{"id":71720,"date":"2022-08-30T18:11:39","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T16:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grapheine.com\/graphic-design-en\/dou-vient-le-modernisme-les-deux-visages-du-modernisme-et-ses-ideologies-sociales"},"modified":"2024-04-19T18:49:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:49:01","slug":"where-does-modernism-come-from-the-two-faces-of-modernism-and-the-social-ideologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.grapheine.com\/en\/history-of-graphic-design\/where-does-modernism-come-from-the-two-faces-of-modernism-and-the-social-ideologies","title":{"rendered":"Where does modernism come from? 2 – The two faces of modernism and the social ideologies surrounding ornamentation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this second article dedicated to modernism, we look at the use or absence of ornamentation and what this choice symbolises for the 'modern' man<\/strong> who wants to change society and the order of things. If you haven't yet read the first article on the birth of modernism, you can find it here<\/a>. Happy reading!<\/p>\n

\"modernisme_design_histoire_ornementations\"<\/p>\n

By zooming out to its origins, this series of articles sets a global context around art, typography, modern social revolutions... to create a panorama and better understand the whole:<\/p>\n

1- In this first part, we will look at the origins of modernism<\/strong><\/a>, in which Man is propelled by Modernity<\/strong>, between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.<\/p>\n

2- We will then look at the two faces of modernism and its social ideologies.<\/strong> On the one hand, we have Arts & Craft, which revalorises the work of the craftsman around ornamentation, and on the other, we have ethnocentric man, who seeks to purify in order to reign better<\/strong>; both by consolidating his dominant position, by dispensing with ornamentation, and by breaking with the past thanks to machines.<\/p>\n

3- Then we will look at the search for universality and neutrality<\/a> <\/strong>through artistic and graphic experimentation around 1910 and the modernist revolution of the 1920s, such as the de Stijl, Bauhaus and New Typography movements, the founders of the graphic modernist movement as we know it today.<\/p>\n

Enjoy your reading!<\/p>\n

Modernism turned towards the past and ornamentation<\/h2>\n

In this end-of-century era, dominated by machines, the artist and the craftsman were separated by social class; the former was glorified by his tool, the latter was a tool for the machine.<\/strong> The new century's impetus for modernity brought together two successive artistic and social movements under the label \"modernist\", who made a conscious choice - far from trivial - to use or not use ornamentation in order to liberate the craftsman.<\/strong> Although apparently very different and even opposed, these movements have one thing in common: they both wanted to build the modern world and the new man of tomorrow. Each of these movements celebrates in its own way the power of Reason in the man who seems unstoppable, and who goes beyond his 'natural' condition thanks to his brain and the machine...<\/p>\n

An Art Nouveau that glorifies the craftsman through ornamentation, in opposition to mechanical dehumanisation<\/h3>\n

The first movement advocated a \"new\" art, freeing itself from classicism and the rules of the past, and emphasising ornamentation. Art Nouveau (also known as Modern Style<\/em>) is the heir to William Morris's Arts & Crafts<\/a> movement, which took root in England and developed in Europe at the end of the 19th century. The second industrial revolution gave the masses access to standardised products that had previously been made by craftsmen and reserved for the rich, but William Morris compared the quality of man-made and machine-made goods and was outraged. Morris wanted to reassert the value of craftsmanship: to reunite work, utility and art, to inject beauty into everyday life and liberate people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In contrast to the era of the Machine, which was masculine, geometric and sober, and in which man was the mechanism of a cog, the abundance, sinuosity, feelings, singularity, female figure and freedom of the craftsman <\/strong>(now also an artist) were celebrated<\/strong>, through a total and new art giving rise to ornamentation inspired by Nature.<\/p>\n

\"chrysanthemesmorris-sketch\"
\nWallpaper Chrysanthemums, William Morris<\/span><\/p>\n

William Morris's foundry, in reaction to mechanisation and linear typefaces (discussed in our first article on modernism<\/a>), advocated a return to the sinuous, contemplative figurative style, accompanied by very medieval or Pre-Raphaelite ornamentation<\/strong>, and created typefaces with a medieval allure (proving that modernity can also be synonymous with a return to the past!).<\/p>\n

\"livre-art-nouveau\"
\nGolden Legend, William Caxton by William Morris, 1892<\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of Art Nouveau was to encourage the development of modern man (and women, too - Morris gave them a very special place). Modernism was a reaction to mechanisation: it was about saving and glorifying human craftsmanship,<\/strong> its ancestral techniques and the manual and collaborative skills inspired by the guilds of the Middle Ages. The singularity of the artist-craftsman was celebrated, through arabesques and forms inspired by Nature and feelings.<\/p>\n

The Secession and Viennese illustrators: geometric ornamentation<\/h3>\n

This \"noodle\" style became Art Nouveau and was exported from England and used in Europe, particularly in Vienna and Barcelona, influential capitals undergoing major urban planning projects, or in Paris, until the beginning of the 20th century: this was still a long way from geometric modernism with its straight lines! As well as celebrating the artist and Nature, modernity is reflected in the typography and layout<\/strong>. Skin, hair and clothes become decorative elements filled with abstract patterns that give rhythm to the image. Alfons Mucha, below, painted theatre sets in Vienna before moving to Paris and crossing his influences with local poster artists.<\/p>\n

\"job-mucha-art-nouveau\"
\nJob, cigarette paper, Alfons Mucha, 1896<\/span><\/p>\n

The Viennese billposter-artists were inspired by Morris's work, and grouped together in an artists' association called the Secession, under the impetus of its founder, Gustav Klimt. They played with empty spaces, asymmetries and colour (like Schiele or Klimt), and the text was set in an invisible grid, like a succession of small squares that built up the space in a geometric way<\/strong>, as Josef Hoffmann or Klimt did (below, around 1905).<\/p>\n

\"hoffmann-affiches\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"composition-typo-secession\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This system of geometric composition was later to inspire Stijl movement, the flagship of Modernism.<\/strong> More often than not, these artists also painted theatre sets, buildings or opulent houses; they were used to monumental formats and verticality, and their graphics reflected this. The Secession made it possible to integrate art into everyday life in the manner of Arts & Crafts - artists worked on paper, in architecture or on everyday objects - and heralded the beginnings of the first brand images<\/strong>. Below, compositions by Koloman Moser, Alfred Roller and Gustav Klimt. Some are reminiscent of medieval illuminations, others of Art Deco, Bauhaus of course... and even the motifs of the 50s and 60s, and the typographic style of Herb Lubalin<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"secession-typo\"<\/p>\n