Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
mexican muralism
- 1917 mexico- revolutions?
-cultural renaissance, mural program sponsored by state
-create new art & cultural identity- celebrate precolonial/prehispanic cultural origins/past
-celebrated mexican people & heroes
-anti-capitalist
-tension btwn socialist ideals of artists vs. american capitalists
-larger goal of story telling- inspirational & propagandistic
-taught american students how to do murals, how to spray paint, taught techniques
-how to create art that's independent/vanguard/cutting edge/progressive but also populist -->
-how to create art that's independent/vanguard/cutting edge/progressive but also populist -->
looked at western art for inspiration- frescoes
tried to adapt historic aesthetics to their cultural concerns
paintings were:
action packed
crowded
detailed
clarity of rendering
graphic quality
major figures:
jose clemente orozco
david alfaro siqueiros
diego rivera
mexican artists in the united states (reading):
-revolutionary/socially concerned artists- diego rivera, jose clemente orozco, david alfaro siqueiros
-introduced new mural techniques, styles for architectural settings, vigorous revolutionary content
-exemplified way artists could be heroic, outspoken, & political activists
-revived renaissance mural techniques
-siqueiros = communist party member
-rivera = individualistic marxism, thrown out of communist party
-orozco = anticapitalist
-siqueiros established workshop using industrial materials & commercial paints
pollock studied w him
-frida kahlo: important role model for feminists, "the personal is the political"
the radio city mural- diego rivera:
-helped spearhead mexican fresco mural movement w focus on mexican history & life
-stopped work on radio city mural at rockefeller center
rockefeller agents paid him & ordered him off the premises
problem w painting of lenin on public building
-he was at full liberty to paint what he saw fit:
man at crossroads, looking w uncertainty but w hope to better world
-his interpretation: crossroads w left (socialist world) & right (capitalism)
the revolutionary spirit in modern art- diego rivera:
-art as useful weapon for asserting social content of the work
-there is bourgeois art, revolutionary art, peasant art, etc.
-no proletarian art: can't produce class art until reaches highest point of development
proletariat art will be after all class differences are gone & there's a classless society -->
won't be proletarian art but communist art
-daumier & courbet = revolutionary spirits in spite of bourgeois environment
daumier: drew through class-conscious eyes; connection w life & labor
-social struggle = richest, most intense, most plastic subject an artist can choose
-does not believe in art for art's sake --> "pure" art is appreciated only by a few "superior" persons
limits possessors of art, makes art a stock exchange commodity manufactured by artist
-revolutionary art is easily understood by workers & peasants of all land
-by collaboration of artists coming out of proletariat & sympathetic artists, there should be an art that's superior to bourgeoisie art in every way
-soviet union takes best technical development & machinery of bourgeoisie & adapts it to needs & conditions of proletarian regime- should do the same in art
-proletariat art has to be warm & clear & strong
need for an art that is full of content & clear & forthright as theory of proletarian revolution
-"you are not modern enough to be artists in the proletarian revolution"
-mural art is the most significant art for the proletariat
-guerilla fighter: does what he can, action is always w/in the revolutionary line
-cezanne used workers & peasants as heroes & central figures of his paintings
-bourgeois art will cease when that class is gone
-most significant movement in art to the revolutionary movement is super-realism
-no painting can reach highest development or be truly revolutionary unless truly communist
-all painters are propagandists
paintings were:
action packed
crowded
detailed
clarity of rendering
graphic quality
major figures:
jose clemente orozco
david alfaro siqueiros
diego rivera
- siqueiros & orozco founded a school after the revolution
 |
| prometheus- jose clemente orozco 1930 one of the first murals painted by mexican artist in united states monumental, muscular figure- classical greek influences? fire= wisdom & enlightenment |
 |
| portrait of the bourgeoisie- siqueiros 1939-40 mexican electrician's syndicate action packed radical transformations of scale suggests conflict btwn facsism & capitalism (both seen as evil economic & political systems) that only generates endless war temple, that represents freedom, in flames |
 |
| america tropical- siqueiros 1932 controversial crucified body read as indigenous person |
 |
| judy baca & the great wall of los angeles (project) 1974- present history of chicano art & culture |
 |
| flower day- diego rivera 1925 indigenous worker selling lilies somewhat influenced by picasso mexican subject matter first of diego rivera's paintings to enter museum/exhibition (?) in U.S. |
 |
| man at the crossroads looking w hope & high vision to the choosing of a better future- rivera 1933 painted lenin in mural- american capitalists enraged --> scandal --> mural halted & destroyed |
-revolutionary/socially concerned artists- diego rivera, jose clemente orozco, david alfaro siqueiros
-introduced new mural techniques, styles for architectural settings, vigorous revolutionary content
-exemplified way artists could be heroic, outspoken, & political activists
-revived renaissance mural techniques
-siqueiros = communist party member
-rivera = individualistic marxism, thrown out of communist party
-orozco = anticapitalist
-siqueiros established workshop using industrial materials & commercial paints
pollock studied w him
-frida kahlo: important role model for feminists, "the personal is the political"
the radio city mural- diego rivera:
-helped spearhead mexican fresco mural movement w focus on mexican history & life
-stopped work on radio city mural at rockefeller center
rockefeller agents paid him & ordered him off the premises
problem w painting of lenin on public building
-he was at full liberty to paint what he saw fit:
man at crossroads, looking w uncertainty but w hope to better world
-his interpretation: crossroads w left (socialist world) & right (capitalism)
the revolutionary spirit in modern art- diego rivera:
-art as useful weapon for asserting social content of the work
-there is bourgeois art, revolutionary art, peasant art, etc.
