Focussing
on specific examples, describe the way that Modernist art & design was a
response to the forces of modernity?
The driving forces of modernity refers to the forces that changes
the way people behave and act, it is the response to the modern. There were multiple driving forces in
modernity such as the industrial revolution, urbanisation, rapid population growth and the formation of
large towns. These forces drew responses from the world of art, for example
work coming out of The Bauhaus is a response to Germany’s turn towards mass
productions and the invention of new materials and the art coming out of Paris
is a response to urbanisation and industrialisation, it was
completely redeveloped and modern buildings and streets were built making it easier
for policing, however this caused segregation, therefore, the art was a
response to this. In
Switzerland the driving forces in modernity were the advancements of science
and technology more specifically new print technologies and photography just
after World War Two.
‘Modernism refers to a set of aesthetic movements that emerged in
Europe in the 1880’s, flourished before and after the First World War and
became institutionalised in the academic and art galleries of Post-Second World
War Europe and America’(Boyne and Rattansi in Barnard, 2005, p112). When
talking about modernism as an aesthetic movement within graphic design, it is seen
as ‘the rejection of ornament and the favoring of ‘clean’, ‘simple’,
‘non-decorated, graphics, often in the interest of ‘clarity’ or the function of
the design is to perform’(Barnard, 2005, p114). “Form follows function” is a
phrase closely associated with modernism in graphic design, the saying refers
to finding the best solution to problem at hand, which in this case is graphic
design. If form follows function the results therefore should be clean, simple
and functional. Jeremy Aynsley reiterates this by stating ‘Modernism in graphic
design can be identified by stylistic simplicity, a fitness of form, a taste
for asymmetrical composition and the reduction of elements to a minimum’(Aynsley
in Barnard, 2005, p114).
The following will look at how Swiss modernist graphic design was
influenced and a response to the technological advancements in photography.
Ambitions of designers to build a new world were determined by
technology, this included the camera. Hannes Meyer states that 'reality would
be recorded by photography' claiming that photography is 'A medium that was untainted by historical
precedent' (Meyer in Hollis, 2006, p 73)
By looking at the evolution of graphic design throughout modernism
post World War two it is to see the ever-increasing presence of photography
through the ages. This is because designers are responding to an influx of demand
for visual material and the little time they had to produce said material using
traditional methods. Using photography eliminated the need for laborious, time
consuming drawing and paintings of the past, but also produced a more precise
visual representation of the object at hand. Moholy Nagy known as the 'pioneer
of New Photography' states in his manifesto about new ways of seeing that 'The
camera extends the range of own optical instrument, the eye. It reproduces the
purely optical image and therefore shows the optically true distortions,
deformations, foreshortenings, etc.., whereas the eye, together with out
intellectual experience, supplements perceived optical phenomena by means of
association and formally and spatially conceives a conceptual image. Thus in
the photographic camera we have the most reliable aid to a beginning of
objective vision' (Moholy-Nagy in Hollis, 2006, p 73)
Without photography it would be difficult to portray an object how the
eye sees things by drawing or painting because everybody perceives colours,
light, tones etc.. differently. The use of photography gave a true visual
representation of object but also the world.
Jan Tschichold states that ‘It would be absolutely impossible today
to satisfy the enormous demand for printed illustrations with drawings or
paintings. There would be neither enough artists of quality to produce them,
nor the time for their creation and reproduction. Without photography we would
never know very much of what is happening in the world today. Such an
extraordinary consumption could never be satisfied except by mechanical means.
General social conditions have changed considerably since the middle of the 19th
century, the number of consumers has grown enormously, the spread of European
urban culture has greatly increased, all means of communication have advanced,
and these changes demand up-to-date processes’(Tschichold, 1928,p87). The quote
expresses that without the use of photography designers would be unable to keep
up because of too much demand and little resources available, he refers to how
the demand stems from numerous driving forces in modernity; communication,
urbanisation and consumerism, these forces acted as catalysts for photography
because of high demand for visual material.
Photography was a key tool in every designers arsenal not just
because of it’s ease but for its relationship with typography. ‘We today have
recognised photography as an essential typographic tool of the present. We find
its addition to the means of typographic expression an enrichment, and see in
photography exactly the factor that distinguishes our typography from
everything that went before. Purely flat typography belongs to the past. The
introduction of the photographic block has enabled us to use the dynamics of
three dimensions. It is precisely the contrast between the apparent three
dimensions of photography and the plane form of type that gives our typography
its strength.'(Tschichold, 1928,p92).
