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*artwork by seymour chwast
TABLE
of
CONTENTS Ar
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4 8 12 16
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Se y Ch mo wa ur st
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np
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tte
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intro
A
ll artists working to-
and his keen talent for vibrant ex-
day and every artist
pression. Screen printing’s central
that has ever lived has
role in the pop art movement of
added their peice to what design
the 60s. Contemporary designers
has become. It is a working con-
revisiting the ancient skill of hand
cept, influenced by every change
written letter forms, interpreted
the world has seen. Its history
into 21st century technology. The
includes social movements, fash-
hands of preceding artists have
ion trends, war, technology, and
illustrated the path of design with
much, much more. How we un-
every stroke of their pen. It is only
derstand design today is in direct
fair that we acknowledge the in-
succesion to how generations be-
fluence of their art, their thinking,
fore us have understood it in the
and design to continue the legacy
past. As designers, we have the
of illustration.
art movements, the designers, and the engineers of the past to thank. Art Nouveau’s undulated, organic forms. Seymour Chwast
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
Art Nouveau 1890-1910
A
rt Nouveau was an art
curvy, asymmetrical lines worked
movement that began
with angular contours. The almost
in the late 19th century
sudden curves were referred to
and continued on into the early
as “whiplash�. This was partially
19th century. It was developed in
inspired by botanical studies and
England and spread throughout
illustrations of deep-sea organ-
the European continent, gather-
isms by Ernst Heinrich Haeckel,
ing several different monikers in
a German biologist. The Art Nou-
the process. It is also known as
veau style was often used in ar-
the Glasglow Style or Jugenstil in
chitecture, jewelry and glass de-
Germany, Modernismo (or Mod-
sign, posters, and interior design.
ernista) in Spain, or Stile Floreale
The movement was a reaction
in Italy. It is characterized by
to
popular use of long, organic, un-
19th century art and design, and
dulated lines often represented in
was an attempt at modernizing
flower stems, insect wings, vine
design. There was a desire to raise
tendrils - basically delicate and
the status of craft, and change hi-
sinuous natural objects. These
erarchy of the arts in which liberal
4
historicism that dominated
Aestheticism was a definite influencer of the arts - such as
movement as it also experiment-
painting and sculp-
ed with the expressive quality
ture - was seen as superior to
of organic lines. Most of all, Art
craft-based decorative arts. Art
Nouveau thinkers were inspired
Nouveau artists saw the past was
by William morris and Arts and
excessively ornamental, and be-
Crafts movement which empha-
lieved the function of the object
sized the return to handcrafts-
should dictate form. It was also
manship and traditional tech-
There was a desire to raise the status of craft, and change hierarchy of the arts a reaction to mass production,
nique. The style also takes from
which produced poorly made
linear patterns found in Japa-
crafts. Overall there was a clear
nese prints that sold in European
emphasis of function over form.
markets as exchange between
6 Eastern and Western nations in-
intricate illustration. The color
creased in the late 19th century.
schemes are often somewhat
The movement overall was
dulled but deep and rich, picking
short-lived but important in mov-
out colors found in nature, then
ing towards unity of design in the
accented with gold leaf. Artists
later 20th century, and became
also featured the style in adver-
a key predecessor of modern-
tisements, typography, and mag-
ism which popularized the Art
azines. The typographic style is
Nouveau style again in the 60s.
more appropriately used in dis-
In graphic design, you can see
play work than actual text faces
Art Nouveau’s influence in book
because of its ornate quality and
design and poster printing, like-
organic form.
ly for what would be seen now as old fashioned but beautifully
8
“If you dig a hole and it’s in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn’t going to help.”
S
joined New York’s Cooper Union
ically acclaimed Amer-
art school, studying painting, il-
ican
designer
lustration, and design there from
whose diverse collection of work
1948 to 1951. It is here where he
can be found proudly displayed in
met Edward Sorel and Milton
museums all over the globe. He
Glaser who he would later create
was born in 1931 in New York City,
the Push Pin studios with. One of
where he attended Abraham Lin-
his earliest works, The Book of
coln High School. In these forma-
Battle, a completely handmade
tive years, Chwast had an influen-
and hand bound anti war piece, is
tial group of peers known as the
where his recurring theme for so-
“Art Squad” who were sign and
cial commentary began. In terms
poster artists, based off a graph-
of his comedic flair, he was influ-
ic design class taught by
enced by André François and Saul
Leon Friend, who pushed
Steinberg, who were known for
his students to enter
their usage of paradox and irony.
competitions.
Young
Upon graduating, his first job was
entered
working at The New York Times
graphic
Chwast
his
under art director George Kriko-
first illustration
rian. This is where, under Kriko-
was
published
rian’s mentorship, he learned
in
Seventeen
the principles of typography and
many,
and
at
was given design and illustration
16 years old.
