Field Journal 5: Early Stages of Advertising in Posters

Chapters 11 and 12 moves away from Victorian Art and towards a more free and fantasy-like art form glorified in Art Nouveau (1890-1910). Artists were no longer bounded by limitations and were able to create unique type styles not previously seen before as print was dominated by wood and metal type faces and were able to include color in posters and artwork to stimulate and evoke senses and feelings toward their messages. Different forms and styles were born during this period from Alphonse Mucha's works screamed mysticism and sensuality while Jules Cheret's designs were distinguishable by being simple and carefree. 

Marcello Dudovich, Biter Campari Poster, 1901. Red is an intense choice as it arouses love, sex, and danger. This bold color choice forces people to notice and remember the brand.

Magazines, books, and advertising posters played an immense role spreading Art Noveau internationally. Advertising posters, particularity, had the most profound effect on spreading this movement to countries across Europe. France's 1881 law allowed posters to be displayed anywhere except on churches, voting areas, or near official notices. As a result, artists, printers, and afficheurs prospered from the law and were able to show the public posters of all sizes. Artists were more willing to work in advertising as it was similar to posting up art pieces in a fine art gallery.

As more artists joined in making posters, they had to differentiate themselves from one another and had to create unique and distinct works as their signature trademarks. They were encouraged to branch out and be more expressive. Photography was used, but posters and art of the Art Noveau focused on drawings. When marketing and advertising wasn't enough, art was incorporated to sell products. Henri de Toulous Lautrec's posters were mainly for events held the Moulin Rouge, dance halls, plays, and other forms of entertainment. His use of flat planes, simple shapes that replaced objects, silhouettes, and positioning of his figures encouraged others to break out of the mold and experiment. Jules Cheret fused his bright, lively Cherettes to lure in crowds and spectators to the Champs-Élysées and to create hype for household products. French women looked up to the Cherettes for they were defining the new and different roles for modern women. Alphonse Mucha's muses could be found on covers of fashion magazine and posters for French actress Eugene Grasset. His works led to an appreciation of organic shapes and beauty of the female form that's still seen today. At the height of Art Noveau, art wasn't just included in ads and posters for the sake of having visuals for the products; most of the time, art was selling excitement, sensuality, dreams, hopes, and fantasy.

In the 21st century, advertising's main goal is still the same as it was during Art Noveau-- to sell a fantasy to consumers. Compared to earlier times, advertisements today are usually done with photography. But there are still brands were switch back and forth between photography and art such as paintings to sell. Ever since I started watching Mad Men, I've been fascinated by advertising and how the unity between marketing and art comes into play. One advertisement that has been catching my attention is tequila brand, Patrón. I don't drink, but as soon as I saw the advertisement in magazines, I was sucked in. Usually the brand shoots a sleek and high quality picture of its bottles, but this time they decided to go back to square one and hire an artist (there's also commercials of the artist using different strokes to get the final results, I was also captivated!) to paint their famous bottle. It reminded me a lot of the posters from Art Noveau as it deters away from the use of photography. Companies nowadays have the freedom to either go "old school" or embrace modern technology, so why would Patrón's marketing and advertising team come up with this idea? To differentiate itself from its numerous competitors and label themselves as "original", "timeless", "professionals for decades", and "old fashioned, but still has the same great and high quality taste as it first came out".

Advertisements exist on and off print, but the core essence has always remained the same. It wasn't until the Art Noveau period in which artists, marketers, and advertisers, had to rely on creativity to create an impact in the industry. Not only that, but the art movement blown into an abundance of different ideas and approaches that was never seen before.  

Sources: 

http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2013/09/25/patron-tequila-simply-perfect/

Megg's History of Graphic Design, Philip B. Meggs, Alston W. Purvis

Field Journal 4: When Art Threatens Politics

Boss Tweed and the Tweed Ring by Thomas Nast. 1871.

             Before Thomas Nast used political cartoons to direct America’s attention to social and political injustices between 1869 and 1871, William “Boss” Tweed, leader of Tammany Hall, was extorting millions from the city of New York for a decade.  

