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HORIZON “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.� - John F. Kennedy
THE VISION The sway of a society changes the ideas that an artist feels compelled to express, while the art, in turn, shares this message forward to new crowds. These influences and their changes over time create cultural waves, where every event serves as the starting point for the next. It is a rare art movement that weaves its roots deeply in to the heart of a culture. To leave such an impact, the art must communicate a vision important to all audiences, and leave its message on every aspect of life. Mid-Century Modernism marked a central turning point in American culture, bridging the worlds of the war-minded, patriotic World War II culture and today’s bustling, creative society. Without the influence of Mid-Century Modernism and its message of optimism to all after the war, American culture may look nothing of how it does today. Now, the horizon is the only limit in sight.
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ONSET: World War II
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VERTEX足: Mid-Century Modernism
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Featured Artists
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Areas Of Impact
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POST: America Today
WORLD WAR II WWII still remains the most destructive war the world has ever seen. Most of Europe had been taken over by nazi Germany who was under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. The Japanese which were under military rule and were invading countries and islands at an extensive rate. Mussolini gained control over Italy and sent in troops to gain control of Ethiopia in Africa. The world was evolving towards dictatorship with unjust intentions. WWII started in 1939, but the final convincing point for American intervention was the Japanese bombing on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In efforts to defeat tyranny, America entered the war in 1941.
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CULTURE DURING THE WAR World War II completely altered the vital aspects of American culture. The American lifestyle quickly came to an abrupt stop when the men, who were the main economic drivers in America up until this point, began to leave. As a result, a void in the economy grew. Subsequently, women, retirees, and others began to take over the men’s jobs. There was no longer time for leisure and play. The production of most durable goods, such as cars, new housing, vacuum cleaners, and kitchen appliances, was banned until the war ended, but the hours worked in other areas still was at an all time high. Meat, clothing, and gasoline were tightly rationed among the people. Housousing was in short supply, so the people began to share their living quarters. Prices and wages were controlled. Consequently, Americans began to save as much of their incomes as possible. Although resources were tight during war, the ultimate outcome was renewed growth in American culture.
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DESIGN DURING THE WAR During WWII, the arts turned a focus towards war propaganda for the American people. Though weapons and machinery were the primary weapons of WWII, poster art and other design were used as a more subtle weapon to persuade the American people. This era of propganda utlized the approach of direct appeal and a call to action for the audience.
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THE WAR ENDS With a victory from the war, Americans were finally able to reach normality again. Soldiers were returning home, the economy was stronger than ever before, and Americans were ready for a positive change in society. People looked for this optimistic change in all aspects of life, including entertainment and art.
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MIDCENTURY MODERNISM Renewal and optimism were the key goals of the Mid-Century Modernist movement. After WWII brought psychological peril to the American people and weakened the hope for happy living, Mid-Century Modernism gave society a new breath. With the new products of industrial invention, designers were given new mediums to work with such as resins, plastics, and fiberglass. Though the spirit of society was fragile as a result of the war, designers found new ways to help and rebuild hope. Chaos, death, turbulence, and negativity were replaced with serenity, life, peace, and positivity. The economy was highly competitive and the middle and lower-classes struggled for survival. Amidst all of this suffering, MidCentury Modernists made a positive, optimistic change in life. Through Mid-Century Modernism, hope was now accessible to everyone previously disheartened by the devastation of the war.
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CULTURE As American troops returned home and American spirits were being brightened, many design themes revolved around the “American Dream”. The marketed image of the American Dream showed society the beauty of having a tidy little home in the suburbs, a vehicle for commuting to a steady 9-5 job, and a family with two kids and a dog. Women joyfully welcomed their husbands home from the victorious war, thus the United States’s population experienced dramatic growth with the new addition of the Baby Boomers generation. Having a television set in the living room, and quick dinners to eat in front of it, quickly became a social norm for family living. Designers channeled in on mass-production, a renewed sense of economy, and affordability to all Americans. The ornate decorations in Great Depression era art were now long gone. As the Baby Boomer generation was born, America forged ahead in design and technology.
