Constructivism

The Russian movement of Constructivism first surfaced in the early 1900s was a group of designers and thinkers who saw art as a vehicle to be used for social purpose rather than just the "way it looks" or for aesthetical purposes. The constructivists had a major part to play in inspiring and influencing 20th century movements of their future, even the previously mentioned Bauhaus as well as the De Stijl movement. This movement in particular had a major emphasis on architecture as well as traditional art and design areas.

First appearing in the 'Realistic Manifesto' (1920) by prominent Russian sculptor Naum Gabo, constructivism went on to play a major role advertising and more so in the use of propaganda (for example, best known being Mayakovsky's famous 1919 poster "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge"). This links in with my previous discussion of post-war Bauhaus with Ludwig Hohlwein's use of propaganda in his work.

To focus on the architectural element of the movement, one of the most well known pieces of constructivist art (that never actually came to exist) is Tatlin's Tower, named after it's designer Vladimir Tatlin. The tower was intended to be situated in St. Petersburg in 1917 and 'dwarf' the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which itself stands at over a thousand feet, hosting Third International congresses annually. Geometrically-based, the tower was to be constructed with steel and contain multiple cylinders that would rotate, each at different speeds. The whole tower would take a full year to fully rotate and was considered to be a "giant" of architectural design and innovation. Another interesting element to the tower was that it was to be angled at the same angle which the earth is on it's axis, 23.5 degrees. Although the plans never finalised and the tower was never built, many replicas of a smaller scale were created to pay homage to it and the tower's design is now considered to be 'the' defining expression of construtivist architecture even though many quibble it's structural practicality.

I am a huge fan of constructivist architecture and believe that the world's cities wouldn't be half as advanced or recogniseable without this movement, especially with their innovations regarding skyscrapers and multi-story, glass buildings.

Futurism

"……since our past is the greatest in the world and thus all the more dangerous for our life!… …We must smash, demolish and destroy our traditional harmony, which makes us fall into a ’gracefullness’created by timid and sentimental cubs" - (Boccioni, U., 1912, "Sculpturist Manifesto")

The Futurists first came about at the beginning of the 20th Century as a movement of designers who chose to confront society through the medium of design and through the work that they produced. Emphasising themes of political downfall, rebellion and unrest, they believed that war should be interpreted as a positive thing as it cleansed the past and put more focus on the future (their aim within their work). Futurism was heavily disciplinary and designers involved worked across almost all fields within art. As their name suggests, they were absolutely focused on create a new way of working that had never been seen before and chose to produce work that would be considered completely different to that which came before, totally despising anything that was not totally and completely new.

Their motives were clear, focusing on the integration of art and life (with an emphasis on new technologies not seen before as they deemed conventional technology as "destructive"). They loved war, speed, light, sound and noise, anything that pushed the senses and allowed people to create for themselves a new way of
thinking and interpreting pieces of work.

A big focus for the futurists were the two 'esias'; synesthesia and kinesthesia. Synesthesia is the process of a stimulation evoking the sensation of another, something which can be seen alot today in the form of audio displays on music players and other audio devices as well as the classic cult 1970's show "Knight Rider",
which starred David Hasselhoff who's car "Kitt" used a red strip of lights to represent when he was speaking, thus suggesting that his voice is evoking the sense of light and movement. Kinesthesia on the other hand is a sense that detects bodily position, weight and movement.

"Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash"(1912)

A famous futurist was Giocomo Balla who's piece "Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash" (1912) still today holds as a classic despite the movement being quite short-lived. It shows a small, fluffy dog illustration out for a walk. What makes this piece "revolutionary" however is the way in which the legs of the dog are described, in almost a wheel-like motion, showing movement and speed. However was it so revolutionary? It appears not. Many years earlier, in 1886, photographer Edward Muybridge created "Horse In Motion" a series of photographs showing a horse galloping and the movement of it's legs as they land and leave the ground. This really isn't too dissimilar to Balla's piece and considering, as a futurist, he was meant to ignore the past, surely some sort of inspiration had to have come from Muybridge?

Muybridge's "A Horse in Motion" (1886)

Although I do like the way of thinking that the Futurists strived for, I do feel a sense of maybe they were slightly "rebels without a cause" and maybe should have thought of a perhaps softer way to explain their intentions through a less controversial and softer manner which may have enabled them to be a much longer-lived movement in history.

Post-war Bauhaus

"Und Du?" - Hohlwein (1929)

After the lengthy period of fighting and brutality that was World War II, The Bauhaus eventually crumbled to the pressure of Nazi Germany and the government and closed it's doors.

Many within the art field feared that this was the end of what was and is still considered a revolutionary 'engine' for producing a new way of designing and therefore producing the artists and designers of the future, post-war. Thankfully, the masters from The Bauhaus didn't view the closure as an end of an era, but a window of opportunity to migrate and share their methods and ways of working with the rest of the world and more prominently the United States of America.

This happened at a perfect time when, after the atrocities of war were finally dealt with, the world saw a great improvement within the fields of technology and the beginning of mass media, with the ability to easily and cheaply be able to use outputs such as radio, the low cost usage of printing and also the rise in money
allowed for easier advancements for artists to access advertisement and produce much, much more than they had previously in the way of work.

One of David Klein's gorgeous
posters

One prominent post-war designer to establish himself in the now popular genre of poster design was Ludwig Hohlwein. Heavily involved within propaganda and using the war and everything that came with it as subjects in his work, Hohlwein created many memorable pieces including "Und Du?" (1929) ('And you?') as a Nazi/German spin on the classic British "Your Country Needs You!" (1914) poster of Lord Kitchener from the First World War as well as America's "Uncle Sam: Your Country Needs You!" poster (1917) by illustrator J.M. Flagg. It is believed that if it wasn't for the heavy use of propaganda within his work, Hohlwein would have become more successful than he was, as it was apparent he was doing the Nazi's work for them, if you like.