-no proletarian art: can't produce class art until reaches highest point of development
proletariat art will be after all class differences are gone & there's a classless society -->
won't be proletarian art but communist art
-daumier & courbet = revolutionary spirits in spite of bourgeois environment
daumier: drew through class-conscious eyes; connection w life & labor
-social struggle = richest, most intense, most plastic subject an artist can choose
-does not believe in art for art's sake --> "pure" art is appreciated only by a few "superior" persons
limits possessors of art, makes art a stock exchange commodity manufactured by artist
-revolutionary art is easily understood by workers & peasants of all land
-by collaboration of artists coming out of proletariat & sympathetic artists, there should be an art that's superior to bourgeoisie art in every way
-soviet union takes best technical development & machinery of bourgeoisie & adapts it to needs & conditions of proletarian regime- should do the same in art
-proletariat art has to be warm & clear & strong
need for an art that is full of content & clear & forthright as theory of proletarian revolution
-"you are not modern enough to be artists in the proletarian revolution"
-mural art is the most significant art for the proletariat
-guerilla fighter: does what he can, action is always w/in the revolutionary line
-cezanne used workers & peasants as heroes & central figures of his paintings
-bourgeois art will cease when that class is gone
-most significant movement in art to the revolutionary movement is super-realism
-no painting can reach highest development or be truly revolutionary unless truly communist
-all painters are propagandists
Monday, November 27, 2017
photography as a modern art
- first "art photography"
 |
the two ways of life, oscar gustav rejlander
1857
copies what we would see in a history painting (poses, arrangement, etc.)
|
- modern changes in photography
pictorialist movement: julia margaret cameron
edward steichen:
-serves in U.S. army as photographer
-imitates established art forms
-1910: becomes fashion photographer
 |
| self-portrait w brush & palette- steichen 1903 |
 |
| the pond: moonlight- steichen 1904 |
 |
| rodin, the thinker- steichen 1905 |
 |
| balzac, the open sky, 11 pm- steichen 1908 |
- turns attention from pictorialism towards american subjects/sights
 |
| flatiron building- steichen 1905 |
- steichen meets stieglitz & they become proponents of american modernist photography
stieglitz:
 |
| the terminal- alfred stieglitz 1893 |
- creates 291 gallery
- stieglitz circle- circle of artists that stieglitz surrounded himself w
 |
| here, this is stieglitz: faith & love- francis picabia 1915 diagram of a camera published in 291 magazine kind of making fun of stieglitz's desire to continue modernism |
 |
| the steerage- stieglitz 1907 found composition of modernist aesthetics higher class on top, lower class on bottom stairway/walkway cuts through image repeated circular forms |
- embraced crispness & rich tones of camera
- 1900-1950: tug of war btwn NY & paris being capital of art world
straight/pure photography:
-find artistic events in every day phenomenon
-retain photography's truth-telling function
-clarity & composition
 |
| paula, or sun rays- stieglitz 1889 |
 |
| view from the el- paul strand 1915 unconventional & disorientating angles |
abstract photography:
-shadows
-cropping
-medium specificity
-new ways of looking at the world through orientation of camera
 |
| abstraction, porch shadows, twin lakes, connecticut- strand 1916 |
 |
| equivalent- stieglitz c. 1927 |
 |
| berlin radio tower- laszlo moholy-nagy 1928 |
 |
| at the telephone- rodchenko 1928 |
- focus on center of modern world: new york
- modes of emerging modernism
-method of recording reality
-medium of scientific investigation
-way of preserving vanished events
-basis of the process of reproduction
-range of subtle gradations of light & dark
-new kind of visual power
-to elevate it to an artistic level, it should have no depedence on traditional forms of representation
-areas yet to be examined:
- unfamiliar views made by positioning camera obliquely
- experiments w various lens systems, changing relationships familiar to normal vision, distorting them to unrecognizability
- encircling object
- new kinds of camera construction- avoiding foreshortening effect
- adapting experience w x-ray for photography
- cameraless photos by casting light on sensitive surface
- true color sensitivity
-first means of giving tangible shape to light through transposed & almost abstract form
avant-garde III: bauhaus
bauhaus:
-functional objects
-aim of all visual arts is the complete/embellish buildings
-return to the crafts
-proficiency in a craft is essential to artists
-architecture, sculpture, & painting in one unity
-merger of grand-ducal saxon academy of art + grand ducal saxon school of arts & crafts = staatliche bauhaus
-bauhaus: bring together creative effort, reunify disciplines of practical art
