Modernism in Art Design - Essay Example

? Modernism in Art Design Modernism in Art Design Generally, modernism is any thought, idea or practice that is modern in nature. Modernism in art design holds the similar concept. Wars and revolutions in Europe marked the first half of the nineteenth century. Romanticism was on the rise which did not include political and social realities. The second half of the nineteenth century was called the age of Positivist for art and design. In visual arts we can see this positivist spirit, which is the faith in the positive consequences of the close observation of this ordinary real world, and the rejection of romanticism and imagination. So the 1850’s and onwards the term Realism was used by artists and designers. Romanticism was subjective and Realism was objective. The current historicism has been opposed by modernism with a series of ideas that included Romanticism itself. But a painting school originating in France called Impressionism had a particular impact on modernism. Initially it was work done in air not in the studios as they believed that human beings did not see objects but what they see is the light. With time, the studies of the school became a great influence. When the century was turning, there were three concepts that were in conflict. Firstly, machines as being a part of beauty were considered important. Secondly, the subjective experience was important. Lastly, there was a necessity that a system replaces the concept of objective reality. The first fifteen years of twentieth century of modernism were marked by famous artists such as Matisse, the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky and many others. To this point, modernism enjoyed subjective experience and the idea of a simplified structure. Cinemas were introduced during this period and the idea of moving pictures gave modernism a unique art form. The art of photography also affected modernism. Modernism began to merge with consumer culture during the 1960’s after World War II. Along with modernist art, modernist design entered the popular cultures. This amalgamation transformed the meaning of modernism itself. This kind of modernism suggested the rejection of tradition which itself became a tradition. It also suggested that there was a difference between the elite modernist and mass consumerist culture and this difference had lost its precision. This marked the start of the Post Modernism era. (Museum Quality, 2007). Two Modernist Artists/Designers Marcel Duchamp was one of the modernist artist who had become famous from the year 1916 when he had installed ready-made objects such as hat stands, bottle stands in the art gallery. In 1917, the Fountain which was a ready made object had entered the art history as an iconic object. (Meecham and Sheldon, 2005, p.17).One of his famous quotes are: “The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.” The above quote stated by Duchamp suggests that modernism can be understood in terms of objectivism through observation of the real world entities and incorporating those observations in art. This shows that he followed the Dadaist and Surrealist Movements. Edward Johnston was another famous modernist artist who became famous in the 1919 when he came up with his iconic object called the London Underground which was a modified form of an existing logo and became greatly popular and liked. He was among the early artists who brought corporate taste in artistic piece. (MobileReference). One of the famous quotes by Johnston is: “A man who don’t know history, he don’t know anything.” Hence, this shows that Johnston believed historicism in art. Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who supported the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. His artwork influenced the Western art’s development after the World War I. He influenced many other famous artists with his thoughts and advises. He challenged the conventional artistic processes not through his writings but through his practical actions like the creation of his masterpiece the Fountain. (Tomkins, 1996). In his early works, Marcel Duchamp showed Post-Impressionist art. He dealt with classical ways and subjects and Cubism and Fauvism. He admired Odilon Redon and claimed that this artist had an influence in his works. Duchamp did not openly discuss about his beliefs related to Cubism but soon he came out with painting depicting cubism and added motion using repetitive imagery. He left producing cubist style paintings as he was influenced by Max Stirner’s philosophical tract. Duchamp brought the idea of readymades which were objects that he had found. He set up a bicycle wheel in his art studio. His idea was to pose the questions regarding the notion of art and the adoration of art. He intended to put an object that would not attract him either by its beauty or ugliness. One of his famous works was the Large Glass which involved the incorporation of rules of physics and which showed an encounter of a bride with her nine bachelors. This shows that he had lost his interest in the retinal art and gained interest in the visual phenomena. He made a lot of kinetic artworks also. One of which was called the Rotary Glass Plates, Precision Optics in 1920. This artwork involved movements of rectangular glass with the help of a motor. And this glass had segments of circles on it. The rotation of this glass would create an optical illusion that had inspired all. He worked in the field of music also and died in the year 1968. (Stephan, 2010). Edward Johnston Edward Johnston was known as the father of calligraphy. He was a British Uruguayan craftsman. He used a broad edged pen to do the calligraphy. He also remained a teacher in the school called Central School of Arts and Crafts and also Royal College of Art where he was a great influence on students. His most famous work is designing of the sans-seriff Johnston typeface which was used through out the London Underground System. He had revived art in the modern era through his books and teachings. He also invented foundational hand which was another type of calligraphic font that became very popular. He was the founder of the calligraphy society called the Society of Scribes and Illuminators. (Holliday,2007). Modernism Identity and Post Modernism Identity Modernism and Post modernism are understood as cultural movements. Post modernism is a movement which turns away from the concepts held by modernism. Unlike modernism, its concept was that realities are social constructs as they can change with time and place. It gave importance to language, power relations and attacks the classifications among human beings in terms of color and race. It criticizes the modernism approach to overconfidence. It has influenced