Hi all,
Please read chapters 4 and 9 in your book. These are chapters on Italian Futurism and French Art Deco. Are there obvious similarities and differences between the two movements/styles? Use examples from the book and tie in anything from the class content.
Deadline is Saturday at midnight.
Have a good weekend,
Phil
art 4561: Graphic Design History 
There are some obvious differences and similarities between Italian Futurism and French Art Deco. Both focused on speed, motion, and new technology. Both use diagonal lines, geometric shapes, and extremely strong graphics. Both used sans serif typefaces to convey bold messages. Both movements used art to advertise products. The art of both movements was very dynamic and striking. Another similarity is that they both were influenced by Cubism.
Futurism used the placement of typography to convey the message even if the viewer does not read the words. The typography did not have to be legible, but it had to convey a feeling or message. They used the type and its different weights to form an image in itself, such as in “Zang Tumb Tumb” by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. Where the varying line weights and sizes of the type are used to demonstrate the sounds of the Battle of Tripoli.
French Art Deco used strong images and type to convey the message. The images were a bigger part of the work in Art Deco than they were in Futurism, where the art consisted of mostly shapes and type. The images had the same focus on speed, motion, and technology as Futurism. “Bouillon Kub” by Leonetto Capiello demonstrates the use of an image without type to convey the message. This method is similar to Futurism’s use of type to create an image without the need for the type to actually be legible. The bull is used as a metaphor for strength, while also representing the source of the product, needing no explanation in written words.
Both used the idea of communicating the message to viewers without the viewer needing to read to figure it out. However, Futurism depended more on the type, while Art Deco used strong imagery for the same purpose.
Italian Futurism and French Art Deco share a similarity in that artists of both styles experimented with typography (note that experimentation pervaded Futurism and only a few French Art Deco artists did so). A French example is illustrated in Paul Colin’s “No R … no appetite” poster of 1933. See almost any of Deparo’s work for a Futurist example. Futurists took experimentation with typography to a never-before-seen level. French Art Deco artists, however, began the use of airbrushing and brought angular, rectilinear forms to France.
Art Deco is a movement that is a continuation of the Art Nouveau movement. It emphasizes modern art movements such as cubism with surface embellishment and other techniques to create interesting surface textures. The combination of smooth curves and angles became one with the the technology driven Futurist movement. The futurist movement originated in Italy that was originally a literacy movement. F. T. Marinetti wrote the manifesto which created a movement where all art forms were now created out the the “glory and beautification of war. ” Marinetti says ” Art, in fact, can be nothing but violence, cruelty, and injustice. ” These manifestos were used in all forms of art such as architecture, music, performance, painting, etc. Fortunato Depero was one of the most influential futurist artists. He was a painter, sculptor, writer, and graphic designer. All of his work signifies the Futurist movement. Futurism gave way to the Art Deco movement with its decorative nature and focus on modernism and technology and the future.
Italian Futurism and French Art Deco are similar in the way that they were influenced by the streamline designs of industrial machinery, and both experimented with typography. However, they both have slight differences.
Futurist celebrated the technological triumphs of man. They adopted the cubist techniques such as using fragmented planes and outlines, repetitions of lines to emphasize movement; however the colors used were more vibrant. They also took typography to the next level, experimenting with different weights, shapes, and position on the page. For example, French poet Mallarme wanted to break the traditional way of presenting type. Mallarme felt he “had not pushed it far enough forward to shock, yet far enough to open people’s eyes”. Futurist wanted to shock and get people’s attention thought their experimentation with typography. They intended to inspire public anger and amazement and attract wide spread attention. Futurist also practiced in every medium of art such as painting, industrial design, architecture, and more.
