Category: 141

The german golden age of art

 In the early years of the 20^th century, art was thriving. Several movements, from impressionism to the Bauhaus movement were prominent in Germany. Here, many artists grew to be famous, such as Kathe Kollwitz or Auguste Macke. Movements such as new Objectivity and Dadaism were taking flight in Weimar Germany in the 20s. New, experimental forms were being practiced, with artists exploring integrating photography, satyr and so much more into their pieces. It was an era of rebirth and exploration within art. Until it wasn’t.

The catalyst

Just as the field of art branched off and new branches were created, something similar happened to politics. New movements like Fascism and Communism rose to compete with democracy. In Weimar Germany, the streets quite literally ran red due to the conflict between the far right and the far left. After many years of grappling, fascism slowly trumped socialism and in 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected the Chancellor of Germany. The world was never the same.

The fall of truthful art

All forms of art faced backlash with the rise of fascism in Germany. In literature, the devastating book burnings wiped through years of stories, poems, and prose. Specifically, Jewish, and contemporary German writers, like Franz Kafka, feared for their lives and lost much of their work too. But the Nazis were especially cruel to visual artists. They took hundreds of pieces of art from museums and collected them for a special exhibit of their amusement. This exhibit was dubbed “Entartete Kunst”, degenerate art in English. Here, these pieces were lazily displayed and laid out for members and supporters of the Nazi party to make fun of. This was not just for their enjoyment, however. They started manipulating German society by twisting and controlling the art they consumed. Via art, the fascist government saw a pipeline for controlling the narrative within Germany at the time. No man understood this better than Joseph Goebbels.

Joseph Goebbels, the master manipulator

Chief propagandist for the Nazi party, Goebbels was set apart due to his methods. He was quick to join Adolf Hitler, expressing antisemitic views throughout his early adulthood and seeing Hitler’s trial for treason in the early 1920s as a way to spread propaganda of his choosing. He was quick to take action after joining the Nazi party in 1924, rapidly being given many responsibilities. But the role that shaped him the most was his position as the propaganda minister

How art was weaponized

As the Nazi party slowly took control of Germany, Goebbels quickly controlled the media. He was especially keen on using media such as films and radio to spread his propaganda. He presented the Nazi party and the atrocities they were inflicting as good and favorable, brainwashing most of German society into supporting and believing Nazi ideals. Most famously, Goebbels helped contribute to the myth of the fuehrer and helped build Hitler up as this larger-than-life figure. This helped turn the tide of people’s opinions on Hitler, this image of him being a form of messiah for Germany buying his “success” in the Nazi party. Under Goebbel’s watchful eye, propaganda flourished and pushed the boundaries of representative art at the time. Styles were explored to keep the German population engrossed in the war and supporting the Nazis. New ways were created to manipulate people, twisting the way design communicates with people.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Goebbels

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/german-art-between-the-wars/xdc974a79:nazi-fascist-visual-culture/a/art-in-nazi-germany

https://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/arts/artreich.htm

For Judy’s 141 Survey class, our assignment was to make a type identification poster.

If I’m being entirely honest, I both started and ended this project struggling. Going into the project I started off weakly with only a couple of sketches as I wasn’t quite sure what to make and how exactly to present it. I went back and forth between whether I should do entire words, just a letter, if it should have figurative elements or be more design-like, should it be an infographic or more illustrative? After many hours of unsuccessful brainstorming and a headache, I decided on an idea that I later scrapped. I then chose a third idea, one that harks back to the board game “Guess Who?”. I decided to give the piece a sense of narration and comic feel, as I enjoy the way comics deliver information. Also, the childhood game is about identifying a person, so switch people out for types of type and I feel like I touched upon the theme of identification well. Where the piece is lacking is information, and due to the way I set up the piece and its storytelling aspect, it loses on pure information.

Throughout the entire process of this piece, I fumbled and second-guessed my choices, unsure if what I was doing was right. Perhaps it was the subject matter, as I struggle with type, or maybe it was because I couldn’t wrap my head around how to present 8 different fonts in one poster without confusing the reader. And how to include being creative into that

This project left me frustrated and creatively drained and lost. I spent around 7 hours on it and would give myself a 5/10 on a personal scale.

When nature triumphs functionality

As someone growing up in the 21st century, some of my earliest memories are tied to climate change. I remember attending an assembly in elementary school and watching a video that the 6th graders made about greenhouse gases and the destruction of the earth. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues in anyone’s day-to-day life is global warming.
In the general public, there’s a want to be as environmentally friendly as possible, searching for opportunities to save water, conserve electricity or reduce one’s carbon footprint. This includes living as consciously as possible. Although certain routines can lead to lower carbon emissions, sustainable architecture as a solution is on the rise in the design and architectural circles. If one looks back into the history of architecture, there is a movement that was aware of nature, that could serve as a model for environmentally friendly architecture: the prairie style.

