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.