The Development Course of Modernist Design

The Development of Modern American Design

By describing the development process of American design from Art Nouveau movement to post-modernism, we know that the rapid development of American design has had a far-reaching impact on the world in the process of continuous innovation.

Keywords:: American design art development

I. Art Nouveau Movement in America

1, background

While European designers were still arguing over whether mechanized production was suitable for art design in the second half of the19th century, the United States, which embarked on the capitalist road shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, actively accepted mechanized large-scale production methods with the most practical and practical attitude and silently engaged in enterprise product design that adapted to mechanized production. Therefore, during this period, mechanization in the United States developed rapidly. At the same time, the contradiction between mechanized production and art design in American society is not as obvious and intense as that in France, Germany and Britain in western Europe, because the American culture and art are insufficient and the traditional art has little influence on modern times. However, after all, in the second half of the19th century, there was a contradiction between mechanized production and art design, which also existed objectively. Although the arts and crafts movement has little influence on American design, the Art Nouveau movement has a wide and far-reaching influence in the United States. Its influence involved all aspects of applied art and architecture at that time and made great achievements.

2. Development

In the field of applied art, the famous designer influenced by Art Nouveau movement is Will Bradley, who is the representative figure of Art Nouveau graphic design. Tiffany is mainly engaged in the design of daily utensils, especially good at glass design. Before the Art Nouveau movement influenced the United States, the prototype of Tiffany's glass design mainly came from Europe, but in the last decade of the19th century, his works became the model of European glass design. Tiffany's achievements in the field of glass design are unique. In the field of architectural design, before the Art Nouveau movement was introduced to the United States, the famous "Chicago School" had been formed in the United States. This school advocates that architectural function comes first, "form always obeys the needs of function, which is an unchangeable law" and "function remains unchanged, form remains unchanged". Its representative figures are architects burnham, Jenny, Ajdero, Holbert and Louis Sullivan. Through the work of these architects, since Chicago, there has been an upsurge of building skyscrapers in the United States.

Second, the decorative arts movement in the United States

1, background

In the 1920s and 1930s, new york was the largest city in the United States, and the performing arts, especially musicals, Caballe and jazz, flourished. Hollywood's film industry has developed to a certain height. American popular culture is prosperous, and design is closely related to popular culture. Influenced by Egyptian and Mayan cultures, it formed the American decorative art style. Although it is mainly in the field of architectural interior design, it also has good performance in furniture design, ceramic design and graphic design. The 1930s also formed a famous Hollywood style.

2. Development

The Art Deco movement in the United States began in new york and the east coast, and gradually spread to the west. During this period, a unique American native style was formed. Main performance:

2. 1 architectural design: the United States made a fortune in arms during World War I, with strong national strength and developed architecture. New york is the birthplace of Art Deco movement style. Art Deco architecture in new york mainly includes the following aspects: (1) new york Telephone Company Building-1923 started, and 1926 was completed. It was designed by Gomlin Construction Company, with modernist factors and decorative treatment in decorative art style. (2) Eric Kan is an important "decorative art" architect in the United States, and many American architectural works even regard him as the founder of modernist architecture. His works include film center, Dutch tower and other series of buildings. (3) Chrysler Building-the most influential building. Designed by William Van Allen. Completed at 1930, the metal minarets are towering into the sky. This 77-story building is considered as the most exciting building and romantic symbol of that period today. (4) Empire State Building-designed by William Lambert,1August 30th, 929, finalized in two years. There is a strong decorative art style both inside and outside. It is a building designed and built with steel, which fully shows the imagination of the mechanical age and is called the eighth wonder of the world. (5) Rockefeller Building-There are many designers involved in the design, and this building is a model of the peak of decorative art style.

