The “machine age” is a phrase associated with American industrial design in the 1930's. The artists, architects and designers of that time believed they would end the great depression in the states through their industrial design creations. Similar to the European designers who believed they could achieve a higher standard of living through a lifestyle dedicated to the modernism movement.
The aim of this essay is to establish the similarities and the differences between American streamlining and European modernist design. Primarily focusing on two texts that examine both design views of the early twentieth century; Maffei, Nicholas “The Search for an American Design Aesthetic: from Art Deco to
Streamlining” and Sparke Penny. “Silent Salesmen: the rise and fall of the American Industrial Design Consultant.” In
Consultant Design: the history and practice of the design in industry. London: Pembridge, 1983. With reference to
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It was a major part of mass production. Sparke refers to Charles R. Richards with regard to “America's debt to European taste”. They needed designers with the same education and their schools couldn't provide the same level.
The influence of Europe referred to the art rather than advertising. It seems that their advertising was solely Americanised. “Europe exercises very little influence upon the character of lithographic or other advertising design in this country largely because of what is foreign designs to American advertising needs”. This gave them artistic freedom. Loewy, Dorwin Teague and Bel Geddes all explored futuristic designs and promoted themselves within their brands.
1939 gave room for two levels of industrial design. One being “visionary projects” by Geddes and Teague. The other was more realistic and practical which created mass production. An exception was Raymond Loewy, who incorporated visionary and realistic
The U.S economy changed almost entirely during the early twentieth century and the late nineteenth century. As the economy switched from an agricultural nation to an urban industrial nation, it became the prime manufacturing country in the world. Numerous innovations and trends made this influential time period. Technological innovations were the main reason why the nineteenth and twentieth centuries differ. A staggering wave of inventions, America and it’s economy in the late nineteenth century.
Advancing Technologies Technology is advancing day-by-day to make people work easier and more efficient. Machines are used every day at home to in factories, from vacuuming in the house to the producing a car in the factory. The article, "Review: The Second Maching Age," by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, focuses on the benefits of the computer generated machines to the economy and humans and discusses about advantages of the computer processing due it 's "artificial intelligence, networked communication, and the digitization of just about everything . " Machines are capable of performing tasks more quickly and efficiently, produces higher quality goods and at a lower service price, and increases economical growth.
The 1950s saw the full development of a design movement that is apparently the most critical visual design style of the twentieth century as far as its sweeping effect, its life span, and its scope of pragmatic applications is concerned. The style started in Switzerland and Germany and is often alluded to as Swiss Style, yet it is formally known as the International Typographic Style. Its strength in numerous territories of graphic design covers a twenty-year period from the early 1950s to the late 60s, yet it remains impactful up till the recent times. As Richard Hollis puts forward in his book “Swiss Graphic Design: The Origins and Growth of an International Style, 1920-1965”, the Swiss Style has vital elements that are widespread throughout
During the 19th century, the church lost its power and its traditional theme and the rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization led to to the birth of “Isms”. Neoclassicism, a revival of Greek and Roman art; a direct reaction to the excessiveness of Baroque and Rococo styles. During the American and French Revolutions, the political atmosphere began to lean towards an Age of Reason and Enlightenment. With admiration for classical Roman and Greek art renewed after excavations of Herculaneum and Pompei, efforts for style to accompany philosophy caused an inevitable return to the "classics"(AML 68). Early works of artists such as Jean August Dominique Ingres and especially Jacques-Louis David encompassed the thematic elements associated with Neoclassicism.
With the dawn of the twentieth century came the realization that many traditional notions about civilization, culture, warfare, and even the world were entering into unknown territory. Through various sequential and cumulating events at the beginning of the era, including World War I, a new wave of thinking emerged. Characterized in literature with themes of bewilderment, uncertainty, and the apparent meaninglessness of life, Modernism reflected the devastation and insecurity left by the Great War that swept away the optimism and idealism of the past. In the short stories "In Another Country" by Ernest Hemingway, "The Corn Planting" by Sherwood Anderson, "The Far and the Near" by Thomas Wolfe and "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, these themes
Lucille Tenazas’s migration to the US was quite simultaneous with the period when modernist ideas, of which minimalism and the Swiss Style were integral parts, were being called into question by intellectuals and the seeds of postmodernism were being developed. In the field of design, another event also paved the way for the encounter with postmodern ideas: the development of technology and the replacement of the analog production with the digital world. During this period, many designers
It contested the professions and the way it was taught. It turned away from conventional architecture and proposed more adaptive architecture that would accommodate the emergent needs of its users through a rebellious style in an age heavily influenced by pop- culture and Dadaism. It redefined architecture and embraced a criteria o perishable yet indefinite, multifunctional space that was applied to new city models. It emphasized a vital support to culturally changing mechanisms of the city and not simply functional organization of space. The radical ideas experimented with spatial, creative, political and consumer freedom that surfaced in the 1960’s.