The love child of infrastructure and nature

The prairie style was a movement in architecture that focuses on the environment surrounding architecture.
American architects were understandably tired of the European tendency of rebirthing classical architectural forms, as was the case during the early 20th century. Ornate facades, intricate columns, and interweaving metalwork were all prominent in European architecture at the time. The American architects wanted to break away completely from tradition, and thus they turned to the “prairie style” of houses. Here, not dissimilar from the arts and crafts movement, nature played a big role. It would be a key component to how buildings would be designed
Taking the center front stage, the interaction between environment and house was the main principle of prairie architecture.

Architectural elements that popped up were open spaces that let in lots of light and air, large windows with a view out into greenery, and simple interior designs that meshed well with the curves and edges of natural elements. Buildings should be humble and prioritize functionality over decoration. Despite focusing on the function of design, the style didn’t revolve around it in such extreme ways as the Bauhaus school did.

Frank Lloyd Wright – The champion of the prairie

The Prairie style was founded by Frank Lloyd Wright. A young American architect, part of the “The New School of the Middle West”, he is nowadays considered the “greatest American architect of all time”. He started designing houses for the prairie, hence the name of the style, before exploring his style through international commissions. He then founded the Taliesin Fellowship, hoping to teach others about his Prairie style through involving them in his projects.
Inspired by Prairie houses, some of his notable works include the “Robie House” and are characterized by two- or one-story buildings.

By the end of his career, he had designed over 1100 works and over 500 had been turned into actual buildings. He was internationally acclaimed and traveled the world holding lectures about his architecture

The future of architecture – design during the climate crisis

As mentioned in my introduction, the prairie style can serve as a basis for sustainable architecture. The main idea of having our external and internal climates communicate with each other is key for moving forward and creating infrastructure in a world plagued with a climate crisis. The external world is ever-changing, especially rapidly and dangerously nowadays. If we can re-learn to link our everyday life to our climate, the degree of separation between everyday people and the world they’re destroying will be one step closer to smaller. Getting in touch with nature again, especially in places such as urban areas, is key to developing an architecture that not only is aware, but proactive with our environment. I believe that the prairie style could be the transitional style between our present way of living and the much-needed, climate active, future way of living.

Sources:

https://franklloydwright.org/frank-lloyd-wright/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Robie-House

https://www.thespruce.com/prairie-style-architecture-4797907

https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/architecture-dictionary/entry/prairie-style/

https://flwright.org/researchexplore/prairiestyle

As I have been more and more intrigued by the ukiyo-e art of Japan during the Edo period, I found it only appropriate to examine and reproduce the techniques and aesthetics of this art form for my historical artifact.

Reference sources:

https://www.britannica.com/art/ukiyo-e

Reference images:

For this project, I struggled with it more than I wanted to. Specifically, I spent a lot of time trying to decide on a subject for my ukiyo-e painting. I wanted to do a scene from mythology but realized that required more research than I could properly put into this project and I wanted to avoid rushing through it and not respectfully treating the subject. Then, I considered a historical moment, but again, stumbled across the problem of needing a certain amount of time to do the proper research which was lacking. A scene from a brothel was also off the table. I sketched out an idea for a beautiful woman, but when trying to decide what style I wanted to draw her in, found myself in the same predicament: If I wanted to draw her in a typical Ukiyo-e style, I would need to study many paintings and prints to do it properly and respectfully. So finally, I found a subject I could paint that would require the least amount of research, studying, and time to execute it: A beautiful landscape.

I chose mountains, as this was a typical element in ukiyo-e prints. That paired with clouds and the sun, I felt like I covered a sufficient amount of elements from traditional paintings. Then, I looked into just how to paint them. For the mountains, I painted them going from red to green. The foreground has yellow slowly added to it. For the cliffs, I used a flat brush to paint the curved ledges and the trees on the mountains.

I wanted to add a certain contemporary and personal touch and added an element of perspective into the piece. Usually, ukiyo-e prints don’t have much of a perspective, but I wanted the viewer to feel like they were looking up into the mountain-scape. I achieved this by bending the mountains inwards slightly and curving the clouds.

To complete the piece, I made it into a scroll, gluing two wood rods to the ends of the painting (which I wrapped up the back) and attaching bamboo string so I could hang it up. this was something I wanted to achieve since the beginning and getting it to hang properly and look like a traditional scroll was quite satisfying!

I would give myself an 8/10! very proud of what I was able to make, and I felt like I did my subject and this area of art justice. I spent probably close to 8-10 hours on it, between sketching, researching, painting, and putting together the scroll.