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ADRIAN FRUTIGER “THE TYPE GUY”
Adrian Frutiger has created some of the most used typefaces of the 20th and 21st century. Although interested in many fields including woodcut and paper silhouettes, Frutiger has been passionate about typography for his entire life. Spending most of his career working for Deberny & Peignot updating typefaces and preparing them for photo-typesetting, as well as designing typefaces of his own accord, he has created almost thirty typefaces. Some of his most famous typefaces include Univers, Frutiger (created for the Charles de Gaulle airport), Egyptienne, Serifa and Avenir. Frutiger is one of only a few typographers whose career spans across hot metal, photographic and digital typesetting. He has also been instrumental in refining his own typefaces to include more weights and true italics; some examples are Frutiger Next and Avenir Next.
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LADISLAV SUTNAR “THE INFO GRAPHIC GUY”
Sutnar, a Czech designer born in 1897, was one of the first designers to actively practice the field of information design. His work was rooted in rationality and the process of displaying massive amounts of information in a clear and organized manner for easy consumption by the general viewer. He placed a heavy emphasis on typography and primarily used a limited color palette. While he often used punctuation symbols to help organize information one of his signature creations was the idea to place parentheses around the area codes in telephone books. For nearly 20 years he served as the art director for Sweet’s catalog services where he created information graphics and catalog layouts for a wide range of manufactured items. Before working for Sweet’s he taught at the State School of Graphic Arts in Prague. He was heavily influenced by the ideas of Modernism and his work was so well structured that he had no problems communicating information clearly to an American audience, even though English was not his primary language. Sutnar was a pioneer in the field of designing information graphics, or infographics, a practice which has become quite popular in recent history.
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ROBERT BROWNJOHN “THE RISQUE GUY”
Brownjohn was born to British parents in New Jersey and had a successful career in both America and Great Britain during the 1950s and 60s. He immediately showed promise as a young design student at the Institute of Design in Chicago, previously The New Bauhaus, where he studied closely with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. His career ramped up to an early start when he formed the design firm BCG with Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar. However, that career came to an early end in 1959 with Brownjohn heading to London, the firm became Chermayeff & Geismar His career in London proved as successful as his early career in the US with his most notable contributions coming in the film industry. He also worked within several other industries, creating moving graphics for Pirelli and Midland bank and created the cover for the Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed. A 240 page catalogue by Emily King that was produced for an exhibition detailing Brownjohn’s career entitled “Robert Brownjohn: Sex and Typography” held at the Design Museum in London was also published as a book of the same name. Sex and Typography details the adventures of Brownjohn through detailed information provided by friends and family as well as chronicling his career and the work that he produced..
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BRADBURY THOMPSON “THE PRINT GUY”
Bradbury Thompson was truly a master of almost every aspect of the design profession. He studied printing production, was an art director for Mademoiselle magazine, designed books, pushed the boundaries of conventional typography and taught design at Yale University. He designed 60+ issues of Westvaco Inspirations for the Westvaco Paper Corporation. His designs reached thousands of designers, printers and typographers. Born in 1911 in Topeka, Kansas and educated at Washburn University Thompson stayed in touch with the university throughout his career. From 1969-1979 Thompson worked together with Washburn to create the Washburn Bible. The book was the most significant development in Bible typography since Gutenberg first published his masterpiece in 1455. Another significant point in his career, in the field of typography, was his publication of Alphabet 26, which was labeled as a monoalphabet. It contained only 26 unique characters, case was established by size only instead of entirely new characters (i.e. r/R, e/E, a/A). Thompson’s work garnered him the highest award of every major design organization including AIGA, the Art Directors Club and the Type Directors Club. He died in 1995.
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LESTER BEALL “THE POSTER GUY”
A man with a very technology-oriented background, Beall grew up playing with Ham radios and creating his own wireless sets. He graduated with a Ph.D in the History of Fine Art and the years following his graduation found him expressing an interest in modern art movements such as Surrealism, Constructivism and Dadaism. His work as an advertiser and graphic designer quickly gained international recognition and the most productive years of his career, during the 1930s and 40s, saw many successes in both fields. His clear and concise use of typography was highly praised both in the United States and abroad. Throughout his career he used bold primary colors and illustrative arrows and lines in a graphic style that became easily recognizable as his own. He eventually moved to rural New York and set up an office, and home, at a premises that he and his family called “Dumbarton Farm�. He remained at the farm until his death in 1969.
