978-0205677207 Chapter 16

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Chapter Sixteen: The Design Profession

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

• The Arts and Crafts Movement

• Art Nouveau

• Art Deco

• The Avant-Gardes

• The Bauhaus

• Streamlining

• The Forties and Fifties

• Postmodern Design

Works in Progress: April Greiman and Design Technology

The Critical Process

Thinking about Design:

Play Pump

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

This Chapter Will:

KEY TERMS

Arts and Crafts Movement Constructivism Art Nouveau

avant-garde Art Deco Bauhaus

MyArtsLab RESOURCES

Podcast: How to Spot An Art Deco Building, 1920s – 1930s

Interactive Flashcards

LECTURE AND DISCUSSION TOPICS

1. Design, Craft, and Fine Art

Remind students that a designer produces every manufactured object, printed image, or

constructed space. Point out the different types of design, from clothing and books to

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Show Josiah Wedgwood’s examples of ornamental ware and useful ware (figs. 411).

Explain that Wedgwood made two different kinds of pottery to serve two different

functions. One is art, or craft. Crafts are one of a kind—handmade objects created by a

skilled individual. If a craftsperson makes something that appeals to one person, then

they are successful. The other is mass-produced, made by someone other than the person

who designs the object. Designers must appeal to masses and often follow the trends of

time. Car designers, for example, do not actually put the car together, machines do. Also,

2. The Arts and Crafts Movement

Remind students that in the first half of the 19th-century, the industrial revolution was

taking place. Joseph Paxton’s Crystal Palace (fig. 515 & 516), designed for London’s

1851 Great Exposition, housed exhibitions of new technologies under one modern, glass-

enclosed roof. Built from modern materials such as cast-iron and glass, the Crystal

furniture and design (see fig. 522) to match his prairie houses. Discuss the issue taken up

by these artists to indicate the dilemma of 20th-century design—should products be mass-

produced or hand crafted?

3. Art Nouveau

After the 1889 International Exposition, Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the famous New

York jewelry maker, was inspired by Thomas Edison’s electric lighting (which debuted

and was a hit there) to create a new type of lamp for a new type of lighting. Together

with the work of designer S. Bind, this became known as the Art Nouveau style. Illustrate

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4. Art Deco

Illustrate the Art Deco style with Paul T. Frankl’s Skyscraper Bookcase (fig. 526)

pointing out the attention to the geometry of the skyscrapers that were being built like

5. The Avant Garde

Discuss how the avant-garde movements all over Europe in the early part of the 20th

century challenged conventional notions of art and design. Profile designer Le Corbusier,

whose “new spirit,” as he called it, reflected the machine aesthetic of the modern world in

Lissitsky’s Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge (fig. 566). Stress how formal design has

the potential of being interpreted as propaganda.

6. The Bauhaus

The Bauhaus was an influential design school founded by Walter Gropius in 1919.

Gropius called on architects, painters, sculptors, and designers to address the daily needs

of life by blending together the values of art with the requirements of industrial

7. Streamlining

Discuss the streamlining influence on American design with the elimination of squared

details on trains (fig. 537), planes (fig 539), and automobiles (fig. 538). Point out that

8. Contemporary Design

Open a discussion about contemporary design that incorporates a discussion of graphic

to see the evolution of Raymond Loewy’s Coca-Cola bottle design.

CRITICAL THINKING: More Opportunities to Think about Art

Works in Progress: April Greiman and Design Technology

April Greiman has been a cutting-edge graphic designer, utilizing new technologies, for

the 25 years. She is personally responsible for several “firsts” in the use of new

used to have to develop good drawing skill; do you think it’s still important to do so

considering this new technology? What are the positive aspects of this new technology?

What are the negative?

Thinking about Design:

Play Pump takes a practical necessity and not only transforms it into a plaything for

children, but also solves the problem of how to pump the water out of the ground and into

the reservoir. By playing on the “merry-go-round” the children not only have fun, but

they are also operating the water pump. Additionally, funds generated by advertising on

the storage tanks provides for the upkeep of the apparatus. This project was conceived

and constructed by Architecture for Humanity, a charitable organization dedicated to

1. Product Evolution

Have students choose a famous commercial product, such as Campbell’s Soup, Ivory

2. Bauhaus History

Assign to students a research essay surveying Bauhaus contributions to design.

their work. Then have them write an essay about the design contributions made by this

influential collaborative team.

4. Decomania

Have students look through contemporary design magazines, such as House Beautiful or

Architectural Digest, for Art Deco influences. Have them write about their findings.

HANDS-ON PROJECTS

1. Nightclub Design

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Have students design their own nightclub, complete with colors, sights, and sounds.

Have them describe the concept or theme of their club.

2. CD Cover

Assign students to create an alternative cover for their favorite music CD and to present

Other Suggested Websites:

Arts and Crafts Movement site explores the people, places, and things unique to the

Art Deco Home Page introduces this style of the 1920s and 1930s and looks at its

Bauhaus history at bauhaus-archiv museum of design researches, documents and

links, video clips, slide shows, lesson plans, and other resources. Included artist from this

chapter: Andrea Zittel.