2.2 Furniture design

Like the architectural design in the Art Deco movement, American furniture design was influenced by the Art Deco movement style, but it did not stick to the European style. American designers abandoned the European model and finally created a unique American style art: decorative furniture design. The most successful designer in this field is Paul frankl (from 65438 to 0925, he began to design geometric cabinets with plane, sharp corners and stepped shapes. He called this kind of furniture "skyscraper" furniture, because of its design, his reputation suddenly increased greatly. ) Eugene Shetter and Weber (The furniture design of Shetter and Weber is greatly influenced by France and Germany, so their design style is closer to the furniture design of the European Art Deco Movement).

2.3 Ceramic Design

The design and manufacture of American ceramics started late. 1925 after the Paris Expo, a series of exhibitions in the United States promoted the development of American ceramic industry. Especially after the exhibits of 1926 Paris Expo were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, American people, especially American designers, learned more about the ceramic art of France and other European countries, thus promoting the development of American ceramic industry. Two years later, the ceramics designed and produced by Americans themselves can be compared with the best ceramics in Europe. Among many ceramic designers, Adelaide A. Robineau is the most famous. It can be said that the introduction of American ceramic design in the 20th century would be incomplete if Abino was not mentioned.

2.4 graphic design

The decorative arts movement in the United States is mainly embodied in graphic design, mainly in the fields of advertising and posters. Although there were no world-renowned graphic designers such as Cassandra, Barbier and Le Pepe mentioned above in this period, a large number of commercial art designers with decorative art style emerged, such as Joseph Binder, Ilonka Karaz and John Vase.

In addition, the United States also produced the famous Hollywood style, which is the continuation of the American decorative arts movement. Its appearance had a lot to do with the economic crisis at that time. 1929- 1933, the economic crisis swept across north America and Europe, leading to market collapse, mass unemployment, panic and social instability. Hollywood movies are a pastime that people can forget the crisis and predicament in a short time, and movies bring people a moment of joy. Therefore, the film industry stands out and is unprecedentedly prosperous. The cinema is called "Dream Palace". In order to create a dreamy atmosphere, the cinema design in Hollywood is full of imagination and makes full use of the decorative art style. In 1930s, Hollywood style was introduced into Europe, which influenced the design style of European cinemas.

Third, industrial design.

1, background

Social division of labor brought about by social change: after the industrial revolution, mechanized, standardized and batch production methods made the social division of labor increasingly obvious. Design, production and consumption are divided into independent parts. The goal of design gradually tends to produce industrial products that serve the public and meet the economic interests of manufacturers. This led to the emergence of professional designers.

2. Development

The professionalization of industrial design has appeared in the United States, and the professionalization of design has developed under the conditions of developed market economy in the United States. The outbreak of World War I provided a good opportunity for American military and economic expansion. By 19 18, the American market has been unprecedentedly prosperous. In particular, the production of industrial consumer goods such as automobiles and electrical appliances has developed rapidly, and the government has also given strong support. American enterprises began to enter the stage of mass production. Scientific management, mass production, assembly line operation. The production of automobiles is a typical example.

The automobile was first invented in Germany, but it was first developed brilliantly in America. Henry Ford of America brought people into the automobile age. Ford designed the "T" car in 1908, which sold a lot, occupied the American market and soon entered the European market. Strengthen the awareness of standardized production in various countries. (seller's market)

1927 or so, there was an economic crisis in the United States. It was not until 1933 Roosevelt implemented the New Deal that the economy improved. This has become a new starting point for modern American design. In order to meet the needs of the market, American enterprises have gradually set up departments responsible for product design. Set up the internal design organization of the enterprise. At the same time, there are also design firms in the society, specializing in designing products, packaging, publicity, logo, corporate image and other activities to meet customer requirements. American professional designers grew up at this time. These designers are not bound by traditional culture, grew up in a commercial society, and basically have not received strict higher education. They struggled from the design activities of stage, window, signboard and advertisement.

