Blog Post#10

Today in class we continued discussing the Bauhaus, its importance and influence throughout history.
We notice how art begins to shift towards a more simplistic form of expression, not only in paintings but also in the production aspect of design, as well as architecture.

"good designs for living is within the reach of every man or woman"
Joseph Albert, for a project in school, asked students to "reveal the quality of an object its true essence without it being an object in itself" and this is what they based their design on, at least the point at which in my opinion all artists should begin. The essence rather than the objects themselves. I believe this is one thing that much the modern design we see today seems to look, or at least disregard as important as it what back then. The "essence" of design, where does it come from originally and what is it meant to represent? I feel that today as opposed to design during the 1930s much of the design we see is created for one purpose, and one purpose only. To sell.

Though it may sound ironic to say this, seeing as the Bauhaus was in a way a "production" house that made much of its work to sell to the ordinary civilian. It was a time of exploration, they did not abide by the book, the were the book! they chose to make up theyr own rules as they investigated through trial and error. This is one thing that we see very little of today. People are guided more towards what other people will like, what makes money, walking along the path that has been walked on before. Rather than experimenting and for once daring to go out of those lines.

Going back to the class discussion, we are introduced to Jan Tischold. Trained in calligraphy, he writes a pamphlet to explain typography to the viewer. At the age of 23 he writes a book about elementary typography. Aesthetically when you look at it, it reminds you of De Stijl.
"the aim of every typographic work, is to deliver a message in the shortest most efficient manner" in a nutshell it reflects what we all need to know about modern communication and modern design.
Its what designers strive for now in their designs. Clear straightforward communication, because the viewer of today doesn't have or rather doesn't want to spend time looking at a design, a common problem needed to be tackled mainly by modern advertisers.

How is he similar to Wiener Werkstätte?
He gives the ideas of the bauhaus a practical expression.

Herbert Matter, was then introduced, he was known for pioneering photo montage during the time, his work is characterized by having extreme perspective shifts. Clear concise and efficient typography.

During the time of the depression:
More and more artists flourished, there was a need for community events, to get the citizens out of the house and enjoy themselves getting away from all the chaos for a while. With these events, the government recruited a series of artists to create the designs and ads of all of these events.
The use of serigraph gave these pieces a particular aesthetic, and very geometrical look.
Corporations begin to pay a very important role in design.

Then came the international style, where we see everything from typeface design, graphic design, fine art, architecture.
There aim was to look for universal truths, how to make pure, clear efficient work. It went terribly wrong, they get a terrible reputation during the 60s, because of the theory it in itself.



"The solution is in the problem, if you find the problem, the solution is there"