Swiss modernism in the 1950's was a response to advancements in
technology through the use of photography because of its possibilities and ease,
Josef Muller-Brockmann illustrates this point when he created the poster
"Subjektive Fotogrfie" in 1951 (fig 1). This poster was the start of
a relationship between photography and Muller-Brockmann that would prove nearly
as iconic as the grid system through his design career. For this poster Muller-Brockmann
has adopted the technique of photograms to create an abstract visual meaning
that is in tune with the objective of subjective photography. The image relies
on the viewers interpretations and experience as opposed to the actual object
that is being photographed, it is the perfect visual representation of
subjective photography in a nutshell because it questions its meaning or
purpose. The use of a photogram balances the positive and negative spaces in
the poster working in harmony with the typography, especially the use of the
white type that cuts through the bold imposing black circle. The type layered
upon the photogram it blends both type and photo together because the image
works as an extension of the typography. The typography at the top of the page
is positioned left and right of a vertical axis in a grid like format gives the
poster the iconic Swiss graphic design aesthetics they're famous for.
This outcome could not have been achieved through the means of drawing
or painting because it would be a great deal more difficult to get that clear
visual representation of subjective photography with a drawing. Photography is
the subject at hand making the use of photography the obvious choice. The
technique used adds more depth and dimensions to the image as well because you
get these mottled greys created from where the light has hit the photogram,
this adds tone to the circle it creates the effect as if one is looking deep
into a hole, and then there are diagonal lines intersecting the circle at
different sections. By using a photogram as opposed to a normal photo or illustration
you can notice the layers of the image by picking up different tones, which
again add more depth and intrigue to the meaning of the image.
The subject of photography was considered in Neue Grafik as a
modernist practice and for its design applications through it's features and
essays. Several editors/writers had strong views on the use of photography
instead of drawings, they thought photography offered a greater view on the
real world than any drawing or painting could ever offer because it provided a
clearer representation and a more precise view. In issue number 4 Ernst
Scheidegger wrote an article on the subject, expressing to readers that 'the
photograph seems to approach reality more closely than the drawing and it
enables us to see more, to see more precisely, and to share visual
experiences', later stressing that 'The more documentary the photograph the
better'. Scheidegger also points out
that photography gives the designer 'a practically inexhaustible fund of
creative ideas' that ‘photography becomes part of design when the photograph is
used as a typographical element' (Scheidegger in Hollis, 2006, p209)
What Scheidegger is stating in that last quote is that a photograph
is not design it is merely a photograph, however once typography is introduced
it becomes design. This is also something Jan Tschichold refers to as
typo-photo. 'At first sight it seems as if the hard black forms of this
typeface could not harmonise with the often soft greys of photos. The two
together do not have the same weight of colour: their harmony lies in the
contrast of form and colour. But both have two things in common: their
objectivity and their impersonal form, which mark them as suiting our age. The
harmony is not superficial, as was mistakenly thought previously, nor is it
arbitrary: there is only one objective type form - sanserif - and only one
objective representation of our times: photography. Hence typo-photo, as the
collective form of graphic art, has today taken over from the individualistic
form of handwriting-drawing'(Tschichold, 1928, p 92)
The Swiss modernists embraced the relationship between typography
and photography and developed their own unique and distinctive style. It is
easily recognisable because of the perfect balance between positive and
negative spaces mainly achieved throughout the editing and cutting around of the
object when they're negatives, this enables the Swiss to add 'hard black type
forms' without overwhelming or detracting from the soft greys of a photo. The
layout, alignment and weight of the text also played a vital role in the
typo-photo relationship. A larger heavier weighted text is usually short in
length and positioned in a open space, where as main body text can is lighter
and can be positioned closer to the photograph as it won't detract too much.
A perfect example showing the process of how a photo becomes Swiss
design is Igildo Biesele's transformation of a photo into design 'after honest
and careful retouching'(Biesele in Hollis, 2006, p209)(fig 2). The image at the
bottom is simply a photograph, without type it has no meaning, it is not
informing, educating or entertaining, one can only interpret the meaning of the
photograph. However once type is introduced to the image all becomes apparent
and it becomes design because it gains a meaning from the addition of type. It
is distinctly Swiss because of the alignment of text either side of the shoes
along the y-axis. The weight of the type has been taken into careful
consideration around the image because to work in harmony one can't detract
from the other. Whereas before the use of photography, the typography was seen
as the more important aspect because the image couldn't be clearly or precisely
portrayed through drawings or paintings therefore the designer relied more on
the typography.
