (Pictures of Kabuki Actors), Bijin Ga (Pictures of Beautiful Women), Surimono (Commissioned Art), Shunga (Erotica), Sumo-e (Pictures of Sumo Wrestlers), Meisho-e (Pictures of landscapes), Kacho-e (Pictures of Birds and Flowers) and war prints. To the western world Ukiyo-e was a breath of fresh air that meant new ideas and inspiration for Western art. This introduction aided in the international movement called Art Nouveau. Artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige saw this as an opportunity for Ukiyo-e to evolve and they incorporated western artistic techniques with traditional ones. Most famous for woodblock prints, Hokusai’s prints have inspired a host of artists around the world (Hokusai, Wikipedia). Hiroshige, also a ukiyo-e artist, was well-known for his woodcuts of landscapes, nature, and ordinary people, and was also a great international influence (Meggs 193). As a result Ukiyo-e gained more popularity abroad and the majority of prints were exported at the end of its era.
KEY NAMES Hiroshige Hokusai Kitagawa Utamaro: portrait of courtesan, late 1700s.
KEY TERMS Ukiyo-e
KEY IMAGES
Katsushika Hokusai: Red Fuji print from series Thirty-six views of Mount Fiji, 1830.
Ando Hiroshige: Haneda Ferry and Benten Shrine, 1857.
Ando Hiroshige: Evening Snow at Kanbara, 1832–34.
Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1820s
Ando Hiroshige: Evening Squall at Great Bridge near Atake, 1856–59.
Art Nouveau This art movement was “an international decorative style” (Meggs 194) that became popular in the period between 1890 and 1910. The style was associated with stylized organic motifs, such as flowers, vines, birds, and the human female form(Meggs 194). Art Nouveau affected many areas of design including graphics, architecture, furniture and product design and fashion (SDCC). It was the transitional style that evolved away from the historicism that relied on past styles. It became the first wave of the modern movement(SDCC). Jules Cheret, a graphic artist working in Paris and also known as the “father of the modern poster”, contributed to the transition from Victorian design (Meggs 194). After a law permitting posters to be used anywhere except for certain areas such as churches, the poster industry exploded (Meggs 194). He was commissioned to create posters for cabarets and theatres such as the Moulin Rouge and Alcazar D’Ete. Many of his posters included beautiful women which were portrayed as free-spirited women rather than “prudes or prostitutes” (Meggs 197). His style involved a move away from Victorian style, and towards simple designs. He utilized bright colours and experimented with calligraphy (Meggs 197). Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec would join the ranks of poster designers in Paris but again with a unique and distinct style that also pushed the boundaries of organic forms, spatial relations and color. People remain central figures in his posters and his caricature type drawing is immediately recognizable. Toulouse-Lautrec so captured a sense of Parisian nightlife at that time and in such an intimate way that, although he only produced 31 poster designs, his images have truly become part of the everyday and still capture the imagination and evoke an immediate connection (Meggs 202). One book Henri de ToulouseLautrec in particular for a book called “Reine de joie” or “Queen of Joy”, it was an erotic book series by Victor Joze, about activities of Parisian prostitutes.
KEY NAMES
KEY TERMS
Aubrey Beardsley Alphonse Mucha
Allegory
Will Bradley Jules Cheret H. de Toulouse-Lautrec
Jugendstil
Otto Eckmann
La belle epoque
Alponse Mucha (1860-1939), a Czechoslovakian artist, arrived in Paris at the age of 27. Gismonda was Mucha’s first commission and was given to him simply because he was in the right place at the right time. It would solidify his place in the art nouveau movement and among the poster designers of the time. His style was distinct being far more detailed than Cheret or Toulouse-Lautrec but maintained the central female figure, organic lines and nature images such as florals and birds. Mucha became so recognized at the time that the term Art Nouveau was synonymous with the term le style Mucha. Mucha produced many works in various mediums. (Meggs 205) Aubrey Beardsley was an English illustrator who was interested in the “grotesque” (Meggs 200) and frequently included erotic, controversial images in his illustrations. His style included unique use of positive and negative space, as well as bold black and white pen and flat shapes like that seen in his print done for Oscar Wilde’s play Salome in 1894 (Meggs 200). William Bradley was an American art nouveau artist and type designer. His primary medium was posters and he was strongly influenced by William Morris’ Arts and Crafts movement ideals and Beardsley’s shapes and bold style (Meggs 208). We can see this influence in his poster for “The Chap Book” (1895). He popularized the twodimensional poster style in American. Jugendstil, “Youth style” in German, was the German art nouveau movement, named after a new magazine called Jugend (1896) Otto Eckmann was inspired by French art nouveau and Japanese prints. He designed a typeface called Eckmannschrift and was a designer for General Electric Company (Meggs 217).
KEY IMAGES
Henri van de Velde: poster for Tropon food conentrate, 1899.
Theophile Alexandre Steinlen: “Tournee du chat noir”, 1896.
Alphonse, Mucha: Gismonda poster, 1894.
Alphonse, Mucha: poster for Job cigarette papers, 1898.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: poster “La Goulue au Moulin Rouge”, 1891.
Eugene Grasset: exhibition poster, 1894
Jules Cheret: “Eylsee Montmartre bal masque” (Masked Ball) poster, 1896.
References
Meggs, PB and Purvis, AW. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006. “SDCC Graphic Design History”. 3 July 2010. Web. 13 February 2010. <http://Sdccgraphicdesignhistory.blogspot.com>. “Louis Prang” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010. “Arts and Crafts Movement” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010. “William Morris” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010. “Ukiyo-e” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010. “Hokusai” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010. “La belle epoque” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 10 Feb 2010.
Group
Members Jenny O’Donnell Jenny Lien Theresa Kienitz Leticia Clarke Melissa Sebastian and Matthew Brackett