The Baggerstaffs Brothers (updated)

According to the research that I have done although the Beggarstaffs Brothers were together for a few years and they were not much a success they still managed to transform the history of poster design with a series of bold, simple designs and by using flat images and silhouettes. The Beggarstaffs Brothers also introduced new techniques with colours and shapes by cutting them out then assembled the shapes into the composition. One can also notice that some shapes that were created implied lines that engaged viewers while they deciphered the image.

The Beggarstaffs Brothers 

The painters James Pryde and William Nicholson were brother-in-laws who opened an advertising design studio called The Beggarstaff Brothers. This was one of the most remarkable moments in history of graphic design. By cutting pieces of paper, moving them around and pasting them in position on a board, they created flat planes of colour where the edges of the shape were drawn with scissors. Unlike Art Nouveau, The Beggarstaff Brothers forged a new beginning of design that focused on powerful coloured shapes and silhouttes rather than organic and decorative form. The artistic work of The Beggerstaff Brothers was a success but when it came to finance unfortunately they were a disaster. They did attract a few clients but only a couple of their designs were printed. The Beggarstaff Brothers only stayed together for three short years. They were a commercial failure, as clients were not sure what to make of these bold new images. But their designs became hugely influential with artists in Europe and America.

 Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 276

The above image was done by The Baggerstaffs Brothers in 1896 it was a poster for Don Quixote. The poster demonstrates bold outlines, bold serif text and silhouette windmill in the background this created a visual tension between positive and negative space. The cut paper shapes produced a graphic image whose simplicity and technique were of their time. The poster was never printed because the director/producer felt that the poster was bad likeness of Quixote.
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 277

The above image is another poster by The Baggestaffs Brothers the poster represents the main character, a knight and his faithful horse. The lack of colour and the employment of simple design elements did a remarkable job in conveniently keeping printing costs low while still allowing the brothers to create powerful silhouette that let the viewer use some imagination to visualize the blanks and even create a world outside the lines of the picture.Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 277

A Gaiety Girl 1898

The above image is a poster done by Dudley Hardy who had turned to poster and advertising design just like The Baggerstaffs Brothers. Dudley Hardy had an effective formula for theatrical poster work:

• Bold Lettering and figure appear against simple background 
• The figure and the play title standout dramatically against the flat red background.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 279

The poster designs in Europe during the first half of the 20^th century were mostly influenced by the Modern art movements such as Surrealism, Cubism, and Dadaism. The designers were conscious of the need to use pictorial references in their posters as a way to visually communicate more persuasively their views. Influenced mostly by Cubism and constructivism, poster artists combined expressive and symbolic images as well as total visual organization on picture plane 

References

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.

Dada (updated)

Dada also know as Dadaism is a cultural movement which began in Zurich, Switzerland the Dada Movement was a reaction against the bloodshed of world war one. The Movement involved visual arts, literature and graphic design, which concentrated its anti-war politic through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Dada was not actually art it was “Anti Art”. Dada pursued to fight art with art for everything that art stood for, it was to represent the opposite. When art was concerned with aesthetics Dada completely ignored it, and Movement strove to have no meaning. Dada became an influential movement to modern art, through this rejection of traditional cultural and aesthetics the artists associated with the movement hoped to destroy traditional culture and aesthetics. Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 265

As it is already mentioned above the Dada movement was a reaction against world war 1. The movement had been influenced my many movements such as Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism. 

The aim of the Dada Movement was to shock or outrage the viewer and their rule was to never follow any existing rules and if society went in one direction they went went to the opposite direction in other words they wanted to break tradition 

The Dada Movement had no specific medium, Dadaists used everything from glass to plaster, wood. found objects and even geometrical shapes to create their work. 

Based on research Dada had influenced many Movements to come especially the Constructivism Movement.

 Some important figures of the Dada Movement were:

• Marcel Duchamp
• Kurt Schwitters
• Hannah Hoch 
• John Heartfield 
• Roul Hausmann

References

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.