assignments. After a string of
magazine
nt
hwas
prese
1931-
our C
Seym
eymour Chwast is a crit-
Later,
he
subsequent unsuccessful jobs,
t
10 he began to turn to profiting off
rejected this traditional style in
freelance work. In conjunction
favor of revitalized interpreta-
with Reynold Ruffins and Edward
tions of historical styles such as
Sorel, he began to produce pro-
Art Victorian, Art Nouveau, and
motional pieces to build his cli-
Art Deco. His work can be found
ent base, which took the form of
in major galleries and museums
a semi-regular publication called
in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Brazil,
the Push Pin Almanac. Based off
and Russia, along with several
the Farmer’s Almanac format, each
one-man shows of his paintings,
issue had a different theme and
prints, and sculptures. Among
con-tained illustrations, text, and
these are Museum of Modern Art
trivia. This brought enough free-
in New York, the Cooper Hewitt,
lance work to lead to Chwast and
Library of Congress, where his
Sorel to launch Push Pin design
posters can be found in their per-
studio, where Milton Glaser, who
manent collections.
they knew from Cooper Union, would join them. The almanack was later expanded and renamed Push Pin Graphic to unify design and illustration. The result of their hand drawn forms and type work at Push Pin undermined the ordered layout, “numbing rigidity” and popular machine aesthetic of
International
style. Their work
screen printing
T
he origin of screen print-
but not introduced to Europe
ing can be traced all the
until late 18th century. For exam-
way back to China in
ple, the Japanese method used
960-1279 CE. This method used
silk to make the mesh and lac-
human hair stretched across a
quer to make the stencils, which
wooden frame to form a screen
is why it is also known as silk
and attached a stencil made from
screening. For much of the 20th
leaves. It was then adopted and
century, screen printing meth-
refined by other Asian countries
ods were kept as “trade secrets�
and not shared with the general
It began to be used for noncom-
public. In 1907, Samuel Simon
mercial purposes in 1938, when a
patented first industrial screen
group of American artists began
printing process, where he used
to experiment with the technique.
a cut stencil of the intended de-
From this experimentation they
sign mounted on a finely-woven
formed the National Serigraph
silk screen, and used a brush to
Society. The term “serigraphy”
force the ink through the screen
comes from the Latin word for
in the cut out areas of the stencil.
silk, “seri”, “graph” = to write or
12
draw (graphos - Greek), a term
popularization for the silk screen-
coined by this small artist move-
ing methods, and the pop art
ment. Screen printing created
style. He wanted the more ma-
new outlet for artists to display
chine-like look that resulted from
their work and experiment with
silk screening, saying in an inter-
style. The pop art movement in
view with Art News, “The reason
the 1960s was characterized by
I’m painting this way is that I
artists’ use of screen printing to
want to be a machine, and I feel
make bright and colorful interpre-
that whatever I do and do ma-
tations of everyday objects. Often
chine-like is what I want to do”.
Andy Warhol is credited for this
Warhol was most famous for his
14
�
The reason I’m painting this way is that I want to be a machine silkscreen prints of Marilyn Mon-
method because of its low cost,
roe and Campbell’s soup, among
even for large sizes, compared
others. Another artist popular for
to other printing techniques. You
her screen prints was Corita Kent,
can print on virtually any mate-
an artist and designer from Los
rial with this method. It can also
Angeles, who was also a Sister
create shiny, opaque, transparent
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
colors. Today designers create
She used her art to advocate
the design on Illustrator and use
messages of acceptance and love.
silk screening to make clothing or
Her work was characterized by
prints. The style of the 60s pop-
her vibrant color choices and ex-
ularized the ink print look that is
perimentation with typography.
still used in contemporary graph-
Screenprinting was an appealing
ic shirt design.
hand lettering
T
he current trend of hand
same and the normally baseline
lettering harkens back to
perfectly straight. Now hand let-
the beginning of calligra-
tering can be found even in com-
phy, where the origin of modern
mercial spheres, from magazines,
typography lies. Before the digital
to movie posters, brand identity,
age and even before Gutenberg’s
and advertisements. Hand letter-
moveable press, there was the art
ing is differentiated from typog-
of good old fashioned hand letter-
raphy by focusing more on the
ing, or classical calligraphy. Today,
art of drawing each letterform
design trends have gone back to
while typography focuses on the
the hand written style, but by en-
arrangement. Beyond typograph-
capsulating this quality in fonts,
ic posters however, these hand
which are in itself more mechan-
drawn script styles are being digi-
ic, with every letter looking the
tized as typefaces as well, as seen
16
in typefaces like Isabella or Hele-
an arsenal of high-quality brush
na - which even has a watercolor
markers and pens, but even am-
texture as part of the font. Often
ateur typographers can simply
designers will digitize their hand
use Crayola or Sharpie markers,
drawn work and continue to edit
evolving to the likes of Faber-Cas-
it on illustrator, creating a unique
tell and Micron pens. Jessica
combination of organic and me-
Hische, a well-known young let-
chanic. Hand letterers likely have
terer, designer, and illustrator, is
il
R by
is
od aR
18
known for this style. Hische has
Today, by just googling, “make
said she opts not to trace her hand
your own font�, you can find web-
drawn sketches in Illustrator, that
sites where everyday non-type
way she can perfect any mistakes
designers can create their own
along the way.
typeface
While
her
just their hand-
work has that
writing, or any
h a n d - d ra w n
other form they
effect, it is also
choose. Ama-
clearly made
teur designers
with
digi-
can also take
tized
means.
classes on for-
This style of
mats like Skill-
hand
share,
ing
lettercan
be
with
where
professional
adopted in so many ways, and
hand letterers post videos in the
encompass any genre, old or
form of classes in a comprehen-
current, which is why it has be-
sive step-by-step form.
come so appealing for designers.
DEC 2015
$2.99
Š monika mandreza