Without the advancements in technology this would simply be a
drawing or painting, making it a lot more difficult for one to get that visual
experience the designer wants to advertise. It would be significantly more
difficult to get the clear and precise texture of the leather shoe and the
magnifying glass focusing the grains of the leather and the tones that are
created by the photograph.
When looking back at Swiss modernist design there is a constant
style throughout many designers work, this is the precise organisation and
layout of text and image called the grid system. The grid system wasn’t used
for aesthetic purposes it, it was used because it enabled information to be
read more quickly, better understood and retained in the memory because of the
clear and logical layout of titles, text and image. Even though the grid system
was created to increase the clarity and understandability for the communication
of information it became the iconic Swiss aesthetic, the grid system provided
important white space that balance the bulkiness of large photographic images
and the petite light weighted body texts creating simple designs the Swiss were
universally recognised for.
With photography playing an ever-increasing role in Swiss graphic
design during the period of the grid system, it is only right that photography is
considered within the grid. However a lot of photos were conceived without
knowing whether it would be used in design or not because many designers and
photographers were unfamiliar with this system. This created a demand for
photographers to work with designer collaboratively to achieve the perfect
image to fit within the grid.
‘Only where the photographer and designer work in close collaboration
will it be possible for him to conceive his photograph in terms of the grid the
designer has developed. It is open to the photographer to place the grid
drawing on the focusing screen of his camera and to arrange objects in a way
that conforms to the grid. Or alternatively he can, for example, make a metal
construction corresponding to the grid and place the objects in it to
photograph so that both the objects and the grid are taken. Both these methods
have been used with success. The work, however, is difficult and time-consuming
but the final effect rewards the effort involved’(Muller-Brockmann, 1996, p97)
This demand for photographers to work in conjunction with the grid
system shows the essential role of photography within Swiss design, it is
apparent in pieces of design where a photographer has worked collaboratively
because the image is an extension of the typography as the two work in harmony
with each other. This relates back what Jan Tschichold refers to when
discussing typo-photo ‘At first sight it seems as if the hard black forms of
this typeface could not harmonise with the often soft greys of photos. The two
together do not have the same weight of colour’(Tschichold, 1928, p92) When
working collaboratively this became less of an issue because the designer has
the grid in mind and already has a position for the title, text and image,
meaning it is just a case of taking a photo that easily slot into the grid
system.
To conclude, all the points covered prove that Swiss modernist
graphic design from the 1950’s onwards was a response to advancements in
technology (in this case photography), because the designers were responding to
the increasing levels of demand for design that contained visual representation
through the means of photography as opposed to drawings and paintings. 'The
photograph seems to approach reality more closely than the drawing and it
enables us to see more, to see more precisely, and to share visual experiences'(Scheidegger
in Hollis, 2006, p209) This itself is a response that answers the question at
hand, however, by delving deeper into the use of photography within the design
several points arose showing how the Swiss embraced photography, not only
seeing it as a natural progression within their design, but fully utilising the
benefits that photography had to offer, incorporating these qualities with
their pre existing aesthetics. Josef Muller-Brockmann referred to how
photography fits in to the Swiss grid system by customizing focus lenses with
grids on them to achieve a photo that adapted to the grid and collaborating
with photographers to actually achieve the desired image as opposed to using a
pre existing image, which many designers did. This shows how the Swiss
responded to the driving forces in modernity and developed their own iconic
style. Proving that the development and evolution of the grid system is in fact
a response to the advancements in technology i.e. photography because it’s use
is considered within the iconic Swiss grid system and visa-versa.
Jan Tschichold talked about the importance of photography in the
modern world because it enabled the designer to give a clear visual
representation of the world but also how photography is an extension of
typography in graphic design thus creating the term typo-photo. This
relationship between typography and photography is clearly evident throughout
Swiss modernist design from the 1950’s onwards; this point further enforces the
importance of the role that photography played in Swiss modernism.
Word count -
2723
Fig 1
Fig 2
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Fig 1- William-Purcell.K (2006) ‘Josef Muller-Brockmann’, London,
Phaidon Press Limited, pp101
Fig 2- Hollis.R
(2006) ‘Swiss Graphic Design: The origins and growth of an international style,
1920-1965’, London, Laurence King, pp209