Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Module 7: Edward Steichen

The Family Of Man

An photographic exhibit of diverse people showing that we all are part the same family was first shown at the New York's Museum of Art in 1955 by Edward Steichen while he was the Director of the Department of Photography. 503 photographs by 273 photographers around the world make up the displays.

I stumbled upon him while researching Herbert Bayer. I found a picture by Bayer "The Nation of Nations" and it mentioned "The Family of Man" so I had to find out what that was. What a Journey! Steichen is credited with starting modern fashion photography in 1911 in the magazine "Art et Decoration"with his fashion photography. See my other post on his work in this area.

In the book "Graphic Design History,"on page 221 there was an ad with a photograph by him and it stated that he was known for his luxury imagery. The exhibit that he curated "The Family of Man" surely shows that he valued the common existence more in 1955 than the luxury and the glamor of the 1930's. Of course during that time, no one wanted to be reminded of the Great Depression while they were in the midst of it. Below are some photos of the exhibit. A really good description and summary is found at
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23246&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.




STOLLER, Erza, Family of Man,New York, MoMA, 1955, ELDERFIELD, John, ed. The Museum of Modern Art at Mid-Century, At Home and Abroad, New York, MoMA, 1994.
http://phomul.canalblog.com/archives/p400-10.html



STOLLER, Erza


STOLLER, Erza







SEKULLA, Allan, Family of Man, New York, MoMA, 1955, Photography Against The Grain, Nova Scotia, the press of NSCAD, 1984.



dsc_5922



Family of Man, STOLLER Erza’s photography of the Entrance into the Exhibition of. RUDOLPH Paul, architect, A Life in Photography, New York, Doubleday, 1963




Family of Man, STOLLER Erza’s photography of the Entrance into the Exhibition of. RUDOLPH Paul, architect, A Life in Photography, New York, Doubleday, 1963.

Interieur familles



















This exhibit is on permanent display in the city of Steichen's birth, Clervaux, Luxembourg at his request.
http://www.family-of-man.public.lu/concept-exposition/index.html

Module 7: Edward Steichen 1911 to 1945

His first fashion photograph from the Edward Steichen Biography image gallery
His very first fashion photograph. Notice the focus on the garments and not the people. 1911.
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/74252.aspx


 


The Great Garbo, photographed in the 1920's. I feel her personality showing through.
http://hiwaay.net/~oliver/otherports.htm


All photos below are from the 1920's to 1930's as photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines. During that time he was considered the best known and highest paid photographer in the world according to Wikipedia. ( I know it may not be accurate but his photos are some the best I have ever seen.)
Marion Morehouse in Vionnet gown

Marion Morehouse in Vionnet gown
 I love the way he contrasts the light and the dark. Simple elegance.

Gloria Swanson photograph taken by Edward Steichen

An amazing photo. Steichen captures Gloria Swanson's beautiful vivid eyes and yet keeps the focus on the lace.

Actress Mary Heberden

Gary Cooper


Yes, this is the handsome Gary Cooper!
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/In-Vogue.html 

During the Second World War, Edward Steichen was the director of the photographic unit of the Naval Aviation. He also created the 1945 Academy Award winning documentary, The Fighting Lady.


dsc_5919

Power in The Pacific, New York MoMA, 1945, PHILLIPS Christopher, Steichen At War, New York, Abrams, 1981

Edward Steichen


Edward Steichen was an very important artist that impacted advertising and photography. He originally was a painter and got his start by purchasing a pre-owned Kodak Camera. He also help usher in color photography. Explore him more on the Internet!






Unknown dates on photos of Edward Steichen but he was in the Army during World War I so the military photo is dated from that time.
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/74252.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Steichen

Monday, November 8, 2010

Module 7: Herbert Bayer





Pioneers of Information Design
                                          Herbert Bayer











Herbert Bayer. Lange Radio Sein Konstrukteur Heisst Grundlichkeit. Unknown  1931
This advertisement clearly helps you get the idea that listening to the Radio is heavenly!

Herbert Bayer. The Nation of Nations. Unknown
This is the image that set me off in a different direction than Bayer for my field journal. I still don't know about this particular image but it's credited to Bayer by the New York Museum of Art.
http://moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A399&page_number=7&template_id=1&sort_order=1








Herbert Bayer. 10 Banknotes, designed for the State Bank of Thuringia. 1923

10 Banknotes, designed for the State Bank of Thuringia:

The Museum of Modern Art In New York

Each area of Germany had its own bank notes because of the instability of the economy at the time.






