Monday, November 30, 2015

your turn #11 (what would the history of the poster look like without polish school's contribution?)

circus, viktor gorka, 1968

The stars of the Polish School of the 1960s and 1970s: Starowieyski, Lenica, Cieślewicz,  Wałkuski, Bodnar, Gorka, Tomaszewski, Zameczni, Świerz, Polka, Trepkowski. 

What do you think?*


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* I briefly referred to Polish cinema and theater as part of the cultural explosion going on in Poland during the 1960s &1970s: Take a look at Jerzy Grotowski's amazing theater (I only found this youtube documentary in French and translated into Italian). Another Polish theater iconoclast I forgot to mention is Tadeus Kantor (here a portrait in English). Kantor and Grotowski's so-called "traumatic theater" have influenced contemporary theater all over.
For Polish Cinema of the 1960s: A list of films and directors. Watch Andre Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds. Arguably the best realist Polish film. A masterpiece. 
The grisly murdered of Sharon Tate (then Polanski's wife here).
Jan Lenica's Labyrinth (1963).

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

your turn #10

r. crumb, 1960s

Kula Robbins' Jenny On The Job, Advertising, Pre-Logo years, Fortune Magazine, Anton Stankowski, George Giusti, The International Typographic Style: Huber, Armin Hoffman's vector fonts, Müller-Brockmann's rational order, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Chermayeff & Geismar, Logo History. What's in a LOGO?

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

your turn #9

anton stankowski, 1950s

there is plenty to talk about in this rich period mid1930s- mid1950s: modern designstars, piet zwart (master of de stijl), piet mondrian's contribution to modern design, the one and only master of preWWII elegance, a. cassandreladislav sutnar (the neue typographie standardizer), herb lubalin (the laconic master of positive/negative), the avangardist ted mcknight koffer, the exquisite moods of cipe pineles,  saul bass' groundbreaking collaborations with o. preminger and a. hitchcock, the inimitable alvin lustig. then we have WWII posters (both sides of the war) and a brief analysis of propaganda.
pick what you like and spin it.  

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

your turn #8

this famous alan aldridge poster for chelsea girls has its surreal twang


We talked about Surrealism (within the context of graphic design), WWI and WWII posters, and the star émigrés of the New York School: Binder, Beall, Matter Brodovitch, Agha (more to come). For better or worse, they changed the direction of modern graphic design.