New York City experienced an influx of two million immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, so slums were built to provide them homes. Ideally, the slums were built as temporary homes and the immigrants would move out of the city and the state, but New York continued to grow and remain crowded. Originally, Tammany Hall was an organization created with intentions of helping these immigrants with food, clothing, and jobs.  

When Tweed joined the organization, Tammany Hall changed and became a political machine, an organization that gave social and services in exchange for votes. Political machines main goals were to get their own members into official spots in city government and then use corruption to make leaders of the organization wealthy. Tweed had already established himself by doing charity work as fireman, so it was easy for him to rise into power in Tammany Hall. Immigrants were sent out on election day and Tweed was voted as city alderman in 1851. The following year he was elected into the U.S. House of Reps.

Elected into office, Tweed constantly bribed officials and bought votes to bring his men into office. Soon New York City (NYC) was run by a corruption ring who exploited immigrants, businesses, and workers. The mayor of NYC was simply a puppet while Tweed and his men pulled the strings. Laws and legislation was passed to prevent anyone else outside of Tweed and his “Tweed Ring” from opposing how much money was spent on the city. With an increase of inhabitants and more damaged or worn out public goods, NYC had a lot of repair. Tweed decided to create his own companies and forced the city to hire them. As a result, the amount of money being spent was all sent to Tweed and his ring. Police, judges and journalists couldn’t confront Tweed because they were either bribed or intimidated to speak up. Votes were still pouring in to keep him in office since Irish, Dutch, and Scottish gangs were loyal to Tweed threatened anyone who voted otherwise.

The amount Tweed stole from the city is unclear as it ranges from $25 million to $45 million to even a hefty sum of $200 million.   

After being praised by President Lincoln for his Civil War drawings, Nast created symbols such as the Republican elephant and the Democratic Donkey to illustrate his messages more clearly and directly to his audience. Harper’s Weekly was widely read as publication of the journal increased and prices decreased, making it attainable for the middle-class.  

         

Using his influence, Nast broke out of the silence and brought attention to Tweed by portraying him as a “thief, a convict or an enormous glutton.” Tweed tried to silence Harper’s Weekly and Nast with money, but they both refused and continued to run the political cartoons. As a member of the Democratic Party, Tweed was bringing in unnecessary press and damaging the party’s reputation; members wanted him and the Tweed Ring out of office. After his arrest, Tweed managed to escape prison and fled to Cuba then Spain. How was he recaptured? Someone recognized Tweed from one of Nast’s cartoons.

As Tweed said, voters didn't bother to read but it doesn't take a long time to read a cartoon. Tweed feared the power and influence of the political cartoon and it ultimately brought him to his arrest. Political cartoons and the symbols created by Nast still continue to be relevant in print and online. Art and entertainment, which has previously been reserved for the rich, has throughout the years to reach everyone. But how much of influence does art and entertainment still has over politics to this day?

 

Left: Fey Right: Palin

During the 2012 presidential elections, Tina Fey of SNL did multiple impersonations of Sarah Palin. While SNL is based on satire, many people don't spend their time watching actual interviews of the presidential and vice president nominees and choose to get their intake of politics from entertainment. A political science professor of University of Missouri agrees, "The perception is that there’s an audience that cites its primary news source as predominantly entertainment shows and, if valid, this certainly would have an impact on the presidential election." Tina Fey's most memorable line while impersonating Palin was, "I could see Russia from my house!" and many people thought it was actually Palin making the statement. My economics and government teacher from high school is baffled how many people actually mistakened the comedienne as the politician and has repeatedly tried to correct his friends and colleagues. Though many people do or don't believe my teacher, it was already clear: entertainment has damaged the reputations of Palin and a long list of politicians who are portrayed as "uncool", "lame", "clumsy" (Chevy Chase, anyone?), or just downright unintelligent. While the entertainment industry continued to mock her, a study revealed that younger viewers thought Palin wasn't suitable to be V.P. 

