AVCD 274Q History of Graphic Design

Musings on the subject of Graphic Design

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Wes Wilson's Psychedelic Posters

Wes Wilson was one of the most influential poster artists of the psychedelic era, completely changing the game and introducing a new aesthetic from the counterculture into the mainstream art world. In his early years, Robert Wesley Wilson was living in Auburn, California where he would spend most of his free time drawing and studying horticulture. His first job was at Contact Printing where he showed off his talent as a poster designer. Wilson’s life changing event was in 1966, he attended the Trips Festival and felt deeply connected to the love and drug culture, experimenting with psychedelic drugs like LSD his posters are clearly influenced by the drugs psychoactive qualities. He also drew inspiration from Art Nouveau artists and printing design. Wilson would sketch out his posters first using blocks of lines and create characters from those lines, the letters looking like they were melting together. He was not shy with his use of vibrant colors and warped lines. Wes WIlson’s posters evoke his experiences from “acid trips” at festivals where copious drugs were used in order to change participants perceptions of reality, and his experiences as a printer in his early years. 

Wes Wilson’s first poster featured a swastika within an American flag, a political statement regarding the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Wes Wilson worked for the Fillmore West auditorium, creating posters for numerous rock groups that played at this venue. Groups that were popular during that time period, like Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and The Grateful Dead, were inspiration for Wilson’s designs. His designs were in direct contrast to the Swiss International Style which was trademark of the corporate world. Because of this contrast, Wes Wilson’s designs were seen as counterculture and accepted by the transitory youth of that time.

Wes Wilson has noted his inspiration came from the Art Noveau artist, Alphonse Mucha. In 1966, Wes Wilson created the poster, “The Sound” for Bill Graham’s Winterland. The poster features a naked goddess, swirling around in a psychedelic manner. His iconic alphabet floats about her, showcasing in vibrant colors and thick and thin lines the woman’s form. 

My favorite poster of his would have to be his 1967 concert poster for the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West, where a profile of a woman’s face dissolves into warped lines and text to advertise the concert. This poster is successful in creating an electrifying scene that evokes the style of the Art Noveau era before it. The white space in a poster is considered unwanted space, Wilson covers all inches of the poster with vibrant colors and forms. The poster is a bit ironic consider there are no women in the Grateful Dead and it would almost seem as if the art in the poster has nothing to do with concerts or music. 

Wes Wilson’s posters remain an iconic symbol what it was like to be alive in the 1960’s and numerous artists have copied and reworked his style to this day. 

Sources

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wes-wilson-mn0001616809

http://www.classicposters.com/Wes_Wilson

http://skellerarthistory.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/wes-wilson/

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=27389

http://www.wes-wilson.com/bill-graham-presents.html

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THE SHIP THAT SANK TOO SOON (SS Normandie)

The SS Normandie caught my interest because of the enormity of it's downfall, which was similar to the Titanic, a story I had always been captivated by ever since I laid eyes on the beautiful Leonardo DiCaprio kissing the even more beautiful Kate Winslet in the 1997 film. Through my research of the SS Normandie I found the story of this ship to be even more solemn than that of the Titanic's, this was the ship that never fulfilled its purpose.

The SS Normandie was built to be the greatest ocean liners of all time. The ship was constructed in Saint-Nazaire, France, the ship broke records on many levels, such as being the first ship to exceed 1,000 feet in length. The russian naval engineer, Vladimir Yourkevitch, was hired to work on the body of the ship and create the biggest and fastest ship the world was yet to see. In October of the year 1932, after six years of labor, the cruise ship was unveiled and set to sail to America’s border, little did anyone know the ship was doomed to failure before it could complete it’s new purpose, as a war ship.

  The SS Normandie set off on it’s first journey through the River Loire, it was christened with the largest bottle of Champagne in France and many famous spectators were there to witness the occasion. The ship had twelve decks, four turbo electric engines and could sail at speeds up to 29 knots, the swiftest boat to sail the oceans at that time. The ship had a hospital, a pharmacy, a library, a swimming pool and a church. The ships dining area was walled with large mirrors and was modeled after the Palace of Versailles.