Art Deco was characterized by highly stylized natural and geometric forms, which were usually strongly symmetrical. Like Italian futurism, most of the designs were strongly influenced by the streamline designs of industrial machinery and were usually faceted forms of cubism. However, art deco had more to do with romantic appeal of the locomotive, ocean liners, etc. Other characteristics of art deco included airbrushing, chevron patterns, and sunburst motifs, straightforward illustrations and more informal lettering derived from the French cubist paintings. Cassandre’s first large poster, “Au Bucheron” uses triangles of color, which fans out symmetrically from the center. Cassandre’s “L’Intransigean poster” and “Pivolo poster” also demonstrates how he experimented with type and geometric shapes, which are similar to futurist characteristics.
Futurism and Art Deco both used more dynamic compositions than we’ve seen in previous styles. In Futurist art, there was a fascination with type design. We begin to see letterforms replace imagery and become a major component of compositions. Type experimentation is also evident in Art Deco as well as geometry, which plays a notable role, as seen in Cassandre’s work, such as the “Pivolo” poster. Similar to Art Deco’s geometrical forms, Futurism uses linear artwork , and, while it is more dominant and aggressive in Futurism, both art styles show an interest in machine aesthetics. And of course, both styles were not concerned about creating fine art and welcomed advertisement.
Italian Futurism and French Art Deco are similar in the way that they were both influenced by the streamline designs of industrial machinery, and both experimented with typography. However, they both have slight differences.
Futurist celebrated the technological triumphs of man. They adopted the cubist techniques such as using fragmented planes and outlines and repetition of lines to emphasize movement; however the colors used were more vibrant. They also took typography to the next level, experimenting with different weights, shapes, and position on the page. For example, French poet Mallarme wanted to break the traditional way of presenting type. Mallarme felt he “had not pushed it far enough forward to shock, yet far enough to open people’s eyes”. Futurist wanted to shock and get peoples attention through their experimentation with typography. They intended to inspire public anger and amazement and attract wide spread attention. Futurist also practiced in every medium of art such as painting, industrial design, graphic design, architecture, and more.
Art Deco was characterized by highly stylized natural and geometric forms, which were usually strongly symmetrical. Like Italian Futurism, most of the designs were strongly influenced by the streamline designs of industrial machinery and were usually faceted forms of cubism. However, art deco had more to do with romantic appeal of the locomotive, ocean liners, etc. Other characteristics of art deco included airbrushing, chevron patterns, and sunburst motifs, straight forward illustrations and more informal lettering derived from the French cubist paintings. Cassandre’s first large poster, “Au Bucheron” uses triangles of color, which fans out symmetrically from the center. His “L,Intransigean poster” and Pivolo Poster” also demonstrate how he experimented with type and geometric shapes, which were similar to futurism characteristics.
There are many similarities and differences between futurism and art deco. Futurism’s main emphasis in design was to break any and all rules dictated by previous artists. In doing so, a new set of graphic design criteria was developed such as using text as a part of the image or arranging text so that it implies an image. Dadaism simply embraces the developments of futurism and the previous art periods but gears it even more to the public in terms of advertising. Dadaists also completely embrace technology making the maximum use of it in whatever it was that was being made. Both were inspired very much by cubist art. Dadaists were also influenced by vorbism and were inspired by the airbrush. Both movements used simple shapes and minimal color schemes in their work.
Italian Futurism and French Art Deco have many similarities yet they are both unique. Advertising was embraced by Futurists which was similar to the consumer driven Art Deco. Both of them embraced technology and the machine. Futurist artist Depero used geometric lettering that was commonly seen in Art Deco design, however most Futurists went haywire with typography experimentation. Filippo Marinetti for example, used different shapes and sizes of words to express visual sounds. The use of diagonals in poster work can be seen in Futurism and Art Deco. Leandri’s ‘parole in liberta’ poster captures this strong use of diagonals, but nothing is there to show relative importance and focus within the work. The lines and circles used in Art Deco design were fundamental which is very important in conveying a message. This can be seen in a lot of poster work done by artist A.M. Cassandre.
