Art Deco Design Influences

This was an eclectic style movement that drew on many sources. Designers aim was to influence jade traditions into a modern style. They had gotten inspired from historic European styles. Art Deco stands for many things for many people. It drew on the traditional themes, but, still celebrated the modern style. Art Deco ha influenced design from fine and decorative art to fashion, films and photography.


Art Deco spire of the Chrysler Building in New York City; designed by William Van Alen; built 1928–1930.


Joseph Csaky, Deux figures, 1920, relief, limestone, polychrome, 80 cm. Exhibited Léonce Rosenberg, Galerie de L'Effort Moderne (1920), now at Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Holland


Ebonised wood smoker's cabinet by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, UK, 1916. Museum no. CIRC.856:1-1956. © Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Bibliography:

• Art Deco: Design Influences - Victoria and Albert Museum. 2013. Art Deco: Design Influences - Victoria and Albert Museum. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/art-deco-design-influences/. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

Bauhaus

Bauhaus was a school that was found in Germany. The education that this school offered was for art, craft and design. The Bauhaus, was opened in 1919 and later closed on 1933. The school was founded by Walter Gropius. The school existed in 3 cities, Werimar, Dessay and Berlin. The Bauhaus had a major influence on Western Europe, United States and Canada.


The Bauhaus Dessau

Bibliography:

• Bauhaus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Bauhaus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

Post Modernism

Post Modernism was a movement that rejected the ideas of the modernist. In this movement artists and designers, still wished to keep that modern feel, but they wanted to cooperate some designs that were more classic. Post Modernism was described as a new form of art and music, this was between 1921 and 1925.


Portland Building, an example ofPostmodern architecture

Bibliography:

• Postmodernism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Postmodernism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-modern. [Accessed 16 May 2013].
•  Defining Postmodernism . 2013. Defining Postmodernism . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0242.html. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

De Stijl

Following World War 1, artists were turning away from traditional forms. Many new abstract ideas came into play. One of the important trends in the 20th century was to increase the parallels between art and design. In the early 1920 a group of artists that were inspired from the DADA movement, formed the movement De Stijl. The most thing for this movement were the ideas. the main ideas came from the influence of the DADA movement.


Red and Blue Chair designed byGerrit Rietveld in 1917


Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red, 1937–42, Piet Mondrian. Oil on canvas; 72.5 x 69 cm. London, Tate Gallery.

Bibliography:

• De Stijl. 2013. De Stijl. [ONLINE] Available at:http://char.txa.cornell.edu/art/decart/destijl/decstijl.htm. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

DADA

The DADA movement was not an official movement. DADA was an artistic movement that had started in Europe, during World War 1. Artists from the DADA movement didn't want to be like any other artists. The artists stared to break the rules of design. They had called them selves Non-Artists. DADA arts was colourful, sarcastic and sometimes silly. the artists of the DADA movement had only one rule which was "Never follow any known rule".


Hannah Höch, Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919, collage of pasted papers, 90×144 cm, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.


Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917. Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz

Bibliography:

• Dada - Art History Basics on the Dada Movement - 1916-1923. 2013. Dada - Art History Basics on the Dada Movement - 1916-1923. [ONLINE] Available at: http://arthistory.about.com/cs/arthistory10one/a/dada.htm. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

African Tattoos

African tattoos dates back thousands of ears. The oldest tattoos, belong to the mummy Amunet. She was a priestess for the goddess Hathor. It was around 2160 BC to 1994 BC. The tattoos that were found on her body were of parallel lines on her arms, legs and an elliptical pattern bellow her navel. The tattoos are believed to be the symbols of fertility and rejuvenation. Males were not found with any tattoos, but this dose not mean that its true, because male mummies were found with tattoos in Libya. These tattoos are relating to the worships of the sun. In the United States the tattoos are done with ink and a needle, but in Africa, tattoos are made by scaring the skin with a sharp object, leaving behind meaningful patterns.


 
Bibliography:

• African Tattoo History. 2013. African Tattoo History. [ONLINE] Available at:http://knink.com/content/tattoos/african-tattoo-history.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was born on the 25th of October 1881, in Malaga Spain. Later he died on the 8th of April at the age of 91 in Mougins France. Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculpture, ceramicist, print maker and stage designer. He had  lived his life mostly in France. Picasso was inspired from the stylized sculptures that came from Africa. He was a co-founder of cubism.

 
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso  1908-1909.

Some of his works:


Les Demoiselles d'Avignon(1907), Museum of Modern Art, New York


Dora Maar au Chat, 1941


Guernica, 1937, Museo Reina Sofia

Bibliography:

• Pablo Picasso - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Pablo Picasso - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

  
  

African Fashion

African clothing usually vibrantly coloured. Some traditional cloths had been replaced by Western garments, that were first introduced by Europeans. Now a days, designers, design cloths that are modern in style, but still have that African feel to it. they got inspired from animals, jungles and rivers. The bright colours are contrasting to their dark skin tone.

                 
A woman in Kenya wearing kanga

Bibliography:

• Clothing in Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Clothing in Africa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_in_Africa. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Nok Culture

The Nok Culture first began in the West Africa between the Niger and the Benve Rivers. It first started about five or more centuries BC. It died out around 300 AD. The Nok Culture still kept to influence art traditions and African cultures. The sculptures that were made during the Nok Culture are mainly made from terracotta. The only sculptures found were many heads, that once were part of a full figure. They are thought to be destroyed by erosion. Human figures were causally stylized, while animal were realistic.

                       
Female Statue                                                                              Nok rider and horse
53 cm tall                                                                                         48 cm tall
Age: 1,400 to 2,000 years                                                              Age: 900 to 1,500 years

Bibliography:    

•      The Nok Culture - African American History the Arts. 2013. The Nok Culture - African American History the Arts. [ONLINE] Available at:http://cghs.dadeschools.net/african-american/tradtional/nok.htm. [Accessed 15 May 2013].      

African Art History

The history of African art has played a very important role in the culture of the world. In the past they used to make necklaces that were made from egg shells. These were over 10,00 years old. African art caught the curiosity of the travelers. trades, and missionaries. Some studies of the African art indicate some of the earliest sculpture. These sculptures were found in Nigeria and they date back to 500BC. Most of the sculptures are in wood and other organic materials. Other important things other than sculptures and mask, that often they were stylized.

                                
Mask from Gabon                                                                   Makonde carving c.1974

Bibliography:

• African art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. African art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_art. [Accessed 15 May 2013].
• African art history. 2013. African art history. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.contemporary-african-art.com/african-art-history.html#sthash.GZrwFi9N.dpbs. [Accessed 15 May 2013].