 Normandie had been a French ship for five years until 1940 when World War II began in France and the ship was to be used for battle due to President Roosevelt. The ship had a successful journey towards the United States, it completed this journey across the Atlantic ocean in less than four days when it docked at Pier 88 on the West Side of Manhattan’s 48th Street in New York. When President Roosevelt disapproved of France’s policy toward the Nazi regime, they decided they no longer wanted to collaborate with the French government over disagreement with it’s wartime policies. The president ordered American guards onto the SS Normandie and a few other French ships that were in other American ports. The ship had been repainted a year before, in white and grey, to become a wartime ship with wartime colors. It had been incarnated into the American culture with its Art Nouveau architecture and posters that were made in it's image.

(Adolphe Cassandre's SS Normandie, 1935)

The vessel which was now in an American port would be renamed there as it was to fight in battle, originally a cruise liner ship. The ship was renamed, USS Lafayette and was in America’s control now. 

On February 9, 1942, disaster struck the famous cruise liner turned war ship. The ship caught fire while in the Hudson River, capsized and sank to the bottom where it was laid to rest in the mud. The fire was started in the grad saloon, a spark from a blowtorch landed on a highly flammable worker’s lifejacket, all the workers were evacuated and none were harmed, unlike the Titanic. The news spread across the world and many mourned the passing of the ship in their hearts that day.  The US Navy hoped it would be recommissioned however this proved to be too expensive for the US, they sold the parts for scrap. The New York Daily News stated that, “the ship would have made a gigantic troop transport or first rate aircraft carrier.” The ship became a legend among Americans, as it had been converted into our culture by being renamed and commissioned to be a battleship. The luxury and class of the ship will forever be remembered as one of the greatest ships that sank while still in the youth of its career. Still a beloved relic of culture, the Normandie is displayed in the Miottel Museum in California for all to see.

CITED SOURCES

http://www.ocean-liners.com/ships/normandie.asp

 “Normandie Pride of French Service,” New York Times, May 16, 1941. 

http://www.titanicandco.com/normandie.html

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/inormandiei-burns-in-new-york

http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/normandie2.html

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THE STENBERG BROTHERS FILM POSTERS

The emblemic Stenberg Brother's film posters helped Soviet filmmakers advertise their political agenda which was anti Russian regime during the Russian revolution. Georgie and Vladimir Stenberg worked as artists in the early 1900s during the apocalyptic time period of the Russian Revolution. This was a risky time for any creative soul, Russia was totalitarian and repressive of it’s artists, any who used their art to speak against the state and it’s agenda could be executed. Before then, art was useless and decorative, then Russian Constructivism created art that was useful to fight against the Russian regime. They had a wide variety of talents but had most of their success creating avant garde film posters for the newly blooming Russian Cinema business. The brothers were able to use perspective and photographic manipulation techniques to create visually entertaining posters that advertised films and Russian propaganda. The posters were like nothing created before in Russian art, they were avant garde and caught the public’s attention. 

The Stenberg Brothers originally studied engineering and fine arts at the Stroganov School of Applied art in Moscow. They acquired numerous other skills in fields such as costume design, graphic design, typography and photography while at university. While working as movie poster artists, they produced their most innovative work and made a name for themselves. Their first poster together was the Eyes of Love made in 1923 and signed by both artists, from then they produced over three hundred posters. 

Another famed poster, Battleship Potemkin, was for a silent film that illustrated the Russians attack on the Tsarist regime. This poster created controversy as it advertised propaganda film against the Russian regime because it made the viewer sympathize with the rebellious sailors of the ship and dislike the ruling regime. The movie was named the best of all time at The Fair of Brussels and influenced many Russians to rebel against their oppressive overlords during the Revolution at the late turn of the century. 

Constructivism defined the art movement against the Russian Revolution. The art created was no longer useless and serving the state, completely opposite the art opposed the regime and their oppressive laws. They changed the paradigms of art through line, texture, style and exaggeration of shape in their film posters and influenced the lower class against their government. This art served a purpose to oppose the state and enlighten the people about the terrors of their government. The film posters were a key element in this and contributed greatly to the Stenberg’s fame.  Their style was unique because they combined old photographs and newspapers to create wholly new images. 

The Stenberg brothers designed the poster The Fragment of An Empire in 1929. The poster advertised another film with strong propaganda against the Russian government. I love this poster because of the strong use of perspective and color to show the face behind an almost curtain like illusion. Another silent film, the movie is famous for being made during the transitional period of cinema by radical Soviet filmmakers in Russia. 