-unified art where there is no distinction btwn monumental & decorative art
-know how to design buildings in entirety- structure, finishing, ornamentation, furnishing
-art can't be taught but craft can be
-individuality but strict study discipline
-weimar --> dessau --> berlin
-started 1919 until 1933
-founder: walter gropius
-"builder's house"
- utopian investment in abstraction
 |
| manifesto penned by gropius
craftsman
workshop
world that builds again
learning a trade
return to the crafts
art is not a "profession"
proficiency in craft is essential to every artist
desire, conceive, create new structure of the future
one unity
new faith
reunify all the disciplines of practical art
new architecture
working community
|
 |
| bauhaus educational plan- pedagogical circle start from outside & go in when you start specializing more rigorous curriculum for design |
- aesthetic unity --> social unity
 |
| club chair- marcel breuer industrial, tubular steel visual transparency |
-typography
-graphic design
-furniture
-sculptures
 |
| der schlag gegen das bauhaus (the attack on the bauhaus)- iwao yamawaki 1932 collage reflecting upon nazis' attack |
- any art that was modern or avant-garde was consider degenerate
- many of the artists traveled to the U.S. --> open up black mountain college (european modernism makes its way to the U.S.)
-aim of all visual arts is the complete/embellish buildings
-return to the crafts
-proficiency in a craft is essential to artists
-architecture, sculpture, & painting in one unity
-merger of grand-ducal saxon academy of art + grand ducal saxon school of arts & crafts = staatliche bauhaus
-bauhaus: bring together creative effort, reunify disciplines of practical art
-unified art where there is no distinction btwn monumental & decorative art
-know how to design buildings in entirety- structure, finishing, ornamentation, furnishing
-art can't be taught but craft can be
-individuality but strict study discipline
Monday, November 20, 2017
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
new developments & a call for change: macintosh, meggs, & museums
key terms:
mildred friedman:
steven heller: cult of the ugly, eye, 1993
philip b. meggs, history of graphic design, 1983
mildred friedman, walker art center, Minneapolis, MN
stefan sagmeister
philip meggs:
philip b. meggs, history of graphic design, 1983
mildred friedman, walker art center, Minneapolis, MN
stefan sagmeister
- questioning where the field is going
stephen heller:
- 1993: stephen heller writes an article called "the cult of ugly"
-singles out magazine called output by cranbrook students
-says it's symbolic of all that's gone astray in graphic design
-ugly design could be trying to defy standards
 |
| "cult of ugly" article- stephen heller |
 |
| cranbrook students' magazine |
-writes a history of graphic design textbook --> growing next generation of students
 |
| first comprehensive history of graphic design 1983 |
many editions:
mildred friedman:
 |
| mildred friedman curator of graphic design at walker art center explored ways to present graphic design in exhibition |
 |
| walker art center shows a lot more graphic design than anywhere else |
 |
| comprehensive, w accompanying textbook graphic design as barometer of society that it reflects graphic design as agent of political, cultural, etc. change |
 |
| design/brand identity for walker |
 |
| 1989 (?) exhibition |
 |
| april greiman for exhibition |
- 2011 exhibition: "now in production"
-showed that graphic design went from a profession to a widely used tool in communication
-broadens professional scope of graphic designer
-looked at design magazines/publications, branding programs, subcultures
-showed entrepreneur aspect of graphic design
- 1984 (?): macintosh apple & growth of internet
 |
| april greiman |
 |
| macintosh 2 also allowed untrained graphic designer to enter the field |
“You can’t do better design with a computer, but you can speed up your work enormously.”
-Wim Crouwel
“Technology over technique produces emotionless design.”
– Daniel Mall
"Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking."
-Milton Glaser
"Design is easy. All you do is stare at the screen until drops of blood form on your forehead."
-Marty Neumeier
"There are now about as many different varieties of letters as there are different kinds of fools."
-Eric Gill
"Skill in the digital age is confused with mastery of digital tools, masking the importance of understanding materials and mastering the elements of form."
-John Maeda
stephen sagmeister:
 |
| lyrics as "tattoos" |
 |
| investigation of aesthetic of tattooing assistant carved letters into his body w a knife confrontational suggesting graphic design is raw & human, not commercial publicizing a lecture of cranbrook's |
 |
| garland called for renewed humanist dimension in graphic design |
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| 2000 call to get away from just branding & selling "the scope of debate is shrinking- it must expand" |
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