A Century of Change

The development of cameras and pictures

To begin research on the century of change it began with the development of the fist images caught on camera. In 1814 Joseph Niepce achieved the first photograph image using a camera obscura.

 

Then in 1837 Louis Daguerre introduced a Daguerrotype, a fixed image that did not fade. In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process, which reduced light exposure time to just 2- 3 seconds. During this time Japanese art was taking off and influencing the art world greatly.

Impressionism

During 1750 – 1849 Japanese art had very impressionist views, their artwork was not stiff stances of people. It became more decorative and free.

Claude Monet

Monet was a French painter and was influenced greatly by the Japenese art and Impressionism. In the early 1860’s he discovered that he enjoyed painting landscapes and contemporary life rather than historical or mythological scenes. The term ‘Impressionism’ is derived from his painting ‘impression, sunrise’. Impressionism faced harsh ridicule in France by the conventional art community.

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Monet’s ambition of capturing the French countryside led him to adopt a new method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing light and the passing of seasons.

 

Henri de Toulouse Lautrec

Henri is another artist who depicted French life, he was a printmaker, partner, illustrator and draughtsman. He is best known for his post-impressionist period and his work recorded many details of the late 19th century bohemian lifestyle in Paris.

Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to paint and design posters for the Moulin Rouge, these posters were new and never seen before post-impressionism, awarding Henri fame.

 

Arts and Crafts Movement 

I then did some research on artists and designers who had many talents and interests in. may different fields. I found William Morris very interesting.

Morris was a textile artist who was influenced by nature and designed beautiful fabrics and patterns.

Morris was an activist for the arts and crafts movement and was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textiles art, methods and production. He believed that designers should be disciplined inn many media and he taught himself a range of techniques and arts crafts. This was inspiring to me because as young designers we should be learning new things all the time and teaching ourselves new crafts to be equipped for anything our design careers throw at us.

 

Art Nouveau Movement 

This movement was inspired by natural forms and structures.

Some artists known for their work during this period are Alphonse Mucha, who was a painter, illustrator and graphic artist during 1860 – 1939. He is best known for his work of decorative theatrical posters, particularly those for Sarah Bernhardt.

        

I found these posters so detailed and the graphics look very ahead of their time. His choice of colour was very thought out and well executed also, he too was an artists with many skills and abilities in various artistic trades. He seen this job opportunity by chance and said that he could do it, it was for deigning a poster and that landed Mucha a six year contract with Bernhardt, this venture brought him much fame and success.

 

Vienna Secession

Vienna Secession is an art movement close to the art nouveau movement and was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who were in protest against the Association of Austrian Artists for their support for traditional artistic styles. This group was a mixture of architects, painters and graphic designers. The groups most influential architectural work was the Secession building.

There have been many fonts made that have been influenced by the typeface on this building and the architecture, resembling the buildings striking lettering at the entrance. Kolo is a four font family inspired by the lettering of the Secession and is named after Koloman Moser. Kolo has an unusual sans serif which is ideal for a striking font to reflect the Secession.

 

 

Graphic Design. 

Peter Behrens

Behrens was a leading German architect and industrial designer as well as a graphic designer and inventor of the idea of a logo. He is best known for his work on the brand ‘AEG’ and is the founder of corporate identity.

Not only was Behrens ‘AEG’s artistic consultant but he also worked on AEG products for example, lamps, clocks, fans and electric kettles. He took a hand at engineering them himself, so he really was a master of a lot of trades which is inspiring. During the time period of 1907-1910 Behrens also contributed to German typography.