The Stenberg brothers continued to create revolutionary works up until the mid 19th century. Their posters continue to be emblemic of Russian constructivism and the thought changing propaganda of the Russian Revolution. 

Sources

http://www.rockpaperink.com/content/article.php?id=40

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1997/sternbergbrothers/

http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/the-men-with-a-movie-poster

http://www.marymaru.com/2011/02/02/design-russian-movie-posters-2-2-11/

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THE ART NOVEAU MOVEMENT

Art Noveau is an iconic style of art that reached it's highest popularity in the years 1890-1910 in Europe. The movement was a philosophy applied to both art and architecture and brought a new wave of design to all areas of art because the style could be used in the home and in fine art also. This style is abundantly decorative and ornamental.

I cannot speak on the subject without referencing my favorite Art Noveau buildings in Europe. In the town of Ålesund, Norway, there are numerous buildings, cafés, houses and hotels built in the style of Art Noveau in the early 1900s. This town is extremely high in altitude on the eastern edge of Norway’s border, however the climate is about the same as Western New York. I have always wanted to vacation here, the town is on a peninsula and is mostly surrounded by arctic water. One important landmark of this town is the building, Jugendstilsenteret, a gorgeous tower like building filled with architecture that is classic Art Noveau. Designed in 1905 by architect Hagbarth Schytte Berg, the building is now an international art museum. The buildings look like a fairytale, all placed against the backdrop of Norway’s fjords and oceans. The town had experienced many fires that forced it to have to rebuild numerous times. Being rebuilt in 1907, at the heart of the european Art Noveau phase, the new buildings and homes made in this town were enacted in this vein of architecture. These buildings were ornamental and brightly colored, with rounded roofs and towers jutting off the sides, some of these beautiful houses and hotels are directly juxtaposed to the canals and rivers that meander through the city. The pure beauty of this town can be seen from standing on the mountain that overlooks the city (photo below). 

Another, perhaps more well known creation in the tenor of Art Noveau would be the many posters, specifically those who advertise the now illicit beverage, Absinthe, in the vintage Europe. The Absinthe Robette Poster has become an iconic example of the posterized style of Art Noveau. Henri Privat Livemont was an artist born in Shaerbeek, Brussels and he designed many posters in this iconic style throughout his lifetime. What draws my eye into this poster in particular is the clever use of form and color, ornament of decoration. The woman on the poster is partially robed in a ethereal cream coloured gown and looks almost fairy like, she is holding up a glass of Absinthe. Her face is framed against a halo-like orb, the writing is wispy and elongated, almost psychedelic in it’s warped curves. There is light green smoke swirling behind the glass. The flatness of the poster was a popular style of that time period as were the elongated lines. The shade of green was most likely chosen in this poster as a reference to the drinks anthromorphic relation to ‘the green fairy’. In the early 19th century Absinthe was said to contain psychedelic alkaloids that would allow the drinker to hallucinate a green fairy.  This artist is one of the few who participated in the Poster Movement of the Art Noveau time period and is definitely my favorite.

I enjoyed rebooking at these particular masterpieces of the Art Noveau time period in both architecture and poster design. This is an important period in art history and deserves to be celebrated and referenced in the ongoing movement of the art world.

Sources:

http://www.boomsbeat.com/articles/19/20140106/35-photos-of-Ålesund-norway-most-colorful-and-beautiful-town-in-the-world.htm

ålesund, norge

http://www.senses-artnouveau.com

http://www.visitnorway.com/us/Where-to-go-us/Fjord-Norway/Alesund-Sunnmore

http://www.visitnorway.com/en/Meetings/Destinations/Alesund/

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The Shepherd Fairey Controversy

Pablo Picasso once said, “Good artists copy, Great artists steal” . While I don’t completely agree with taking this  quote literally in a  moral sense, I thought of this as I was reading the articles about the Shepherd Fairey Obama controversy. Is Shepherd Fairey a crook for using a photo from the Associated Press without their permission or is it within his rights as a creative individual? There’s some controversy, understandably.