Twentieth Century Design (updated)

As a century ends another one starts.  The end of the 18^th century gave life to new typeface designs and till this day which is 200 years later we still call it the modern style, in the meantime the neoclassical revival of Greco-Roman forms in architecture, clothing, and illustration replaced the baroque and the rococo design. As soon as the 20^th century began designers began the search new forms of expression. The potential of abstract and reductive drawing and design was exploited by designers in Scotland, Austria and Germany who moved away from the serpentine beauty of organic drawings as they sought a new aesthetic philosophy to address the changing social economic, and cultural conditions at the turn of the century 

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 232

Based on research the designers from the 20th century were the designers who broke from Art Nouveau and introduced a more rectilinear and geometrical approach to design. 

The main focus of the 20th century design was more based on forms, function and spatial relationship. For instance Frank Loyd Wright who was of great insperation to both European designers and artists, he saw space as the essence of design and this was also of great insperation to those who were moving away for Art Nouveau's curvilinear towards the rectilinear approach. 

Frank Loyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect who was one of the founders of modern architecture. Wright embraced the uses of new technology, materials and engineering to create some of the most influential buildings of the 20^th century. During the end of the 19^th century, Wright’s work became well known to the European artists and designers evolving for the Art nouveau curvilinear towards the rectilinear approach.

Wright saw space as the heart of design; this importance was the source of his profound influence upon all areas of the 20^th century design.  Wright’s repetition of rectangular zones and use of asymmetrical spatial divisions organization were adopted by other designers. Other than architecture, his designs interests also included Furniture, graphics, fabrics, wallpaper, and stained glass windows. As a young adult Wright ran a basement printing press with his friend, the experience of running the printing press taught him to integrate black or white spaces as an element in his designs to establish and work within the parameters, and to include numerous materials into a unified whole. During his long carrier Wright turned his hand to graphic design, and also collaborated in the production of “The House Beautiful”   

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 233

The House Beautiful By Franl Lloyd Wright

• Geometrical Structure 
• freehand lines 
• lacy patterns 
• stylized plant forms 

The Glasgow School 

The members of the Glasgow School were Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Herbert McNair and the sisters Margaret and Frances McDonald also known as "The Four". 

They had a geometrical style and this style also included floral design and curvilinear elements, But as one can notice their designs also included a strong rectilinear structure and their designds were also distinguished by symbolic imagery. 

Their Characteristics were:

• Stylized forms 
• Bold Simple lines 
• Flat areas of Colour

The above images are posters which were done for the Glasgow institute of fine arts by Margaret McDonald and Frances McDonald, these posters involve a geometric style of composition by tempering floral and curvilinear elements with strong rectilinear structure, bold simple lines that defines flat planes of colour. The posters also demonstrates the rising verticality  and integration of flowing curves with a rectangular structure.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 233

Based on research the Vienna Secession was lead by Gustave Klimt, Koloman Moser, Joseph Olbrich and Joseph Hoffmann, As one can notice the Vienna Secession was very fond of the Sans-Serif typeface. Looking at exhibition poster designs from the Vienna Secession one can also see the lettering ranging from flat, blocky slabs to fluid calligraphic forms, these characteristics are also seen in their publications. 

The Vienna Secession  

The Vienna Secession was formed in 1897, the name was given to a group of artists, architects and designers that broke away from the main establishment of Viennese artists to form their own group. This group aimed to create new, progressive art, to bring contemporary international art to Viennese audiences and to provide a forum for the discussion and distribution of new ideas about art and culture. The Vienna Secession was not characterised by one single style but was linked closely with Jugendstil – literally 'youth style', the German-speaking world's adaptation of Art Nouveau. The painter Gustave Klimt was the guiding spirit who led the revolt, the architects Joseph Maria Olbrich, Joseph Hoffmann and the artist and designer Koloman Moser were also the key members of the Vienna Secession. Just like the Glasgow School the Vienna Secession became a countermovement to the floral art nouveau that flourished in other parts of Europe.  The Secession marked a turning point for art in Vienna, opening the way for artists to explore new forms. From the influence of the Secession emerged artists such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, who found original ways to express their inner world as well as external realities.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 235

Gustave Klimt, poater for the first Vienna Secession 

exhibition 1898

The above poster has a large open space in the centre which is unprecedented in western graphic design. Klimt referred to the Greek mythology to show Athena the goddess the goddess of arts watching. This poster demonstrates  bold simple lines, flat colours sens-serif lettering.
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 236

Koloman Moser, poster for the Vienna Secession 

exhibition 1898

The above poster by Moser demonstrates the central idealized figures and the swooping  floral forms of the French Art Nouveau. The poster also demonstrates clean simple lines, Sans-seirf  lettering, ranging from flat, blocky slabs to fluidly callagraphic forms. The metallic gold bronze figure and olive green are printed on a yellow tone paper that forms the counter lines. 