Zeinab Wasfy Engl 343-01 Prof. David Hadbawnik 23rd of May 2016 Designing Meaning: An Analysis on Frost’s “Design” The term “religious” is not an adjective ordinarily used to describe Robert Frost’s poetry, however, “Design” mediates an old philosophical question of whether or not evidence of conscious design indicates the existence of a deity(whether evil, good or benign). The transcended self in poetry is usually associated with creativity and emotion rather than the concern over the existence of divinity, or more so, evil divinity. The poem details an event of nature intricately and attempts to interpret its meaning for humanity.
Many of the ideals practiced in the 1920s still remain in the twenty-first century. These topic ideals, pondered and predicted in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, drove him to write the novel. Huxley created characters who possess traits to express these topic “problems,” which include standardization, the role of women, and also children, in society. In the 1920s Henry Ford’s automobile business began to boom as he perfected the assembly line.
During the period of modernism, unexpected breaks in tradition occurred with viewing the world differently. The authors used literature during the modernism time to show the decay and the growing alienation of individuals. A portrayal of a restricted role in society stands reflected in Charlotte Gilman’s, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The protagonist knows she is limited in her role in society as she agonizes what her husband will think of her actions. By visualizing the woman behind bars she pictures herself self-consciously.
The book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, takes place in an unspecified time in the eighteenth century, as the letters’ dates are shown as 17xx. This relates to the Industrial Revolution because the Industrial Revolution’s period ranged from 1760 to 1820. Moreover, it can be assumed that it takes place during the Industrial Revolution as Victor Frankenstein, one of the main characters, begins to revolutionize the scientific world by bringing life to a monster, bringing essence to the era of exploration, discovery, and industrialization. The Industrial Revolution was a period that occurred after the end of the early modern era.
In the first decade of the 20th century the ongoing experiments with pure form continued. A group of designers in Glasgow, Scotland became well known for their use of form and their inspired designers from all over the world. “Although the Glasgow group received a cool reception in the British Isles, designers in Austria and Germany were inspired by the move toward geometric structure and simplicity of form.” (britannica) The quote shows that this group’s work had become well known and it inspired others from all over the world.
Does technology help shape society’s standard of beauty? By: Allegra Sudarto Introduction: The world we live in today is a world of technology; the advancements in technology has been greatly integrated in our lives, and it is readily available and accessible. Technology has evolved it is not so much of magazines, newspapers, or posters, but technology has made the availability more at ease through smartphones.
A masterpiece of creative act that instantly portrays the hypocrisy of the Victorian middle class, a Dolls House was written by Henrik Ibsen in 1879 a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. The story takes place on Christmas eve where Nora and Torvald the two main characters represent the importance of gender roles and social image throughout the Victorian era. The conflict of the story is driven by Nora’s forging of loan documents to raise money for an expensive trip to Italy; Krogstad, who had processed the loan, tries to blackmail Nora over the fact that she forged the documents. Nora who risked jeopardizing her husband’s image had set the tone throughout the play as the constant change in personality set the tone of the play which I have really enjoyed due to the unpredictable plot twists and a chance to be engaged with The Victorian culture at that time period.
The start of modernism being the Pioneer Phase took place between the middle of the First World War and the crucial movements from 1929 to 1933, early 1930s being know as the International Style. Pioneer Phase is a chain of variations and individuals who took charge to the problems faced when dealing with the appropriate design that would symbolise the twentieth century. They did so by focusing on three core elements of design, architecture, graphics and furniture.(P.Greenhalgh,1990, p. 91) The Pioneer Phase could simply be classified as a collaboration of ideas in which designers envisioned how the world could create a way in which improves the “material conditions” and mould the consciousness of humankind.(P.Greenhalgh,1990, p. 3). Modernism