A major link between genres came from the new idea of coming out of the poor, war-torn, deprived slums and entering into a new world of money, ambition and luxury. The American artist David Klein was a huge trailblazer in this ideology, who's posters for airline TWA cited a new, colourful way of representation with luminosity and even sparkles to emphasise "a better way". This is thought of as many as being the real start of Modernism, showcasing a hope of new beginnings for everyday people who strove for a better quality of life.

Another link that I find can be made is again with Futurism where the whole idea of a new start, fresh beginnings and leaving your past behind you in order to go forward in a new direction is very similar to the manifesto of futurist designers who obviously said they discount the past and only aspire to the future and moving forward.

Modernism

The modernism era was hugely successful at it's peak, so much so that it was described as ephemeral and metamorphic by the classical French poet Charles Boudelaire. He explained;

"Modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable."- (Baudelaire, C., 1863, "The Painter of Modern Life")

Since then, obviously the movement is no longer ephemeral or "current" but is cemented in the history of design, leaving a legacy of new beginnings, new technology, new ways of working and thinking and a big inspiration for the current designers of today. A big step forward and development within the modernist movement was the development of typography. Previously, the only real 'unusual' type was used in scriptures such as holy books, classic novels etc. Now, however, this breed of designers aimed to set the bar higher with typography and create their own unique brand of ways of expression through words.

Example of Neurath's isotype

Otto Neurath devised the system of 'isotype', now considered to be the beginnings of information design, an international picture language to satisfy his own views (classically saying that "words divide, pictures unite")
with the following intentions;

•  form over content
•  authorship
•  grand narrative
•  originality, authenticity and expression
•  individual, single producer
•  integrity, autonomy of artwork

The use of symbols as type rather than the universal "characters" system was groundbreaking and was eventually rooted in cultural, artistic and political movements at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.

This leads on to the recognition of universal symbols. For example, most famous brands have an image, "symbol", that makes them instantly recognizable to the audience across the whole world. Most prominent uses that spring to mind are the Nike "swoosh" and the McDonald's yellow arching "M". Wherever you go in the world, these icons are used for the same purposes. Obviously, you know that if you see the prominent McDonald's logo that there is food available. This is what Otto Neurath wanted to create with his invention of isotype.

Many people within the design industry, once isotype had officially arrived, dismissed previous, "classical" uses of typography. Most notably Max Miedlinger exclaimed that the simple helvetica font was the "scent of the city", meaning it was everywhere you go and how just because it's there to use simply, doesn't mean you have to, especially now that the world was becoming a 'global village' with much more developed communication and later the creation of the computer and furthermore internet.

The Bauhaus

"A house is a machine for living in" - (Jeanneret, C-E., 1923).

"The details are not the details. They make the design." - (Eames, R. & C.)  

From the first few seconds of watching a clip of Charlie Chaplin in the classic silent movie "Modern Times" it was clear that some sort of "modernisation" or "development" in the art fields would be discussed. Modernism emphasises the connection between industry and man, the use of sequences, cogs and wheels mirroring the motion of life alongside the artwork produced by the human being and was originally used as a hopeful tactic to stir up freedom of a newer and more advanced lifestyle and generation.

What immediately comes to mind is The Bauhaus, the world-famous, groundbreaking minimalist German school. Their focus on minimalism was the heart of their school and teaching traditions and has influenced almost all ways of teaching we see today in the education systems around the world. The interesting

Bauhaus curriculum

approach of the Bauhaus was their rather "unconventional" modes of teaching their students. For example, their emphasis on "unlearning" where students were trained to forget all that they thought they knew about the way they drew, created and designed pieces and almost start from scratch with a fresh and open-minded strategy. Does this create connections with the manifesto of the Futurists who cast aside all reference of the designers and techniques that came before them to create a new era within art? I believe it does and shows that although the Futurists claim to be "innovative" and brand-new with the way they work, it isn't all too dissimilar to the methods of the Bauhaus in the way that they treat the use of past, present and future within their manifesto.

The Bauhaus was an extremely male-dominated school with females being "set" into certain pathways of choice within the school, mostly only being able to study the creation of textiles which was the only "feminine" discipline on offer amongst the much more masculine areas of wood, clay and stone (see curriculum diagram). It wasn't only the students who were segregated into certain choices or paths of art and design but also much higher up within the establishment. The masters of The Bauhaus were also all men except for only one female "master", Gunta Stolzl, alongside the now-renowned male masters such as Johannes Itten, Josef Albers and Kandinsky. Their teaching strategies were unconventional to say the least, with Itten insisting that all of his students start their "working day" with dance, exercise and physical expression in a bid to get them as creative as they could be.

One of Bayer's designs (1924)

One of my favourite masters from The Bauhaus has to be Herbert Bayer and his Newspaper Stand designs (1924) really stood out to me. The almost futuristic designs depicting a 'new age' of what was a monotonous and 'boring' everyday item such a regular newspaper stand were groundbreaking in their day and probably were something that had never been seen before, incorporating (as always with the Bauhaus manifesto) functionality with design. This again leads me to consider the Futurist manifesto of "discarding the old" of art and design and creating a brand new movement. Surely, this was Bayer's intention with his designs many years ago? What he had done had never been seen before and was aimed to create a new, "functional yet attractive" everyday way of life. Surely this is mirroring the motto of the Futurist movement?