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 236

The work of Berthold Loffler 

Peter Behrens 

Peter Behrens was a German artist, architect and designer who have been called the first industrial designer because he had designed manufactured goods such as steel lamps and teapots. Behrens played an important role in providing the course for graphic design in the first years of the new century. He sought typographic reforms, was the early supporter of san-serif typography, Behrens also made use of the grid system to structure space in his design layouts.

At that time art critics were more interested in the relationship of art and design forms to social, technical, and cultural conditions, these issues disturbed Behrens as he believed that, after architecture typography delivered the most characteristic picture of a period. His experiments with typography were a thoughtful attempt to express the spirit of the new era

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 242

The above image by Peter Behrens has a sharp angularity characterized title page on the left hand side, which is framed by caryatids. On the right hand side the Darmstadt artist’s colony is ornamented with controlled curvilinear rhythms.

The above booklet may represent the first use of sans-serif types as a running book text. All the capital sans-serif text is in an unprecedented way on the title and dedication page.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 243

  

Cover for Documents of Modern Applied Arts. by Peter Beherns 

• The decorative geometrical and Sans-serif lettering based on a square foreshadow art deco design of the 1920 and 1930
• For the cover page of Documents of Modern Applied Arts Beherns discovered formal geometrical design motifs with modular sans-serif characters based on a square
• 
  

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 244

Typographic reforms were one of Beherns main interests. Unlike the ornate Victorian, Art Nouveau, and medieval typeface that were controlling new the typefaces at the time, Beherns standardized the stroke used to construct the letter forms.   

Deutsche Werkbound 

The Deutsche Werbound was a German association of craftsmen which as formed in 1907 and was located in Munich. The group leaders were Hermann Mathesius, Henry Van de Velde and Peter Behers who played an important role in this organization. Beherns created high quality design in manufactured goods and architecture. The leaders were highly influenced by William Morris and the arts and crafts movement, the difference was that William Morris was revolted by the products of the machine age and supported a return to medieval craftsmanship and protest against the Industrial Revolution, on the hand the Werbound valued the machines and advocated design as a way to give form and meaning to all machine-made made things. The group believed that form should follow function and wanted to eliminate all ornament.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 247

Peter Behrens AEG Trade Mark 

References

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.

Art Nouveau (update)

Based on the research that i have done Art Nouvea sprang from the Arts and Crafts movement. Just like the Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution, Art Nouveau was a reaction against Victorian era rigidity. Based on research Art Nouveau Movement was highly influenced by the Japanese art. One of the most popular Japanese wood block prints is called Ukiyo-e. One can also notice these Japanese motifs on the work of Mackantosh and the Glasgow school. Art Nouveau posters are usually heavily outline with black and filled with flat colours. The subject of the posters was normally an image of a women and the illustrations were so simple that almost all the details were removed also notice that the womans hair was always abstract




Art Nouveau was an international decorative style that flourished in Europe during the 1890 and went on for about two decades. The term Art Nouveau came to life in a Paris gallery that was run by an art dealer Samual Bing which opened in 1895 as the Salon de l’Art Nouveau.  It included all design arts, architecture, furniture, product design, fashion, graphics, posters, advertisements packaging etc…. 

The Art Nouveau movement had an intense interest in the organic whose physical aspects were derived from nature and the female figure and expresses as plant like forms such as Tendrils, sinuous of whiplash curves, lavish and undulating shapes. It was mostly derived from the Gothic and Rococo and from the arts of Japan. The movement was also inspired by the Celtic art, Persian, Classic art, Egyptian and Greek.
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 200
Art Nouveau as in:

• France 
• England 
• Belgium 
• Germany  known as Jugendstile
• America 

The above images show 

• flat colours 
• bold out lines 
• 2 dimensional 

Art Nouveau Influences:

• Nature 
• Human Figure 
• Rococo
• Gothic Revival 
• Japanese Art 
• Celtic Art 
• Egyptian Art 

In Art Nouveau graphics, the organic liner movement often control the spatial area and over the visual properties, such as colour and texture. In Art Noveau the basic forms and shapes were formed, and changed with the design of the ornaments. The Belgian architect Victor Horta was an important figure of the Art Nouveau movement. His 1892 town house for Emile Tassel was combined by twists and curvilinear.There was a closed collaboration between visual arts and writers during that period

The illustrators and graphic designers of Art Nouveau tried to make art as part of their everyday life. Their training of fine arts educated them about the forms of art and methods and developed primarily and aesthetic considerations

Important Art Nouveau Designers

• Jules Cheret 
• Eugene Grasset 
• Aubrey Beardsley
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• Alphonse Mucha

Jules Cheret & Eugene Grasset 

The two leading graphic designer of Art Nouveau were Jules Cheret and Eugene Grasset. They both played an important role in the transition.

In 1881 the French law allowed posters anywhere except on churches this new law lead to a blooming poster industry hiring designers and printers. All the streets of France became an art gallery for the nation. 

Jules Cheret is now known to be that father of posters and the father of modern lithography. Cheret printed his first poster in colour in France than advertising was introduced to the world of colour. Cheret was convinced that pictorial lithography poster would replace typographic latter press posters that filled the urban environment, but he could not convince the advertisers of this.  

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 201

Jules Cheret, poster for Orpheus Hades 1879

• Bold outlines
• Bold lettering 
• Animated figures 
• Greater unity of word and image 
• Flat colours 

During the 1870’s Cheret evolved away from the Victorian complexity, he began to simplify his designs and increasing the scale of his major figures and lettering. During the 1880’s he began to use black out lines with primary colours. He accomplished a graphic vitality with these bright colours, and subtle over printing allowed an amazing range of colours and effects
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 202

The following list is what was used in Cheret's work 

• stipple and crosshatch
• soft watercolour like washes
• bold calligraphic chunks of colour 
• scratching 
• scraping 
• splattering 

Eugene Grasset 

Eugene Grasset was a Swiss born illustrator and designer who was first to expose Charet to the public. Grasset had studied deeply the medieval art, and his influences had mingled with love of exotic Asian art, which were reflected strongly in his designs for furniture, stained glass, textiles and books,  Grasset did something other than posters, which was the only thing that Cheret was popular for.  A monumental achievement for Grasset was his 1883 publication of The Tale Of The Four Young Men Of Aymon, which was designed and illustrated by Grasset himself it was printed in an aquatint-grain/ color-photo relief process from plates made by Charles Gillot. Gillot was responsible for transforming Grasset’s line and watercolor designs into subtle, full color printed book illustrations. It was one of Grasset’s working philosophies that design was important for its total integrations, format and typography. Spatial segmentation was used as an expressive component in the page layouts. This is evident in Grasset’s work. In 1886, Grasset received his first poster commission. His willowy maidens, who wore long, flowing robes and struck static poses to advertise inks, chocolates, and beer, soon began to grace French streets.

For the above poster Grasset used a thick black contour drawing locking forms into flat areas of colour in a manner similar to medieval stained-glass windows. His figures echo Botticelli and wear medieval clothing and his stylized, flat cloud patterns reflected his knowledge of Japanese woodblocks. Grasset’s formal composition and muted color contrasted strongly with Cheret’s informally composed brightly coloured work. In spite of Grasset’s tradition-bound attitude; his flowing line, subjective colour, and ever-present floral motifs pointed toward French art Nouveau. His works included wallpaper and fabric design, stained-glass windows, typefaces and printers ornaments.
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 205

Art Nouveau in England 

Art Nouveau in England was mainly focused on graphic design and illustrations rather then furniture and product design.  The main source of inspiration of Art nouveau in England was of the Gothic art and the Victorian painting. During the month of April 1983 a magazine called “The Studio” was issued. This magazine was an illustrated fine arts and decorative arts magazine which had reproduced the work of Aubrey Beardsly, it also included work by the Dutch artist Jan Toorop “The Three Brides” and the work of Walter Crane
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 205

Aubrey Beardsly, First Cover for "The Studio"