The designer is (1) Walter Teague: He is one of the earliest professional industrial designers in America and a very successful graphic designer. His design career is closely related to Kodak, the world's largest photographic equipment company: in the 1920s, Teague began to design products; 1927 designed camera packaging for Kodak company in the United States; 1928 designed the Kodak camera with fame and fortune. 1936 designed a "banteng" camera for Kodak. Simple in appearance and reasonable in structure, this is the earliest portable camera, which compresses the basic components of the camera to the lowest level, providing a prototype and development foundation for modern 35mm cameras. He works closely with technicians and is good at solving functional and technical problems by using aesthetic methods of design, which is an important feature of American industrial designers. Teague developed a design system to design the whole product line for enterprises, which made him one of the most successful industrial designers in the early days of America. After World War II, he served as the general design consultant of the company. In 1930s, his design formed its own system. From 65438 to 0955, Teague's design company cooperated with Boeing's design team to complete the design of Boeing 707 jumbo jet, which not only made Boeing aircraft have a very simple and modern appearance, but also created the classic interior design of modern passenger aircraft. According to the principle of ergonomics. Henry Dreyfus, Raymond Lowe and others participated in the design.

(2) Lowe is one of the important founders of American industrial design. Engaged in industrial product design, packaging design, graphic design (especially corporate image design) all his life. He has participated in thousands of projects, from coca-cola bottle to NASA's "Laboratory in the Air" program, from cigarette packs to the inner cabin of Concorde. The design content is extremely extensive, which represents the all-round characteristics of the first generation of American industrial designers and has achieved amazing results. 1929, he opened his own design office-Raymond Luo's office in new york 12 Street. By 1980s, it had developed into one of the largest design companies in the world. Luo Wei began to design locomotives, cars, ships and other means of transportation in 1930s, and introduced streamlined features, which led to streamlined style. He highly specialized and commercialized his design, making his design company one of the largest design companies in the world in the 20th century. The design principle is: concise, easy to maintain, elegant and beautiful, economical and durable. He is not only interested in industrial technology, but also has a profound understanding and pursuit of human visual sensitivity. His design has both industrial characteristics and human touch. His life is a microcosm and portrayal of the whole process of American industrial design from its beginning, development, peak and gradual decline.

Streamlined design is an important representative of American stylism design. The origin can be traced back to19th century, when people applied the observation of organic forms in nature to design. This was the most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. This design is characterized by smooth, fluent and dramatic linear changes. It has become an important style of American product design and represents the aesthetic taste of an era. Streamlined design is popular in the United States not only because fashionable style design solves the problem of unsalable product styles. And the aerodynamic principle is applied to the design to reduce air resistance, improve running speed and reduce consumption. Streamlined design was first used in the design of vehicles such as cars and trains, and then extended to the field of product design. Raymond Lowe, HarleyEarl and Norman Gates in the United States are all important designers who advocate streamlined design. At that time, streamlined design was also very popular in European countries.

Fourth, the rapid development of post-war industrial design.

1, background

As the first country to realize the professionalization of industrial design, the functionalist design thought originated in Europe has greatly promoted the development of American design and design art education. Designers who immigrated to the United States in 1930s, especially the masters of Bauhaus, played a decisive role in the establishment of American design art education system. They either teach in universities or set up design and art colleges, and have trained some excellent designers. The consciousness of design has never been higher in the eyes of Americans, and the education of design art has been highly valued by the American government, enterprises, educators and non-governmental academic groups. After World War II, the United States, as a country that benefited a lot from the war, entered a period of rapid economic development under the guidance of free economic consumerism in the 1940s and 1950s, which was accompanied by the United States becoming the country with the fastest development of modernist design.