The Bauhaus type influence
Contemporary to  Kurt Schwitters and Jan Tschichold, his style in type aimed for a clean, universal and 'phonetic' type which featured san serif and no capital letters (for Bauhaus publications) and later on a development of his own typeface (the 'universal', 1925) [1], now issued in digital form as Bayer Universal[3].  Later, in 1945 (already living in the US having escaped from the Nazi domination) he'd use this same base to create the English Phonetic alphabet, "...which featured a combination of capital letters an lowercase characters, as well as symbols for for the endings -ed, -ory, -ing, and -ion, as well as the digraphs "ch", "sh", and "ng". An underline indicated the doubling of a consonant in traditional orthography." This latter inspired the 'archetype Bayer'. http://hogd.pbworks.com/w/page/18698612/Herbert-Bayer-banknote-1923 (also most of the bank note images except as noted.)

http://www.po-sho.com/Comm2680/SmallWebsiteBeta/pioneers.html

Works by Bayer at New York's The Museum of Modern Art.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Module 6: A New Language of Form

Russian graphic artist, painter and illustrator Vladimir Vasil'evich Lebedev (1891-1967)

Constructivist graphic art



His use of space focuses the attention of the viewer. He simplifies the subject to basic shapes mostly geometrically and with just the barest of primary colors which helps the children to visually see. Beautifully done.

VLADIMIR LEBEDEV clown and clown. 1924. From the pictures. in the book



Vladimir Lebedev Red Army and Navy. 1920. Gouache on paper. 77 x 70,4
Vladimir Lebedev Red Army and Navy. 1920. Gouache. 77 x 70,4

http://artinvestment.ru/en/news/exhibitions/20100514_lebedev.html


Artist Vladimir Lebedev
Cover

The webpage is the entire book.
http://www.chl.kiev.ua/ev/bagazh/ba_ob_e.htm


Lubodev's geometrically shaped illustrations for Rudyard Kipling's The Elephant's. Some of the work seems a little scattered. I prefer the first images above.

[lebedev-Slonyonok.jpg]

This site talks about Samuel Iakovlevich Marshak (1887-1964) who Lebedev collaborated on many of his illustrated books. Lebedev often "combined cubist techniques with the elements of folk 'lubok' in a highly original system of representation." 1

I like how he describes his inspiration about drawing for children's books that he borrowed from children's art. He also states that cubist techniques taught him discipline. His work shows that discipline clearly. What can we learn? Even though he was illustrating books to spread the superior communist message, he was loyal and good communist. We all have our country to be loyal too and to serve whether by designing or by other means. It is our duty to be sensible in that loyalty. He had to switch to a state-supported style in the 1930's which must have difficult Who knows what he may have accomplished in his techniques if allowed freedom of expression?


See more images at:
http://theanimalarium.blogspot.com/2009/08/revolutionary-animal-shapes-of-vladimir.html

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Module 6: The "New Woman"

The "New Woman"


Women In the Early 1900's in the Suffrage movement.
I was intrigued when I saw the picture on page 199 of the book "Graphic Design History, A Critical Guide" about the Suffragist Poster. Below are some other images that show the resistance to Women Suffrage Movement.
This one is entitled "Suffragettes that have never been kissed "as if the movement was only by women who have never been in love or married. Their faces sour with unhappiness and disappointment is typical of the stereotypes of the period.

1909By Walter Wellman "Should Women Mix in Politix? Nix! No.4008 - Click Image to Close
1909  By Walter Wellman "Should Women Mix in Politix? Nix!The press ridiculed the movement. Here one that says that women will be fighting each other over politics. Didn't the men fight already and still do?
Too Funny!
Below is the movements graphics sh owing the women as heroic figures & a guiding light.



The Women's Suffragette Banner: Trust the Women... Dora Meeson



Postcards were a great way to advertise. Quick, small, and many can be given out to get the message accross quickly. http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/03/31/suffragist-postcards/

Below is a few advertisements towards woman in the early 1900's. Note soft, womanly forms. The one from 1928 is geared to a class of women, middle class who have time for things like tea.  After that are several advertisements showing the independent new woman who marketers wanted to entice to purchase more of their products.