The above image is called “The Three Brides” by Jan Toorop 1893. The illustration is done in pencil and coloured crayons, drawn on brown paper.  The undulating flow of stylized ribbons of hair symbolizes pouring forth from the bells. Toorop's curviliner drawing inspired his contemporaries 

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 206

Aubrey Beardsley

Aubrey Beardsley 1872-1898 was an English illustrator and author. His work was implemented in black ink and influenced by the Japanese woodcuts. Aubrey Beardsley was also the leading figure in the aesthetic movement. He was also the most contoured artist of the Art Nouveau. He is famous for his dark and perverse images and the grotesque erotica which were the main themes of his late work. His most famous erotic illustrations were on themes of history and mythology.  Beardsley became famous at the age of twenty; this was when his illustrations of the new additions of Marlory’s Morte d’ Arthur began to appear in monthly installments, supplementing a strong Kelmscott influence with strange and imaginative distortions of the human figure and powerful black shapes.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 207

The above image is an illustration by Beardsley on a double page spread for Marlory’s Morte d’ Arthur, the image shows:

• Compose counter outline 
• Textured areas 
• Black and white shapes into powerful composition 
• Contrast between geometrical and organic shapes 
• Influence of the Japanese print

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 206

The above image is a page from The Recuyell of the Hoistoryes of Troye 1986. The comparison of the page as designed by William Morris. By visualizing the design ideas of the Kamscott  Beardsley replaced the formal, naturalistic borders whit more stylized flat patterns
Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 208

Aubrey Beardsley was the art editor and designed the front cover of the yellow book, which was first published in 1894. The Yellow Book was a progressive journal of the arts.

Beardsley’s aim was to be subversive and his artistic contributions not only gave the journal its distinctive character, but established its decadent reputation. The first cover design  shows a pair of masked carnival-goers, that shows a  sense of happiness  that may owe something ichnographically to the posters of the French artist Jules Chéret (1836-1932). All the cover designs were printed in black on yellow cloth boards, in imitation of French novels. Beardsley's first design introduced a new illustrative style, distinguished by its flattening of perspective, stylisation of forms and bold application of dots. He specialised throughout this period in the interplay of areas of pure white with large masses of black. Here, for example, he creates the woman's enormous hat from a narrow line of white, where the paper remains uncoloured, within a uniform expanse of black.
 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beardsley-cover-design-for-the-yellow-book-n04171. [Accessed 18 November 2013]

Further Development of French Art Nouveau  

1881, Le Chat Noir nightclub 

Le Chat Noir nightclub first opened in 1881, this place gathered writers and artist such as Georges Auriol, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Theophile-Alexander Stelinlen 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 

Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, print maker, draughtsman and illustrator. Lautrec often exhibited scenes from brothels and cabaret clubs, including the Moulin Rouge, where he had a seat reserved after producing a series of promotional posters for the club’s opening in 1888. Lautrec was influenced by the artists Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet, who shared with them a keen interest in the observation of social culture.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 209

La Goulue au Moulin Rouge 1891

The above image is a poster design for Moulin Rough by Toulouse-Lautrec for this poster Lautrec

The style and content of Lautrec's posters: 

• flat color bound by strong outlines
• silhouettes
• cropped compositions
• oblique angles are all typical of woodblock prints by artists like Katsushika Hokusai 
• heavily influenced by Japanese ukiyo-e prints

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 208

Lautrec’s prints often show dazzling technical effects, the new improvements in lithography during the late nineteenth century permitted larger prints, a wider range of colours, and nuanced textures. Lautrec often employed the spattered ink technique known as crachis, this technique is seen in his series of prints depicting Miss Loe Fuller which was an American dancer in Paris her performances combined dancing, multi coloured artificial and music As she twirled and bounded across the stage, enormous lengths of fabric would billow outward from her body and reflect the coloured lights, creating a spectacular effect.

 1893, Poster for Jane Avril by Toulouse - Lautrec

Toulouse Lautrec used to draw from memory with no sketches he often carried an old tooth brush to acchive tonal effects through a splatter technique  

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 211

References

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.

the yellow book (online) available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Book accessed 22/11/2013

2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/beardsley-cover-design-for-the-yellow-book-n04171. [Accessed 18 November 2013]

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.

