The Late Modern Period 1945-1970
The Late Modern Period 1945-1970
The Late Modern period was from 1945-1970 and was dominated by American inventions. The artists were inspired by the European avant-garde’s early approaches to modern art. The modernist none-decorative approach was adopted, but their dogma was rejected. The results were that there was a new simplicity to their work.
After World war two there was a shortage of raw materials such as metal and fuel. This inspired artists of all persuasions to be “frugal” with materials. This resulted in a combination of function and simplicity.
During this period, images of destruction haunted the collective imagination. The nuclear threat, and the response to it, will be seen through graphics, art, film and imaginary schemes.
Graphic styles seemed to reduce an array of predictable images to the minimum of elements. The designer Saul Bass would strip away visual complexity from messages and used simple photographs that exert great graphic power.
Another designer was Lester Ball who helped to revolutionise the American graphic design movement. He used symbols and object photography in a layered, collage- like manner.
This period saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application, while it simultaneously stagnated. Notable names in mid-century modern design are Adrian Frutiger designer of the typefaces Univers and Frutiger; and Josef Muller-Brockman , who designed posters in a severe yet accessible manner typical of the 1950s and 1960s.
The reaction to the increasing severity of graphic design was slow but inexorable. The origins of post-modern typography can be traced back as far as the humanist movement of the 1950s. Notable among this group is Hermann Zapf who designed two typefaces which remain ubiquitous -- Palatino (1948) and Optima (1952). By blurring the line between serif and sans-serif typefaces and re-introducing organic lines into typography these designs did more to ratify modernism than they did to rebel.
An important point was reached in graphic design with the publishing of the First things first 1964 Manifesto
The First Things First manifesto was written 29 November 1963 and published in 1964 by Ken Garland. Today we may not understand the significance of the document which at the time caused constenation. It was backed by over 400 graphic designers and artists which was a call to a more radical form of graphic design and criticised the ideas of value-free design. This was massively influential on a generation of new graphic designers and contributed to the founding of publications such as Emigre magazine
Emigre is a graphic design magazine first published in 1984 in San Francisco, California, USA. Art directed by Dutch-born Rudy VanderLans using fonts designed by his wife, Czechoslovakian-born Zuzana Licko.
A Saul Bass Poster for the Film
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