Futurism could be seen in all art forms including printed material, painting and architecture, whereas Art Deco directed more toward decorative and applied arts. This is because Futurism was art for everyone. Its style featured child-like elements that could be easily reproduced. Art Deco was “art modern” that was not intended for mass production or the working class. Futurists were the rebels who broke away from tradition, and Art Deco formed collaboration between artist and client.
Rachel Blanc
Futurism began to emerge alongside of the First World War followed by Art Deco, which took its place between the two world wars. With both movements in such close existence, it is easy to see the similarities as well the evolution between Futurism and Art Deco. Both placed a large emphasis on type. The futurists began to use concrete typography. They used the placement, size and form to enhance the meaning of words. You can see the use of concrete typography in the art deco movement however it is not as experimental and dynamic as those seen from the futurist. Both movements valued geometry still it is clear that its role is far more paramount in the Art Deco movement.
The Italian Futurism has quite some similarities with the French Art Deco in which there are some forms of geometric reduction and sense of movement/dynamism present in both styles. Both were heavily into machinery. Cubism was an influence in both forms of art as well. The difference between Futurism and Art Deco is that with Futurism, there was a great obsession with war and moving forward in time. They are focused on bright colors and portraying frozen movement at a certain time. Futurists have the need for destruction towards past collectives such as libraries and museums. Art Deco is focused on luxurious creations aimed towards the upper-class with stylization of their subject matter, such as interiors. Their artworks are usually airbrushed, which is their trademark medium.
Art Deco and Futurism are two very similar movements. Futurism came first and Art Deco took many of its ideals from that first movement. They both experiment with type and letter placement in posters. This goes for the futurists especially. Marinetti used different sized types to express emotions and sounds. Both movements were enamored with a machine aesthetic. Geometry and strong lines dominated. Art Deco created products and advertisements for the upper middle class where as the futurists were all encompassing in their mediums. They used music and architecture as well as applied and fine art. Art Deco fixated on the more commercial side although both movements embraced advertising. Cassandre is a good example of an art deco artist who designed for the upper middle class. His airbrushed, highly geometric posters for the ocean liners and the railway are classic examples of art deco and advertising.
The first similarity I notice is that neither chapter includes large enough pictures to be able to read the text, and also that there is too much description of color (rather than photographs that include color). These technical observations aside, Futurism and French Art Deco do seem to have some similarities. For example both movements seem to include concrete typography. Mallarme’s poem “Un coup de des” is an example of this expressive typography for Futurism, while A.M. Cassandre’s “Dubonnet” poster is an example for French Art Deco. Both movements also focused on geometry in a way that seems to have borrowed heavily from cubism. Futurism and French Art Deco also share an interest in technology, machinery in particular.
Although they have a lot in common the Futurist movement and French Art Deco had very different motives. Futurism was a political movement, interested in breaking away from the past and speeding toward a highly mechanized, aggressive future. Futurism was pro-war, pro-machine and interested in creating chaos and anarchy, shocking people by breaking barriers and doing things never before done (like concrete typography). Futurists just wanted to spread the word as far and wide as possible. French Art Deco was quite the opposite. It was commercial rather than political and aimed toward the higher ranks of society. French Art Deco was interested in machinery for the power and luxury it represented, available only to affluent society at the time.
Futurism was an art movement based mainly around letter placement and design. Both futurism and Art Deco have geometric aspects and both show aspects implying these artists were pro-machinery. Art deco is less focused on lettering and more focused on symmetry and geometric shapes and ideas. Air brushing and the obsession with machinery certainly shows more in the Art deco movement than the Futurist movement. Diagonal lines and circles are both popular components during the art deco movement, and defying conventional letter placement and design was key in the futurist movement.