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ALEX STEINWEISS “THE ALBUM GUY”
Alex Steinweiss has a massive body of design work that spans several different media. Some of his clients have included the U.S. Navy, PRINT, Fortune and Columbia Records. However, he is most recognized for inventing the modern album cover and much of his work lies in the poster-like images that he created while he was an art director at Columbia records. Before Steinweiss the only album covers that existed were brown paper wrappers that served to protect the album you had just purchased. His idea to create artwork to entice the buyer to purchase the album was an instant success. From 1939 to 1945 he designed record covers for Columbia, during which time he turned out hundreds of distinct designs. After 1945 he began working for other clients including several other record companies and in 1974 he retired to Florida to paint and work on occasional commissioned pieces.
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ERIK NITSCHE “THE SCIENCE GUY”
Erik Nitsche left an unmistakable mark on the world of design in his approximately 60 year career. Leaving almost no field untouched, he worked as an art director, book designer, illustrator, typographer, graphic designer, photographer, advertiser, and packaging designer. His graphic design work included magazine covers, signage, film, exhibitions, posters and many other advertising mediums. Before emigrating to the United States in 1934 Nitsche studied at the Collège Classique in Switzerland and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich. His work has a distinctly modernist aesthetic and although he never had the opportunity to attend the Bauhaus Laszlo Moholy-Nagy has been quoted as saying, “Who is this guy that is doing the Bauhaus in New York?â€? He designed promotional and advertising campaigns for a host of different clients including department stores, feature films, record companies and the New York Transit Authority. Nitsche greatly influenced the young generation of designers in America in the mid20th century including the legendary designers Walter Bernard and Seymour Chwast.
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GRAPHIC DESIGN Geometric forms, straight lines, bold colors, experimental use of typography is essential to the Mid-Century Modern graphic design style.
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HOME DESIGN Flat planes, large glass windows, and open space give Mid-Century Modern archetecture simplicty. This allows for integration of the indoors and outdoors with privacy still in tact.
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FASHION Color and pattern is key to the Mid-Century Modern fashion. Ornamentation is not popular with this style, which was true of all areas affected my the movement. Attire from this time was classy, sophistocated, and timeless. Mid-century Modernist women were elegant, while men kept a sleek look.
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DINNER WARE Dinnerware design from the Mid-Century Modern style features non-standard shapes and sizes, including oblong plates and square bowls. Most items utilize patterns and/or bold colors.
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FURNITURE Mid-century furniture is charactierirazed by the clean lines and minimal decoration. Comfort, thus emotional satisfaction, is an important factor, keeping consistent with the overall message of the Mid-Century Modernist movement. “Less is more� explains itself through the furniture of this time.
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AMERICA TODAY American culture has changed significantly throughout the years, and is being continually influenced. Some contributing factors are outside cultures brought by immigrants, the growth of the United States, and new discoveries, such as the steady development of new technology. American art has depicted these influences for centuries, and will continue to do so. Today, America is widely known around the world as a leader in mass media production, specifically in regards to television and movies. However, America also has a rich theatrical history, and is home to Broadway in New York City. The music industry plays a huge role in the arts of America. Today’s music is extremely diverse in style and tone, and demonstrates a noticable lean towards electronic and synthetic sounds. As electronics and music production software continues to become more affordable, musicianship is increasingly adopted by all classes of people.
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MAD MEN The AMC drama Mad Men has integrated the MidCentury Modern style on its set. From wardrobe to set furniture, Mad Men has done a great job highlighting the simple and sophisticated popular style of Mid-Century Modernism. Mad Men is partly responsible for reviving the movement of current culture back to the Mid-Century Modern style.
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HOME DESIGN Today, architecture and interior design in the style of MidCentury Modernism is very popular. This simplistic and peaceful home environment leaves ample opportunity for relaxation. Families enjoy smooth navigation between all rooms of the home, and enjoy great amounts of natural lighting from the large-panelled windows.
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HOLLY LANG Master file management, final type and layout revisions, group responsiblities coordination, cover design, title and section names.
SOPHIE BRENDLE Layout Editor. Photo Editor. Artist pages layout, layout revisions, assorted body copy.
TAYLOR FOX Layout Editor. Areas of Impact layout, section dividers, assorted body copy, photo compilation.
CARLY O’BARR Copy Editor. Table of Contents layout, credits layout, type setting, assorted body copy.
ASHLYN JONES Copy Editor. Type design and layout, photo compilation, America Today layout, assorted body copy.
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