1904 ad for dress fabric                  Vintage ad for women's hats from Mongomery Ward, 1908
512267170_569de09927_o
Photo


Label - Crawford's 4 O'Clock Afternoon Tea Biscuits
Crawford's 4 o'Clock Afternoon Tea Biscuits' 1928 Biscuit tin label


All descriptions from website.
Ettore Tito, 'Aide toi. Le ciel t'aidera' ('Heaven helps those who help themselves'), about 1925-30. Museum no. E.901-1975
'Aide toi. Le ciel t'aidera' ('Heaven helps those who help themselves')
About 1925-30
Print
Museum no. E.901-1975
Given by Mr and Mrs Urry
Tito's illustration shows a modern emancipated girl of the period: she wears short skirts, drives her own open-topped car, and is even capable of fixing it herself when it breaks down. She is presented as independent and rather 'racy'; the image is clearly meant to be amusing but also suggestive.

Ernst Dryden, Jane Regny Sportswear Advertisement, 1928. Museum no. E.3652-1983
Ernst Dryden (1887-1938)
Proof for an advertisement for sportswear designed by Jane Regny
1928
Colour half tone line block
Published in Vogue, French edition, June 1928
Museum no. E.3652-1983
The exaggerated angular drawing in this illustration emphasises the narrow boyish flat-chested figure that was considered most fashionable and desirable for women in this period. Both women also have fashionably short 'bobbed' hairstyles and wear close-fitting cloche hats.
The bold 'jazz' print worn by the woman on the left is typical of the 1920s and is evidence of the influence on fashion of Art Deco styles. The orange, brown and yellow colours were especially popular at this time, and can be found in wallpapers and furnishing fabrics of the 1920s too.
Werner Jackson, Young Woman Smoking, 1930s. Museum no. PH.155-1985

Werner Jackson
Young Woman Smoking
1930s
Photograph
Museum no. PH.155-1985
Given by Mrs Greta Jackson, wife of the photographer
At the beginning of the 20th century most people disapproved of women smoking, and it was seen as a very masculine habit and a sign of loose morals. But attitudes changed significantly over the next twenty years.
Women were targeted by tobacco manufacturers in the 1920s and 1930s with advertisements that suggested that smoking was glamorous. Film stars such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis were used to promote the idea that smoking was associated with style and sex appeal.
By the 1930s smoking was a widespread habit amongst men and women. The dangers of smoking were then barely recognised. In fact cigarettes were often advertised as being beneficial to health in some ways - for example smoking was thought to calm the nerves, and was also promoted as a means of staying slim.
Eric Fraser, Weldon's Women's Journals Advertisement, probably 1926. Museum no. E.538-1987
Eric Fraser (1902-83)
Weldon's Women's Journals Advertisement
Probably 1926
Museum no. E.538-1987
Eric Fraser was a painter, and a prolific designer and illustrator. Much of his work was for magazines, but he also worked for industrial clients such as British Gas. Weldon's published a range of illustrated magazines for women, including journals devoted to children's fashions, and titles aimed at the home dressmaker.
These publications were designed for middle-class women managing on a limited budget, but the clothes and hairstyles depicted were drawn from the world of the rich and famous, such as film stars.
Here two elegant women are shown dining against the backdrop of an exotic location - the sun and palm trees suggest perhaps the French Riviera, then a glamorous holiday destination favoured by the wealthy and by celebrities from the worlds of film and fashion.
Henry Haley, Head and Shoulders of Woman Driving Car, about 1928. Museum no. E.343-1985 
Henry Haley, Head and Shoulders of Woman Driving Car, about 1928. Museum no. E.343-1985
Henry Haley (born 1874)
Head and Shoulders of Woman Driving Car, for cover of Pearsons Magazine
About 1928
Museum no. E.343-1985
Pearson's was a popular magazine of the period. It was clearly intended to appeal to a largely female readership, and here the image of a woman driver is used to represent a modern outlook and an independent lifestyle.



                                                                                                    
             














Scrapbookhomely
http://pzrservices.typepad.com/vintageadvertising/advertising_from_the_1900s/
File:Suffragette1913.jpg