Graphic Design History
The most recent reading we had was rich in detail of the history of graphic design, and covered the basic timeline of when each style occurred. Most notably it’s interesting how genres like Futurism seemed to come way before it’s time, or maybe it was just art that advanced rapidly. What stood out most to me were styles like Dada that rebel and don’t conform to traditional rules of graphic design, it allows artists to be playful and strategic in how they create things. It’s also important to recognize the evolution that happened between each new idea, Dada was a seed that would later sprout into Surrealism, and so on.
Futurism (1910-1918)
Futurism caught my attention for a lot of different reasons, it’s sleek and vibrant shapes are surprisingly used for promotion. Like its predecessor, Futurism incorporates traits from the Cubism movement like abstraction, complexity, and new ideas like typography. Photography, posters, anything that involves Futurism can be identified by movement and energy in the scene.
Simon Page Filippo Marinetti Simon Page
Suprematism (1915-1934)
Malevich’s start to Suprematism seemed harmless in its beginning, the idea behind it was “the supremacy of pure feeling in art” as he said. He was inspired by Futurists and cubists alike, boiling art down to its most basic form to bring new meaning. Malevich was so insistent upon the message behind his style, that he eliminated any possible forms that could be mistaken for something mundane. It wasn’t long before Russian leader Joseph Stalin banned any art that wasn’t Suprematism, and a contrasting style called constructivism would appear in rebellion. It’s ironic that Suprematism was embraced by Stalin when looking at the definition of the style, it started out pretty and became something ugly.
Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Malevich
Kazimir Malevich
Dada (1916-1923)
Dada was an anti-war movement sparked by the start of World War 1, it’s surprisingly one of the most relatable for how strange it is. The art created around this time was created through a distorted lens of reality, whether photographs or designs the medium looked to create a strange feeling of uncertainty, similar for what was going on at the time. It has a gloomy feel to it unlike most of the other styles, highlighting social issues as well as those political. Dada artwork doesn’t have to make sense or have meaning like a lot of things in life, the feeling of risk can be felt when looking at many of the pieces created during this time.
Otto Dix Lola Dupre Herbert Bayer
Hannah Hoch
Surrealism (1924-1955)
Surrealism is supposed to be the idea of creating art by using the unconscious mind, or some say. Images can be sinister and strange, or botched together to create something completely new and out of the ordinary. Some artists works are more defined than others, creating scenes of dream like scapes or beings in utter clarity. This is by far one of the hardest genres to understand, you can definitely see the passed influence of other styles in this one as well.
Carlos Salomoni Salvador Dali Francesca Woodman
Zdzisław Beksiński
In Conclusion
This has been a very interesting reading and a fun post to put together, and research. I learned a lot about what makes up the different styles in graphic design, as well as the rapid evolution of graphic design. Overall these styles I chose stuck out to me the most, my favorite being surrealism for how eerie and symbolic the art is, Zdzisław in particular makes images that leave me perplexed.