2. Plan to abolish the system

After the war, American industrial design changed from blindly worshipping European modernist design style to being more rational and paying attention to the rationality of technology, structure and function. Although the "streamline" design style popular in American design circles before the war has its scientific basis, with the continuous expansion of application fields, "streamline" is no longer a simple and scientific application problem, but has formed a design style that conforms to the market consumption trend. This is also an embodiment of "design style follows sales", and "planned abolition system" came into being. In the United States, the design concept of planned abolition system soon involved almost all product design fields, including automobile design. In 1950s, with the development of modeling stamping technology, fashionable cars designed by HarleyEarl for General Motors, such as Cadillac, were continuously introduced to the market (Figure 7- 10). Chevron (Figure 7- 1 1) and other models were very successful at that time. By 1965, GM's herringbone has 46 models, 32 engines, 20 variable speed models, 2/kloc-0 colors and 400 accessories. HarleyEarl is a leading member and design director of General Motors. Many of its designs have influenced American car styles until now. 1953, Earle used the whole curved windshield in the car for the first time, instead of the previous flat windshield. This design was quickly adopted by the world automobile industry and became a car style in the 1950s. So far, almost all car designs have adopted this form of glass. He also changed the way the original chrome-plated parts were used, from just on the sideline. Part of the wheel frame is chrome-plated, but the chrome-plated part is used as an integral part such as lights, decorative lines, car logos and mirrors, which is called the sculptural use of chrome-plated parts. This change still affects the design and manufacture of the automobile industry. Earl loved modern technology and sports all his life, and pursued a variable-speed car with a long body and a low chassis, which has become the characteristic of American cars now. He launched the "Dream Car" series after the war, imitating the shape of local jet planes. Using a large number of chrome-plated parts as decoration, streamlined cars are exaggerated, gorgeous and fancy in appearance, reflecting the sense of speed of people in the jet age and the affluence of Americans after the war. Through the constant change of automobile design style and style, it stimulates and satisfies consumers' novelty and novelty psychology, and the "dream car" series has become the fashion pursued by Americans in the 1950s, which typically embodies the design idea of "planned abolition system".

3, new materials, new technology.

In the forties and fifties of the 20th century, the emergence of new materials and technologies promoted the development of American furniture and interior design, and formed an organic design style that emphasized the elastic structure and movable combination of furniture, and even became the main popular interior design style in western countries during this period. Charles Eames is regarded as the representative of organic design, and he is an outstanding designer, which really makes furniture design have a wide impact on real life. In Ames' exploration, the possibility of technology and the elegance of form are always closely combined with the consideration of human comfort, which typically highlights the characteristics of modernism and forms a brand-new aesthetic view of chair design, which has influenced it to this day.

During this period, Noel Group and Miller Company made outstanding contributions to American furniture and interior design. Noel Group is an industrial design group composed of famous American designer Hans Noel, mainly engaged in furniture and interior design. Its members mainly include Hans Nowell himself, Mrs. Hans Nowell, Florence Shunell, Elo saarinen, Harry Bertau Jia and so on. The development of Noel Group is inseparable from the design education of Cranbrook College of Art, and its members are basically.

Herman Miller Company, like Noel Group, is a famous American furniture and interior designer, named after its founder Herman Miller. In the late 1940s, the company turned from traditional furniture production to modern furniture design and production, and gradually became the furniture design and production center in the western United States. The famous designers of this company include Rod, george nelson and Charles Eames.

If the designers of Noel Group pay special attention to the treatment of new materials and new shapes in furniture design, then the design of Miller Company is more reflected in practice and gradually forms its own design concept. Generally speaking, its design concept is mainly manifested in the following five aspects: first, design is an integral part of the enterprise and indispensable; Second, the design should stand the test in the market competition and conform to the economic law; The third product must be honest and oppose copying and imitating the works of others and the ancients; Fourthly, the designer decides what to design and fully respects the initiative of the designer, which is the biggest feature of Miller Company. Fifth, I believe that good products must have a market and support designers not to be influenced by temporary "fashion".