For Judy’s 141 blog post 3, I decided to research more about Japan during its isolation period.

A tumultuous past

Before the opening of trade with Europe. Japan was thriving. It was multiple centuries into one its most prosperous rules: the Edo period, also called the Tokugawa era. This period started after the Sengoku one, which was tremulous and chaotic. The Sengoku period had been plagued with wars, with “daimyo” fighting each other for control of the country. It was so violent and bloody that today it’s also called the “Warring States Period”

This chaos was ended in 1600 by an infamous samurai.

The world-class warlord

The great warrior Tokugawa Ieyasu became the ruler of Japan (Shogun) after winning the battle of Sekigahara. This was in October 1600. With his emergence, the Tokugawa period started, beginning a new era of peace in Japan.

When division creates unity

Remarkably, this peace was due to division. Japanese society was divided during the Edo period. When one thinks of a successful society, the first image that comes to mind is one without segregation or division of any sort. One where everyone is equal. This wasn’t the case in Japan during the Edo period. Everyone was separated into one of four categories, straight out of a dystopian YA novel: warriors, merchants, artisans, and farmers. And merchants? Bottom of the barrel, with warriors at the top of the societal food chain.

For a heavily militarized and controlled society, people were quite happy. This was because the military force, called Shogunate, was in charge of establishing brothels and other hotspots where the Japanese population could relax and have fun safely. Sadly, the Tokugawa Shogunate was the last shogunate to exist.

The concrete jungle of the 1800’s

During this time there was extreme urban growth. Cities and town expanded. One of the cities that grew demographically and in popularity was Edo. It was the seat of the Tokugawa government, hence the name of the period. Within the Edo castle, Ieyasu set up base and it became the political center of Japan, although Kyoto remained the capital. By 1721, it had a population of 1 million, becoming one of the largest metropolises of its time.

Today, Edo is called Tokyo and has a population of 14 million, stretching for 850 square miles.

When brothels ruled the art world

Art, as did many other areas, flourished in Japan under the Tokugawa period. Woodblock printing in particular rose in popularity. These prints were called ukiyo-e. They were a combination of realism and decorative style, often representing scenes from brothels or urban backdrops.

One of the most famous pieces of art ever created is a ukiyo-e print, made during the Edo period: “The great wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai

The introvert nation

Much of this demographic, cultural, and artistic growth was the result of extreme isolation. For nearly 300 years, Japan had little to no interaction with any other nation. No one was allowed in or out. This started in 1639, enforced by the shogunate after the intrusion of European and Christian influences.

Pandora’s box

Inevitably, by the hand of western powers, Japan was forced to open trade with Europe in 1858. Japan had stayed separated and independent from the influence of the west for centuries. It flourished and had its own rich culture and history. Then it was made to mingle with the Europeans, who were “inspired” by their way of life and art. They took their genre of self-expression and dubbed it “Japanism” like it was a fleeting movement in the canon of art history. From kimonos to the way Japanese artists flattened their backgrounds and applied color in flat sheets of paint. Everything was taken and turned over in the hands of the French, the Germans, and many others. In 1868, the Meiji restoration started, and the great Edo period officially came to an end.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo

https://www.britannica.com/art/ukiyo-e

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shga/hd_shga.htm

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/plea/hd_plea.htm

https://www-oxfordartonline-com.ezproxy.capilanou.ca/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000024954#oao-9781884446054-e-7000024954

For Judy’s 141 Zine project, I chose to research and make a zine on constructivism and constructivist type. When I had taken art history before this art movement had piqued my interest. I took this project as an opportunity to expand my knowledge.

The first thing I did after receiving the instructions for this project and deciding on constructivism was research. Then, I created a mood board. There, I collected ideas and aesthetic inspiration from famous constructivist art pieces. Right off the bat, I knew that I not only wanted each page to look “constructivist” but that when laid out, the zine as a whole would look like a Rodchenko artwork. To do this, I made about 5 sketches in my sketchbook to elaborate certain layout ideas, before creating two drafts.

There, I included certain artistic elements I knew I wanted to include. Some of these elements were cutouts of the creators of the constructivist type and a Russian city in the 20s. I also intentionally only used black, white, and red because these were the primary colors of the constructivist artists. I also ended up including a megaphone, random geometric shapes, and lines.

I would give myself an 8/10 as I did a lot of preparation for this piece and spent a lot of time executing it. I would take points off due to the slightly chaotic layout of the entire zine and the “connotation” page, which is lacking in design.
I probably spent around 10 hours on this assignment, many spent on my fully-fledged drafts, and then my slow working time as I’ve been sick.