Photography
We first looked at documentary photography, in particular the photographer, Humphrey Spender. He did a mass observation project called 'Worktown Project' in 1937. The photographs have been taken of everyday life of ordinary working class people in Bolton. We actually learnt from the context of the photographs, that the Wall St. crash effected the life of Britons as well. So we can see why the poverty it caused could have been seen as a subject to the project.
Animation
Next we looked at animation. The above image is a still from and animation from a Czechoslovakian animator called Jiri Trnka in 1965. In the short it is about a sculptor visited by a huge hand, which seeks the completion of a sculpture of itself.
It was produced 20 years after WW2 so it is still in living memory of people. It is considered a protest against the conditions imposed by the Czechoslovak communist state to artistic creation. It even goes as far as the hand doing a Nazi salute.
Advertising
Next we looked at an advertisement, the above image is a still from an advert for dunlop tyres created in 1993. The advert is full of psychedelic, post-modernist, and fetish imagery. The background music is a song by the Velvet Underground. Considering the time of the advert I think it would've shocked the viewer as it is quite out of the ordinary as it is so surreal.
Illustration
Normal Rockwell was a 20th century illustrator/artist of american life. He has a particularly twee style which I don't really like. His work was also used by the government as USA propaganda. However, since these days there has been a decline in the need of skill as things became more digital.
Graphic Design
For graphic design we looked at the typography in particular the fonts:
- Universe (Herbert Bayer, Bauhaus)
- Fraktur (A German font)
- Times New Roman (British)
They were all created in the 1930's but all are very different. The font 'universe' with no serifs, was created by Herbert Bayer from the Bauhaus a design place in Berlin where I have infact visited! I've never been to keen on this font, it seems too retro but not a good retro, more outdated and flat. The second font we looked at was called 'Fraktur' a German font used in WW2 on all the propaganda posters, it is very gothic and ornate firmly situated with Germany. The third font we look at is Times New Roman a typical British serif font which was created for the times newspaper. Its influence comes from Trajan's column in Rome, Italy.
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