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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.
Suggested Videos and DVDs:
Art Nouveau, 1890-1914, 2000 (30 minutes)
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Graphic Design I: Demonstrating Values of Good Design, 1993
Graphic Design II: The Application of Good Design, 1993
Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century
