World War II & Modernism in the US
Modernism
Modernism was an artistic movement that was developed around the end of the 19th century going into the 20th century and had a huge influence on both architecture, visual arts and literature throughout the 1900’s. The movement was heavily focused on creating new forms of art that aimed to steer away from the traditional forms of art that were becoming outdated over the years.[1]
The movement shared similar ideas and philosophies to that of The Bauhaus movement throughout the early 1900’s where they placed a heavy focus on rejecting the traditional decorative and ornate elements that were previously seen in design throughout the 19th century, they also shared very similar design styles where they exclusively used sans-serif typefaces, grid systems, primary colours, basic geometric shapes like triangles, circles and squares, as well as placing a focus on asymmetric layouts.
The Modernist design movement made use of the new emerging technologies at the time and aimed to use these technologies in their work, one heavy focus of the movement using new technologies was through the use of photography where they opted to use photographs and photomontage as opposed to illustration and drawings that were common throughout previous design movements. A common theme of this use of new technologies was the movements use of silhouetted photographs that were featured on a white background to enhance the contrast of the design which was one of the main ideas behind the movement, increasing the contrast between visual and typographical elements within design. The movement also made use of other materials to assist them in designing such as maps, diagrams, graphic symbols and icons which they used to allow them to create solutions that were both simple and direct. The movement aimed to create a relationship between form and content and they believed that form should follow function, this placed an emphasis on the philosophies of The Bauhaus movement where they believed that design should serve a purpose.
I have included some examples of Modernism in visual arts and design to illustrate the ideas and philosophies behind the movement and what characteristics made the movement so recognisable. You can see how the used grid systems to create systematic layouts and compositions, how they used typography to visually communicate information and how the included emerging technologies like photography and photomontage throughout their work.
Modernism & Typography
Futura
Futura is one of the most famous typefaces throughout history and is still extremely popular today, the typeface can be seen in a variety of different logo designs in some big named companies such at Louis Vuitton, Nike and Supreme along with many other companies. The typeface was designed by Paul Renner in 1924 and then released in 1927 after 3 years of development, it was initially developed for the New Frankfurt housing project based in Frankfurt, Germany. Futura shared a lot of the same ideas to that of the Bauhaus movement which was in full swing at the time of its development in the early 1900’s, the typeface places an emphasis on basic geometric shapes like squares, circles and triangles, and aimed to reject the traditional decorative elements of previous serif and script typefaces that were commonly used throughout previous design movements. Paul Renner aimed to reject the traditional approach to sans-serif typefaces that are no referred to a grotesque typefaces and aimed to place an emphasis on typography being used as a tool for communication, its basic form and characteristics made it extremely easy to read and allowed the typeface to communicate fully without any decorative elements. Although the typeface was commonly used over the years in various different projects, the typeface featured a low x-height which made it lack in readability when it was displayed at smaller sizes.[2]
I have included an image below of a Futura Type Specimen to illustrate how the typeface followed modernist principles and placed an emphasis on simplicity and modern forms as well as its use of basic geometric shapes.
Degenerate Art & Hitler
Degenerate Art refers to art collections that were not approved by Hilter and the Nazi’s throughout Germany throughout the Second World War, throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s Hilter did not approve of the new Bauhaus School of Design and the abstract, modernist ideas and philosophies it followed. Before Hitler became a political figure in Germany and possibly one of the most hated people on this planet he was actually an aspiring artists who had a love for paintings of landscapes and buildings that focused on outdated ideas from previous movements in the 19th century, these were rejected by art establishments in favour of the new abstract and modern styles that Hitler had dubbed “degenerate”.[3]
In 1937 the Nazi’s had opened two very different art exhibitions in Germany that were located near each other, one exhibition was The Great German Art Exhibition which displayed work that Hitler and the Nazi’s approved of, the other located just down the road was The Degenerate Art Exhibition which featured work that was classed as ‘degenerate’ by the Nazi’s. This displayed a lot of work that placed a focus on abstract design and modernist ideas that were seen throughout the Bauhaus movement and the Modernist design movement throughout the 19th century, the exhibition featured work from some of the most recognisable names from the Bauhaus Design School and the Bauhaus movement like Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky as well as other influential figures from this period like Oskar Kokoschka, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde and Georg Grosz.[3]
The rejection of abstract and modern art forms by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi’s forced a lot of designers that focused on these modern ideas and philosophies were forced to relocate to other countries in Europe and migrate to countries like the United States to allow them to continue with their work without oversight and penalisation from the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler, this allowed the movements ideas and philosophies to spread like wild fire around the globe.
Ulm School of Design
The Ulm School of Design was founded in 1953 by Otl Aicher, Max Bill and Igne-Aicher Scholl located in Ulm, Germany where they aimed to train a new class of designers who focused on modernist principles and philosophies throughout the mid 1900’s.[4] After the closure of the Bauhaus School of design after the Nazi’s took control of the Germany and rejected the ideas and philosophies of the Bauhaus design movement, the Ulm School of Design is possibly one of the most influential design and art education establishments bringing light to the Modernist design movement and the principles it so heavily followed and believed in.
The Ulm School of Design building was initially designed by Max Bill who was a former student of the Bauhaus School of Design where he studied architecture, the building featured simplistic concrete walls that were visible on the interior and exterior of the building and featured wooden windows and doors. The school was designed as a campus which included the teaching spaces and technological spaces needed for students to learn in addition to workshop spaces, student accommodation, a cafeteria and a set of houses and homes that were allocated to teaching staff and lecturers at the school.[5]
The curriculum at the Ulm School of Design was vast which allowed many artists and designer to become multi-disciplined within there field, some of the curriculum included product design, visual communication, industrialised building and film-making which was a new emerging technology at the time along with the development of photography and film. The school was visited by a variety of influential figures over the years where the taught their knowledge on design and visual arts, these include people like Herbert Bayer, Walter Gropius and Josef Muller Brockmann along side many other artists and designers who were renowned around this time period.[6]
References & Sources
- Wikipedia. 2021. Modernism – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Futura (typeface) – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futura_(typeface).
- BBC News. 2021. Degenerate art: Why Hitler hated modernism – BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24819441.
- Claudia Martinez. 2021. The Ulm School of Design Was the Bauhauss Influential Successor – Artsy. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-bauhaus-lesser-known-ulm-school-seismic-impact-design.
- Ulm School of Design. 2021. Ulm School of Design. Available at: https://www.grandtourofmodernism.com/sites/details/8/.
- Wikipedia. 2021. Ulm School of Design – Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulm_School_of_Design.