WEEK

5
modernist
 New approaches to
photography
Herbert Ma)er, a photographer’s posters of the 1930s use montage,
dynamic scale changes, and an effec?ve integra?on of typography and
illustra?on. Photographic images become pictorial symbols removed
from their naturalis?c environments and linked together in unexpected
ways.
 Mid-Century Moderns covers the consolidation of
modernism as the official style for graphic design at a
time of worldwide political disarray.

-Modern sans-serif typefaces, photographic illustration, and ideas from

modern art were all thought of as strategies that would encourage
international communication.
-As an approach, modernism informed the commissioning by art
directors for clients in publishing, advertising and publicity design for
multinational companies.
-1930s, Many modernist graphic designers escaped the totalitarianism
in Europe and crossed the Atlantic: Sutnar, Moholy-Nagy, Lionni, Bayer
and Teige, and helped to introduce the style to the increasingly
sophisticated and professional atmosphere of corporate America.
While the trauma of war disrupted the ability of
many governments to produce graphic
propaganda, a diverse group of painters,
illustrators, and designers received commissions
from the U.S. Office of War Information.
America’s wartime graphics ranged from
brilliantly conceived posters to informational
training materials and amateurish cartoons.
World War 2
1942 – Rosie the Riverter in J. Howard Miller’s poster
We Can Do It!
 1940s
Post-War, Start of Cold War Era
Post-World War II, modernism was re-exported to the
rest of the world, partly perceived as an American
phenomenon, with important centres forming most
notably in japan and Switzerland.
 New York School 1950s - 1960s:
The Abstract Expressionists brought together cultural workers from
different fields including poets, dancers, composers, and artists, all of
whom created work that explored new directions in art, wanting to
break away from what was socially acceptable.

The first wave of modern design in America was imported by

talented European immigrants seeking to escape political
totalitarianism. They provided Americans with a firsthand
introduction to the European avant-garde
 New York City served as a cultural incubator in the
middle of the twenHeth century. It nurtured
creaHvity, and its prevailing climate aMracted
individuals of great talent and enabled them to
realize their potenHal.
 1945-1980
InternaHonal Typographic Style
Origina?ng in Switzerland, this was also known as Swiss Style, which
emphasizes readability and cleanliness. It promoted asymmetric layouts,
use of a grid, sans serif typefaces and flush le[ ragged right text. It
advocated for the use of photographs instead of illustra?on. Important
ar?sts: Herbert Ma)er, Emil Ruder, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Armin
Hofmann, and Adrian Fru?ger.
 The 1960s
In the 1960s social and political unrest was manifest in the underground press and
in moves to found alternative societies.
In a political reaction against capitalism, the work of John Heartfield, the famous
German designer of the Weimar era who used photomontage as a political
weapon in his struggle against the rise of Nazism, took on renewed significance.
The French collective Grapus grew out of the climate of political radicalism in the
Paris of 1968, accepting commissions only from groups whose causes they
supported and producing work that extended the principles of collage and
montage.
Also springing from the radicalization of the New Left, feminist design practice
encouraged alternative approaches to graphic design, including site-specific
installations based on social issues, as in the work of the American designer Sheila
Levrant de Bretteville.