I remember the first time I saw Shepherd Fairey’s iconic Obama poster. You couldn’t look at it without feeling some vague sense that something big, something life changing was about to happen. Back in 2008, the hype for Obama and his message of ‘hope’ was at an all time high. This poster has become so iconic now it has been readapted in memes and other political parodies across the internet. The photo taken of him by the Associated Press was a generic photograph of Obama, looking wistfully into space. This photograph can be accessed on google and is open to the public. Shepherd Fairey used this photograph without official permission for the creation of the poster. Now, I do believe that Shepherd Fairey should have known better about the copyright laws and should have asked permission to use this photograph. He works in the art field after all. I have a friend who works at Kodak, and when discussing this with them they believed he was in the wrong because if Kodak ever used someones photo without their permission, they’d be setting themselves up for a lawsuit, it’s a no brainer.

However, I was still not convinced that Shepherd Fairey was a criminal. Take for instance, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup. This piece of art falls under the category of Appropriation Art. He is taking something that is in the public’s collective consciousness and manipulating it to make a point. Shepherd Fairey is taking a photograph of Obama, who is a figure widely known to most of America at the time of the poster and manipulating it to make the poster that has in turn become part of our collective zeitgeist. This is not stealing nor is it plagiarizing because Shepherd Fairey was not passing off the image as his own. He was using it as a reference guide to create his art. He took Obama’s face and posterized it with amber and blue colors, clearly changing it from it’s original state. I believe Shepherd Fairey’s poster is Appropriate Art. He is making art with social commentary, much like Andy Warhol was referencing American consumerism with his Campbell’s soup can. Where would the art world be today without the right of the artist to use and manipulate the content of other’s for the sake of making art? You can argue that nothing is completely original. I believe what Shepherd Fairey had done is completely acceptable. 

Shepherd Fairey released a statement saying he used the photograph to create a poster to help Obama win the election and did not profit from the poster. While I cannot speak on the validity of him receiving profit or not, if it is true it further proves that he is innocent. I assume Shepherd Fairey found this image on google. Should he have credited the source? Yes. Should he be sued for $25,000 for not doing so? I do not believe so. Mannie Garcia of Associated Press had taken this photograph of Obama, and because it was so generic, he did not even recognize that his photograph was being used in the Obama poster. The photograph to me did not seem unique enough to be labeled as art. I do not think Shepherd Fairey plagiarized anything because the photograph was not making any sort of statement artistically, it was only a generic photograph of the President speaking at press time. Shepherd Fairey admitted that he could not find the owner of the photograph when he released the poster but did acknowledge the photograph was not his. While I do think it’s lazy for him to not research it further, I also do not think he realized the extent to which the poster would become famous, and looking back I am sure he wishes he had credited Mannie Garcia from the beginning. You cannot use someone’s photograph without their permission if you are making money of it. Again, this is why a corporation like Kodak would not be allowed to use someone elses photograph for an advertisement, etc. However, Shepherd Fairey is a street artist, the brainchild behind “Obey” and other punk movements. When he expressed he was not making a profit from the poster, I can’t help but believe him. He is a political artist who has made commentary like the Obama poster before. In 1989, he created the Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker which he plastered around Rhode Island, he was later threatened by Titan Sports, Inc. for the use of the name “André the Giant”, to cease and desist. 

At Nazareth College, students are sternly taught not to plagiarize another’s work. This idea can be more clearly enforced when it comes to essays and writing pieces, but the line becomes blurry when you look at art. I have used reference photos for paintings and drawings, and even used photographs without crediting them in my digital work, of course I had manipulated most of the photographs beyond recognition. I believe Shepherd Fairey would have saved himself a huge legal battle if he had credited Mannie from the start. I also strongly believe by not crediting him he was making a much more important statement, that the artist has the right to have the freedom of expression to use the media that is available to them.  In the Obama case, Shepherd Fairey used the “Fair Use” defense against Mannie Garcia. The copyright laws state that you cannot use another’s work without their permission, if you do so that is copyright infringement. The Fair Use law states if the work was not damaging to the reputation of the potential market for the original work, you can use it. In this case, Fairey’s poster was extremely powerful for helping the Obama campaign and Obama’s exposure to many people across America. I believe in this sense Mannie should have thanked Fairey for taking his work and making it into something greater. Fairey was not drawing a mustache on him, like Marcel Duchamp did with the Mona Lisa, he was transforming Obama into a respectable cultural icon, and that is something that cannot be bought.