The Arts and Crafts Movement (updated)

Based on the research that I have done I found that the Arts and Crafts movement was a link between traditional Victorian values and the modern movement. Other than the fact that the Movements key figure was William Morris and that it was a reaction against the Industrial Revolution the Movements motifs were natural forms mostly taken from plants. William Morris was famous for his ability to crate balance and harmony within complexity and in some of his books one can notice some early Victorian motifs. Some of his patterns and textures are actually seen in the illuminated manuscrips and some of Morris's decorated pages are very similar to those textile designs. In some of William Morris's books one can also notice Victorian typefaces.    




The Arts and Crafts Movement flourished in England during the late decades of the 19th century. It was a reaction against the artistic confusion of the Industrial revolution. The Arts and Crafts Movement was also a socialist reform movement, which included designers, architects, artists, writers, and crafts of all kind. The Arts and Crafts Movement is associated with the traditional Victorian values and the modern movement. The leading figure of The Arts and Crafts Movement was the English textile designer artist, and writer, William Morris was also associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The writer and artist John Ruskin inspired the philosophy of this movement. John Ruskin was the most influential of all Victorian writers on the arts and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite, while John Ruskin built the philosophical foundation of the arts and crafts Movement; it was William Morris who became the leader of The Arts and Crafts Movement.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 176

William Morris

The leading figure of the Arts and Crafts Movement was William Morris he was well known for his pattern designs that were mostly on wallpapers and fabrics. His idea in connecting art to industry by applying the principles of fine art to the production of commercial design was a key stage in the evolution of design as we know it today.

Morris was one of the best pattern designers; his pattern designs are still commercially available as textiles and wallpapers. Morris was highly influenced by natural forms such as flowers, Morris used the natural forms that he found in the woods and meadows and used them to decorate inside houses.

The above image is a wallpaper design by William Morris called 'Trellis', 1862. This was William Morris’s first try at a wallpaper design. This wallpaper design shows medieval influences, it a reminiscences of the ornamental decoration that is found on illuminated manuscripts and tapestries.

William Morris-the arts and crafts movement (online) available at: http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/graphic_designers/william_morris.html accessed 16/11/2013

Arthur H. Mackmuardo

Arthur H. Muckmuardo was an architect who met William Morris and was inspired by his ideas and his success in design. He was one of the leading figures of The Century Guild this was an arts and crafts organization which was formed in 1882, the goal of the Century Guild was to “render render  all branches of art the sphere, no longer of the tradesman but of the artist.” Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc.pg 

The above image is a title page for "Wern's City Churches", 1833 by Arthur H. Mackmuardo.

Arthur H. Mackmuardo used plant forms and they are stylized into flamelike forms.

undulating rhythms that compress the negative space between them. 

This created a positive and negative interaction between black ink and white paper.

  

The above image is a reversal of the title page design also by Arthur H. Mackmuardo.

• stylize plant forms
• undulating rhythms
• animation of space
• visual tension between positive and negative space
• the negative space is created by white form on black fields instead of black forms on white fields  

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 178

The above image is the trade mark for the Century Guild, 1884 by Arthur H. Mackmuardo.

The flame, flowers and the initials are compressed and tapered into photo-art nouveau forms.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 178

The Kelmscott Press

William Morris was the founder of The Kelmscott Press, it all started when Morris developed an interest in printing through the publication of his own writing. Morris wanted to revive the skills of hand printing. His friend Emery Walker was an expert in Typography and together they studied early printed books called ‘incunabula’, which is a book that was printed not had written.

Morris’s approach to design was to look back at the basics of any medium that he engaged in. he recreated traditional dyes for his printed fabrics and for his book printing he looked back at the earliest days of printing.

Morris was inspired by the type made by Nicholas Jensen in Venice in the 1470s. Individual letters by Jensen were photographed and enlarged then Morris copied shapes from the letters over and over until he was assured that he had the measure of them. He then drew designs of his own, in the spirit of Jensen but not slavishly copied.

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc pg 181

The above image is the trade mark of The Kelmscott Press by William Morris 1892

Philip B. meggs. and Alston W. Purvis.eds., 2012. Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. Fifth Edition. Hoboken Canada: John Wiley & Sons,Inc