many cultural fields like literature, visual arts , music and others. Furthermore, post modernism points out the departure from the modernism era from the works of literature , cinema, journalism, design, business and marketing principles, interpretation of law and culture and religion during the twentieth and twenty first century. Moreover, it was an academic movement and was an answer to the modernism in the Humanities. Modernism was concerned with the concepts of identity, unity, authority and certainty. Postmodernism was concerned with the concepts of difference, plurality, skepticism and textuality. (Powell, 1998). In the twentieth century, the critics used to comment modernism as being a monolithic phenomenon. However; within the last fifteen years, the critics have been able to understand the differences of meanings of modernisms said by Peter Nicholls. In order to understand the various paradigms of modernists which comprise of practices of experimentation and the post-realist literature, Astrur Eysteinssen offers realism which highlights the social background against which modernism is considered as negative practice. He compares modernism and post modernism by high lighting the destructive aspects of bourgeois culture that was found in modernism. He also adds that the common things that are seen between modernist poetics of impersonality and subjectivity is actually a revolt against the subject’s traditional relation to the external world. The troubled interaction between the subject and his social environment marked the era of modernism. The fusion of extreme subjectivity and extreme objectivity by Eysteinssen gives a clear insight to the concept of identity which was Alfau’s central modernist concern. Different articles show that modernists were politically conservative; Eysteinssen argues the same and says that most of the modernist artists were bourgeois self. One important aspect of modernism was the revolt against the constructions bourgeois identity. Many writers call this the construction of identity itself. (Scott, 2005, p. 2). In post modernism, the idea of identity has distorted a little. It has become difficult to answer the question who we really are. The cultural history of modernism and post modern philosophy has destabilized our sense of self. In today’s world, identity is no longer given to us but it has become an open question. This has happened due to many factors which are: the conditions of modernity and post modernity and the philosophies of postmodernism. Urbanization affected the traditional societies in which identities were present. The urban community contained fluid sets of relationships. Work patterns changed which changed the structure of a family. There was a shift in public values in relation to the work place. The concept of self changed to values of efficiency and techniques. Identity such as religion became a private leisure time activity. Before secular activities were considered as a sacred identity for an individual. There is a dominance of consumerism in society. We define ourselves as consumers not producers. This new consumer oriented identity has two effects: make identity flexible to be able to experience as much as one can which is the plastic self, secondly; make identity as an expressive self to complete one’s inner being. In post modernism, the identity became the construction of language which involves the concepts of structuralism and post structuralism. Structuralism identifies language as one’s identity whereas post structuralism destabilizes this identity through language by questioning the stability of the language system. (Tarnau). Hence, we can say that the concept of identity was prevalent and strong in the modernism era, whereas it got destabilized in every aspect of life such as personal, work environment, academic environment and the like when the philosophies of post modernism came into existence. Consumer, Producer and Designer Aestheticisation is a proces also called fashioning by which goods and services become cultural products as they are styled and marketed using signs to inscribe them with meanings and associations. Consumer culture is a term which stresses the materialism of modern society and the dominance of consumption as a cultural activity. (Press and Cooper, p. 203). These definitions can be used to explain the following idea. Edward Johnston was father of calligraphy. On of his famous calligraphic font is used in the logos of London Underground. This fact represents that his invention is being used to develop an identity for London Underground. Hence, whenever any consumer would tend to see such a logo with such a font, he or she would recognize it to be belonging to London Underground. Hence, it is also establishing a consumer culture. Plus, it is creating an identity for the company. In future, if London Underground plans to provide any other services other than the travelling train service, it may use the same calligraphic font which the consumer would easily recognize that the service is being offered by London Underground as it has become its identity. Conclusion The science and technology in this post modernism era has shaped designing and art in the areas of how they are created and displayed. The use of software tools can help develop any kind of art, logo, calligraphic text etc. Now every person who has hold of technology can be a producer of design and art. Technology has made it easier for art to spread. However, it created a huge cultural amalgamation. References Scott, Joseph. (2005) Thundering out of the Shadow: Modernism and Identity in the Novels of Felipe. Master of Arts. Thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia. Press, Mike. Cooper, Rachel. (2003) The Design Experience: the Role of Design and the Designers in the Twenty First Century. England, USA, Ashgate Publishing Company. Meecham, Pam. Sheldon, Julie. (2005) Modern Art: A Critical Introduction. USA, Canada, Routledge. MobileReference. Travel London for Smartphones and Mobile Devices. Holliday, Peter. (2007) Edward Johnston: Master Calligrapher. London, British Library Publishing. Tomkins, Calvin. (1996) Duchamp: A Biography. Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Stefan, Banz. (2010) Marcel Duchamp and the Forestay Waterfall. Zurich, JRP-Ringier. Powell, Jim. (1998) Postmodernism For Beginners. Museum Quality. (2007) Modernism: Begins in 1850 [Internet]. Available from: < http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/modernism.htm > [ Accessed 11 June 2011]. Tarnau,Ted. Postmodernism and the Question of Identity [Internet], from Bethinking. Org. Available from: < http://www.bethinking.org/who-am-i/postmodernism-and-the-question-of-identity.pdf> [ Accessed 11 June 2011]. Read More