Unit 2 - Lecture 3

-De Stijl- Formalism Exemplofoed- metaphysics and technology meet.
-universal laws of equilibrium and harmony in art could be a prototype for a new social order, beauty arose from absolute purity, sought to purify art by banning naturalistic representation
-Theo van Doesburg - founder and guiding force of De Stijl
-Mondrian- pure form and asymmetrical tension proved to be monumental
-Pure vertical and horizontal forms
-“is attained through dynamic movement in equilibrium established through balance of unequal but equivalent oppositions”.
-red, yellow, and blue
-purely horizontal and vertical, no diagonal, based on M H J Schoenmaker
-Everyday objects could be raised to a spiritual level by the application of modern principles
-used color to clarify, very reduced pallet
-Collaboration in deStijl and DADA
-DADA would free the world of tradition and de Stijl could then rebuild it
-Schroeder House- 1924 Utrecht planes in space
-J.J.P. Oud- facade of the cafe de Unie
-Broadway Boogie Woogie- Mondrians's last work, has a feeling of pixillation

-The Bauhaus- rationalism for the era of the machine production
-Bauhaus come from Bauhutte, apprentice system for gothic cathedrals, master, journeyman, apprentice
-"a cathedral of socialism"
-Moholy Nagy- Bauhaus master, young and articulate, had a passion for typography
-became a teacher in the photo-typography department
- invented type and photo combination
-"Photoplastics" expanded role of photography in a design context
-Bauhaus at Dessau - 1925 - 1933, curriculum was reorganized, Bauhutte model was dropped (masters now professors), name changed too "Hochschule fur Gestaltung"
-Herbert Bayer- typography and graphic design work shop
-Kandinskys 60th bday invitation, classic graphic design
-Bayer- one of first to introduce space planning, relentless work on typography
-Jan Tschichold- unique in the history of design, brings typographic expression too full realization, he brought the poorly understood modernist movements to the masses
-"New Typography" 1925 - magazine insert discussing and demonstrating the concepts of new typography
-wrote a book called "the new typography" laid out how typography could work and how to lay things out in a straight forward way
-Dynamic forces - always should be present, Kinetic asymmetrical design o contrasting elements
-Tschichold - turns away from "the new typography" - only appropriate for industrial products and the arts but not for much else - turned back to the "traditions of type" - created Sabon

In this class we talked about the de Stijl and Bauhaus movements. These two movements are still some of the most influential on todays modern design. Many of the ideas the proponents of these movements held still hold sway today. We talked about Theo van Doesburg and Mondrian and their "love affair" with the horizontal and verticle line. It was obviously much more than a love affair, more of an over reaching idea and sensability. I thought it was interesting how one of the major falling outs between great designers was over diagonal lines. We also talked about Moholy Nagy and the lajor influence he had on design as we know it. He basicly created the idea of typography being used with photography as a means of communication what is pretty awe inspiring. We talked about Herbert Bayer also who helped creat a designed typographic space. He was one of the first to introduce spacial planning. The last person we talked about was Jan Tschichold who not only brought the ideas and typographic functionality of modernism to the masses, but then decided it wasnt the best way to do it and started using and creating serif faces.

Unit 2 - Lecture 2

-Kasimir Malevich
-Minimalist aesthetic: abstraction, pure forms, nothingness, blankness
-Suprematism: theoretical model for an abstract visual language
-Taking the image out of an image, pure 2D form (cubo-futurism)
-Constructivism forms out of cubo-futurists and supremacists
-Rodchenko: main constructivist
-Photography takes leading role
-3 principles of Constructivism- tectonic, texture, construction
-Combative character of contents
-Coincided with montage film and shared same vocabulary: simultaneous action, superimposing images, extreme close-ups and perspective, rhythmic repetition of an image
-Graphic system: standardized format created economy
-Rodchenko made things more dynamic
-EL Lissitzky: innovator of 20th century graphic design
-Spread the word of the formal idea
-Developed painting style called Prouns
-Prouns Space: synthesis of architectural concept "interchange station between painting and architecture"
-Beat the Whites With The Red Wedge: icon of the 20th century
-Birth of the universal language of form
-Of Two Squares: promised a new graphic syntax based on mixing verbal and visual signs to speed absorption of info
-New syntax: "the diagram"
-For the Voice by Mayakovsky
-Red square signifies bloodstained town squares
-"once a symbols role is established you no longer have to think about its meaning"
-Lissitzky become conduit for the flow of Suprematist and Constructivist ideas into Western Europe
-Invention of the modern typographic grid
-The "Isms" of Art - 1914-1924 : one of the most influential graphic designs of 20th century : covered everything that was being done
-First book visually programed as a total object based on modernist style
-EL Lissitzky becomes first exhibition designer to be fully realized
-Russian exhibition in Switzerland, equality for female and male, iconic poster for the exhibition
-Salomon Telligater: wittier, colorful, original
-Steinberg Brothers: movie poster design
-They begin not apologizing for the illustrative character of their work
-Communication begins between the greats of the time
-Many of the participants in these movements became commercial, moved the design into the spot light and changed design on a world wide scale

I love the Supremacist and Constructivist style of design. Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists and i found all of this extremely interesting. It was great seeing where that entire design sense came from and how it was used to influence an entire population and time period. The way the Russian revolution shaped the movements is immensely interesting. The amount Modern design was influenced by this period is crazy. Its funny that our idea of what is "modern" now a days was also modern almost 100 years ago. Great lecture today.