Art Nouveau

 

Art Nouveau was an international movement and style of art, which applied itself to architecture and the decorative arts. Its peak was in the 20^th century around 1890-1905. Art Nouveau in French means, “new art”. Another name for art nouveau was Jugenstil, which meant “youth style” in German.

Art Nouveau flourished due to plays and shows advertising for their upcoming events. Posters were placed around town to attract the audience and these posters did indeed attract an audience. Art Nouveau sprang into popularity with overnight sensation. The style became very popular among artists in Paris. Initally called the Style Mucha, soon became Art Nouveau.

Casa Mila, also known as The Quarry, was designed by architect Antoni Gaudi and built during 1905-1910. Although physically attractive to the eye and very appealing, building codes were not met and this cause the government to fine the owners for their infractions.

Art Nouveau began the era of the Tiffany Lamp. Stained glassed inlayed in metal for decoration and usefulness. Glass was becoming an art-form instead of an exterior piece. Decoration of ceramics and porcelain was also becoming very popular and artistic. Many art nouveau artist dealing with ceramics had much influence from Japan.

 

The other day in class we watched a movie called Kamikaze Girls. The movie surrounds two young Japanese girls growing up in their high school years. Branding and self-identity are becoming more popular as the days go by. The main characters are Momoko Ryugasaki, which is the Lolita girl, and Ichigo “Ichiko”, which is the Yanki.

Ichiko belongs to a biker gang, even though I would call her bike a scooter.  The scooter takes some of the roughness away from Ichiko as she sometimes can display affection or care even though she has a rough and edgy exterior.

Momoko on the other hand is a Lolito girl. She dresses like a baby by wearing stitched bonnets and short frilly skirts. Momoko doesn’t have any friends but her family; her father and grandmother.

The story really kicks off when Momoko’s dad quits selling his fake brand Versace clothes. Long story short, Ichiko finds Mimoko’s phone number in a catalog for the old Versace clothes. As Momoko knows the clothes are close to trash, Ichiko falls in love with the mass amounts of Versace. Ichiko instantly becomes Mimoko’s friend, but they take a while to warm up to each other. They balance each other out, good and evil and soon enough Ichiko helps Momoko find her calling for a career. With Ichiko’s help, Momoko makes new friends along her journey to become a fashion designer. Without Ichiko’s unexpected arrival, Momoko would have never found her calling.

I enjoyed watching the struggle of a normal Japanese girl striving to find what she wanted to become. Without the help of her friends and family, she would probably still be searching for a job.

The style of the film kept even boring scenes exciting. The visual affects weren’t spectacular but were unexpected and very interesting. I especially like the ward-robes of the characters as each fit into their classification.

 

After watching the documentary on Helvetica I realized how much a type face can actually affect society. Helvetica was a documentary about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. Helvetica just recently has celebrated its 50^th birthday in 2007.  The movie looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffman in a type foundry in Switzerland.  Helvetica was not the typefaces first name, Helvetia which is the original Latin name for Switzerland, so instead of meaning Switzerland’s Type, Helvetica means the type of the Swiss. Due to the changes was Helvetica able to become marketable worldwide.

Helvetica is known worldwide. It is among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces. Helvetica is also a popular choice for commercial wordmarks and companies. Some of these companies include Jeep, BMW, and Target. When a company uses and sticks to a specific typeface, they gain recognition in the commercial business world. They maintain a specific style and a customer can always expect highly of their company. For example, NASA uses Helvetica on the side of their space shuttles.

Whether people like it or not, Helvetica is in their presence more than any other typeface. It has legibility and the ability to hold the surrounding letters in place with style. The counter shapes inside the letters are artistic also. Not only is Helvetica attractive on advertisements, it gets to the point, and gets the job done.

The Bauhaus

 

Founded in 1919, The Bauhaus was born and built in the city of Weimar  by German architect Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus incorporated many forms of art as well as many types of programs. The guilds combined included architecture, sculpture, and painting. It’s school within had a specific based curriculum with preliminary courses, so when students from diverse ranges would come to understand social and educational backgrounds. These students studied materials, color theory, and other formal relationships.

Soon after the Bauhaus theory, students were specializing in metalworking, cabinetmaking, weaving, typography, pottery and painting. Walter Gropius’s main aim was to unify the arts through craft. With theories like chairs becoming obsolete, the Bauhaus was creating very imaginative and creative pieces of furniture. They were taught to forget a chair has a seat, back, and four legs.

Bauhaus is German for “House of Building” or “Building School”. The Bauhaus was related to the Modernist movement and had influence from many of the fine arts. Developments such as graphic design, industrial design and interior design. The Bauhaus existed in three different cities over the years. In Weimar from 1919 to 1925, In Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and in Berlin from 1932 to 1933. The cities run parallel to their architect directors, Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies.

Unfortunately during World War II, in 1933, The Bauhaus was closed by its own leadership due to pressure from the Nazi regime.

Griffith Winton, Alexandra. "The Bauhaus, 1919–1933". InHeilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm (August 2007)

Source:The Bauhaus, 1919–1933 | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art