4. Boeing 707 Aircraft Design and Ergonomics Application

The application of ergonomics principles in industrial design and its positive production results can be regarded as a major feature of the development of American industrial design in the 1950s. Dreyfus, a famous American designer, has made outstanding contributions to the formation and theoretical propaganda of ergonomics. The successful design of Boeing 707 in 1950s became a successful example of ergonomics applied to large-scale industrial design projects, and it was also a great achievement of American industrial design in 1950s.

1955, Boeing invited famous designer Teague to design the inner cabin of Boeing 707. With the joint participation of designers such as Dreyfus, they designed the most advanced, comfortable and safest civil airliner in the world at that time. They used a lot of ergonomic data in their design, including plastic panels, embedded hidden lights, high backs, spacious and comfortable seats with contoured edges, passenger service-related systems and quiet colors. The layout, storage space and safety system in the cabin have been deeply studied and carefully designed, which not only saves space, but also facilitates passengers' activities and provides a quiet, comfortable and convenient environment for passengers and staff. This design not only creates a model of successful cooperation between big enterprises and big designers, but also is a representative design that ergonomics is widely used in industrial design. Its significance not only provides a basis for the future design of Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 767 and dual-engine Boeing 777, but also promotes the wide application of ergonomics principles in other industrial design fields, making ergonomics a special discipline that industrial design, especially product design, must follow, and making the idea of "designing for the people" deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Fourth, postmodernism:

On behalf of:

Wentali: American architect. He was the first person to lay the foundation of postmodernism in architectural design. 1969 put forward the principle of "less worry", challenging modernism on the basis of form, and the work "Wintali" put forward its own post-modernist formal declaration. He also opposed the core content of modernism. The design contains many clear and monotonous formal features of classicism, but overall it is simple and clear, with practical functions. Untul pursues the eclectic architectural form of elegance and decoration. The St. Sibury Hall of the British National Museum of Art designed by him is one of the important masterpieces of post-modern architecture.

Moore: An Outstanding American Postmodern Design Master. He has always held a very romantic artistic attitude towards architectural design, and many buildings have distinctive stage performance design characteristics. He attaches great importance to the coincidence and coordination of natural environment, community environment and architecture. Representative works include Plaza Italia and Double Tree Hotel.

Greaves: American architect, an important figure in post-modernism architectural design. His design pays attention to the richness of decoration and color and the eclectic expression of historical style. Many designs combine the dual skills of painters and architects, and they are completely integrated. His most important design work is the public service center in Portland, becoming the most representative post-modernism building.

Johnson: one of the most important design theorists and contemporary architects in the United States, has experienced two important modern design movements. He was one of the first people to introduce European modernism to America. His collaboration with Smith in designing the West gleim Building was an important turning point for him to become a world master. After Wintully put forward the idea that less is more, he designed the AT&T Building, which became one of the representative works of postmodernism. He represents a school that pays more attention to maintaining the integrity of the essence of classicism in post-modernism design.

Robertson: Dean, School of Architecture, University of Virginia, USA. He advocates reforming the indifference and impersonality of modernism and internationalism design styles, and hopes to use historical traditions to achieve the cultural atmosphere of architecture. He didn't want to mock and abuse classical style and historical style, but tried to combine the structure of modernism with the motivation of classicism perfectly. Representative works include Amway West Headquarters Building. Giuseppe Rossi: An important Italian postmodern designer, he regarded the integrity and harmony of the environment as paramount, thus forming his design method and theory. The most concentrated example of his principles is the cemetery building in Medina. Others such as Farrell, Jencks, Taft, Botha and Roche are all important representatives of postmodernism.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) abstract

The United States is a country that is not bound by traditional culture. Although it started late, it developed rapidly. On the one hand, American design is the inheritance and development of European design art thought, on the other hand, it has grown up in China. American design is commercialized, which is closely related to the developed business environment in the United States, making its design with a strong pragmatic color.

Although modern design art originated in Europe, its development, maturity and internationalization are realized in the United States, which is inseparable from American cultural traditions and economic status in the world.