Chapter 21 Flashcards
Concept
a general idea formed by specific instances
motif
a recurrent thematic element in art or literature
metaphysical
without material form or substance; abstract or theoretical
narrative illustration
a literal style of depiction that tells a story overtly
Push Pin Almanack
bi-monthly magazine begun in the 1950s by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Reynolds Ruffin, and Edward Sorel, a group of young New York graphic artists who used the joint publication to solicit freelance work. Originally, the publication featured editorial material from old almanacs, which the group illustrated
Push Pin Studio
Formed in August 1954 by Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Reynolds Ruffin, and Edward Sorel. After Ruffins and Sorel left to pursue other interests, Glaser and Chwast continued their partnership for two decades; then Glaser left and Chwast provided a forum for presenting new ideas, imagery, and techniques
iconography
the specified traditional symbols that are associated with the subject or theme of a stylized work of art
Push Pin style
term that became widely used throughout the world to refer to the studio’s work and its broad influence
Print magazine
an American graphic design periodical founded in 1940 that instituted a regional design annual in 1981, reflecting the national scope of the graphic design discipline
psychedelic posters
Posters from the late 1960s hippie subculture, which centered in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, were referred to as psychedelic posters because they there related to anti-establishment values, rock music, and psychedelic drugs
Twen
A German periodical of the graphic poet movement launched in 1959, its name is derived from the English word twenty, which signified the age group of the magazine’s audience
Grapus
a design studio begun by three young Parisian graphic designers, Pierre Bernhard, Francios Miehe, and Gerard Paris-Clavel, who were deeply involved in the radical politics of the day. They believed publicity and design were directed toward creating artificial demands in order to maximize profits, so they joined forces to turn their graphic design toward political, social, and cultural, rather than commercial, ends. The starting point of Grapus’s problem solving was analysis and discussion about content and message. The most significant aspects of the problem and the kernal of the message were determined, and then a graphic expression of the essence of the content was sought
third-world poster
a powerful vehicle for spreading social and political ideas among emerging nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. These are either used to motivate people in their native lands toward one side of an issue, or distributed to people in Western countries who feel strongly about international issues
Armando Testa
- 1917-92
- an Italian abstract painter turned graphic designer who used metaphysical combinations to convey elemental truths about his subjects. In his wide-reaching ads for Pirelli tires, he borrowed the vocabulary of surrealism by combining the image of a tire with immediately recognizable symbols. In his posters and advertisements, the image is the primary means of communication, and he reduces the verbal content to a few words or even just the product name
Tadeusz Trepkowski
- 1914-56
- the first Polish poster artist to emerge after World War II, he expressed the tragic memories and aspirations for the future that were deeply fixed in his country’s national psyche. His approach involved reducing imagery and words until content was distilled to its simplest statement. In his famous 1953 antiwar poster (Fig. 21–3), Trepkowski used a few simple shapes to symbolize a devastated city, superimposed on a silhouette of a falling bomb.
Henryk Tomaszewski
- 1914-2005
- a Polish poster innovator who led the trend toward developing an aesthetically pleasing approach, escaping from the somber world of tragedy and remembrance into a bright, decorative world of color and shape (Figs. 21–4 and 21–5). In an almost casual collage approach, designs were created from torn and cut pieces of colored paper, then printed by the silkscreen process.
Jerzy Flisak
- 1930-2008
- a poster designer who worked in the simplified, colorful collage style of many postwar Polish posters
Franciszek Starowiejski
- 1930-2009
- one of the first graphic designers to incorporate the metaphysical and surrealism into Polish posters, representing a darker, more somber side of the national character. This may have represented either a reaction to the social constraints of the dictatorial regime or despair and yearning for the autonomy that has so often been denied the Polish nation during its history.
Jan Lenica
- 1928-2001
- pushed the Polish collage style toward a more menacing and surreal communication in posters and experimental animated films. Then, during the mid-1960s, he began using flowing, stylized contour lines that weave through the space and divide it into colored zones that form an image
Waldemar Swierzy
- 1931-2013
- included his own personal vision in his poster design, approaching it from a painterly viewpoint. He drew on folk art and twentieth-century fine art for inspiration (Fig. 21–11). This prolific artist created more than a thousand posters in a wide variety of media. The spontaneous quality of much of his work is deceptive, for Swierzy sometimes devoted three weeks to a poster and might even execute a poster five or more times before being satisfied with the results.
Roman Cieslewicz
- 1930-96
- Closely associated with the Polish avant-garde theater, he took the poster, a public art form, and transformed it into a metaphysical medium to express profound ideas that would be difficult to articulate verbally (Fig. 21–13). Cieslewicz’s techniques include enlarging collage, montage, and halftone images to a scale that turns the dots into texture, setting up an interplay between two levels of information: the image and the dots that create it
Seymour Chwast
- b.1931
- A founder of the Push Pin Studio, his vision is very personal, yet communicates on a universal level. He frequently uses the technique of line drawings overlaid with adhesive color films and experiments with a large variety of media and substrata. Echoes of children’s art, primitive art, folk art, expressionist woodcuts, and comic books appear in his imaginative reinventions of the world. Chwast’s color is frontal and intense
Milton Glaser
- b.1929
- a founder of the Push Pin Studio whose versatility and variety of work makes his singular genius hard to categorize. During the 1960s, he created images using flat shapes formed by thin, black-ink contour lines, adding color by applying adhesive color films (Fig. 21–18). Glaser’s concert posters and record album designs manifest a singular ability to combine his personal vision with the essence of the content. Glaser’s 1967 image of the popular folk-rock singer Bob Dylan (Fig. 21–19) is presented as a black silhouette with brightly colored hair patterns inspired by art nouveau sources. During the 1980s and 1990s, Glaser became increasingly interested in illusions and dimensionality (Fig. 21–22). For Glaser, geometric forms, words, and numbers are not merely abstract signs but tangible entities with an object-life that allows them to be interpreted as motifs, just as figures and inanimate objects are interpreted by an artist.
Reynolds Ruffins
- b.1930
- An original collaborator on thePush Pin Almanack, he left the studio after a time and became a prominent decorative and children’s book illustrator