Both Futurism and the style Art Deco helped to further the development of the role of graphic design in advertising. While Futurists welcomed advertising “as a manifestation of modern life and as the antithesis of the museum culture they despised,” the Art Deco posters created in France “gave a poetic allure to means of travel.” Both styles embraced industrial machinery and shared a sense of enthusiasm for product advertisement. Two striking examples of Futurist and Art Deco advertisement posters respectively are ‘Modiano’ poster for cigarette papers by Frederico Seneca, and ‘Dubonnet’ poster 1932 by A.M. Cassandre.
Some similarities in technique are obviously aparent between the two styles. Futurist designers such as C.V. Testi made use of a monumental neo-clacissism which presented very low view points lending to a heroic aspect to the content presented as witnessed in his ‘Exhibition of the Fascist Revolution’ poster. This use of viewpoint and change in scale technique to add drama and emphasis to the image is also seen in the Art Deco work of Paul Colin, whose poster for the Paris Ethnographical Museum in 1930 presents a monumental profile of the Eastern Island sculpture seen from below. Both Futurism and the style Art Deco made use of view points to emphasize poster content. Both styles embraced technology and the machine, and both Futurism and Art Deco made use of geometric lettering in their type design.
Although Futurism and Art Deco shared similarities, they differed in some areas. While Futurists intended to inspire public anger and attract widespread attention with their works, the Art Deco style had more to do with a poetic allure or romantic appeal to means of travel. The Art Deco style, situated after the horrors of the First World War, marketed luxury escape and everyday pleasures.
I found the Cappiello ad for Bouillon Kub particularly memorable and effective. Its economical design is striking and, I thought, well worth mentioning
Futurism, which developed as both an ideological movement and an aesthetic style in Italy prior to World War I, was characterized by its radical, pro-war, pro-machine-age nature, and by its penchant for experimentation and breaking with tradition. Art Deco, by contrast, strikes me as more of an aesthetic style, devoid of the sociopolitical ideology that characterizes a movement. Art Deco, then, can be identified – like Futurism – by its fascination with the machine and progress, as well (unlike Futurism) as its preoccupation with promoting goods and services that offer escape, amusement, products of interest to the upper classes.
Stylistically, Futurism’s radical experimentation with typography (unprecedented use of white space, diagonal text, collaged woodtype elements), best evinced by F.T. Marinetti in a work like the “Zang Tumb Tumb” book cover, paved the way for more conservative typographic innovations during the Art Deco period, such as Pierre Fix-Massineau’s brilliant “Exactitude” train poster (which employs only two words, “Exactitude” and “Etat”, each placed for maximum effect in relation to the image).
Likewise, the geometric reduction and san serif typefaces cultivated by the Futurists surface again in more refined form among Art Deco designers. A work like Federico Seneca’s “Modiano” cigarette paper poster of 1930, with its symmetrically placed, solitary figure and lone strip of type, bears a not-insignificant resemblance to Leonetto Capiello’s “Bouillon Kub” poster, with its symmetrically-placed bull head and isolated block of type bearing the product’s name.
Art Deco and Futurism are both influenced by modernization and industriation. They both embrace the New machinery and Technological advancement. However, Futurism is loathing of everything old, especially political and artistic tradition. “Marinetti took its message, glorifying of the modern world such as speed, motor cars, war, on noisy tours of European capitals”. They represented the technological triumph of humanity over nature. Art deco has not totally against previous traditions in art. It has been influenced by the movements in the past such as Cubism and Italian futurism. Art deco also completely embrace technology and the use of new materials making the maximum use. In art deco movement, the humanity nature and the beauty of machinery are perfectly mixed together which is shown in the streamline designs of industrial machinery.
In the experiment of typography, Futurists took experimentation with typography in different weights, shapes, and position on the page which is the beginning of concrete typography. This new treatment of type was to break through the previous typography. In mallarme’s “Vers Libre”, he used the placement, space and form to enhance the meaning of his poem. French Art Deco artists, however, began the use of airbrushing, rectilinear forms which are influenced by machinery. Cassandre’s Bifur typeface is a good example for French Art Deco style.