          Now politics have to keep up a good image on screen for the press and for late night comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart for the sake of making a good impression on young adults and everyone else who is easily swayed by the media. From the past to the present, art and entertainment  proves to be a double ended sword for the world of politics and remains to be influential in society.  

Sources: 

http://www.fasttrackteaching.com/burns/Unit_4_Cities/U4_Tammany_Hall_NYC.html

http://agilewriter.com/Biography/BossTweed.htm

http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/2878-boss-tweed

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/was-sarah-palins-image-hurt-by-tina-fey-you-betcha-40288/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/saturday-night-live-political-skits_n_1901761.html

Field Journal 3: Ars Moriendi et Propaganda

Death is inevitable; so many of us accept it and try not to fixate over it. Then there are the Egyptians who lived by their Book of the Dead in hopes of embarking on a smooth transition from the world of the living to the afterlife.

Wide-spread fear of the Apocalypse reached out to audiences through Beatus’ Commentary of Beatus of the Apocalypse of Saint John the Devine in 776 C.E. As we previously read in chapter 4, different interpretations of the end of the world forced people to prepare for their last moments. This was a time when literacy was beginning to spread out of churches and evidently, information reached out everyone through reading.

During the 14^th century, over 25 million people were wiped out from the bubonic plague and as a result the fear of sudden death was instilled in people’s minds ever since. A sign of relief came in the form of a block book 23 pages long filled with descriptive images and text about confronting death calmly. Much like the Book of the Dead, Ars Moriendi (Art of Death) was created to ease the never-ending thought of death. However, two versions of the book were issued by the Church. The first was written for teaching priests specific prayers and rites whereas the second (the one we’re examining) contains illustrations of the “temptation of the devil and the comfort of the angel on subjects such as faith, impatience, vainglory, and the final hour of death” (Meggs and Purvise, 91).

The Church issued this manual for good intentions as it did ease fear, but as the textbook states, this was one of the first accounts of printed propaganda. The manual covered topics such as acceptable behaviors around the dying to helping those who sought redemption. Church goers took these instructions seriously and adhered to them. But how is this considered propaganda?

Propaganda (noun) - information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

Ars Monrienda is an early example of how successful print propaganda can be thanks to the invention of the printing press, the understanding of typography, and the efforts and contributions from knowledge-hungry artists, designers, cutters, writers, illuminators, calligraphers, carpenters, scribes, book binders, guilders, sponsors and printers. That's a mouthful. 

But it did not just end there; the Renaissance brought an influx of ideas based on humanism, science, and art. And from these ideas, our knowledge and perception expanded. Propaganda also gradually evolved into posters, signs, advertisements, and then multi media. Nowadays we are surrounded by countless propaganda from a politician’s ad campaign to protest signs for higher wages for fast food workers. No longer do we have to depend on print media, anyone can post his or her idea within a click of a button. Anyone can produce anything without having to spend a decade's worth of apprenticeship. It seems like there's always a Renaissance in a modern day sense since people are inherently curious and eager to discover something new. Plus with technology, it's easier than ever to get our point across a continent away.      

Meggs and Purvis accurately sum up the medieval lifestyle in one sentence: “Medieval Christianity fostered a belief that the value of a human life was primarily its effect on God’s judgment after death” (102). Compared to today, people were constantly occupying themselves with the idea of death. Centuries after, individual ideas and beliefs changed the way people question about religion and death. We have proof and science. We have more interpretations than ever before. And how did that all happen? Books and text. We live in a day and age of #YOLO (I cringed as I type) and selfies to document almost every aspect of our lives on a daily basis. We want the latest gadgets, need to be updated, and never waste a moment living in the NOW. Many believe that print is dead, but more magazines and newspapers are continuing to transmit information through tablets. Though we can't touch any actual paper through screens, the art of typography still exists and it will continue to improve over time in all forms of art and propaganda. Civilization has made great leaps and discoveries, and it all started with the invention of printing. 

Field Journal 2: Empress Shotuku and 1 Million Daranis

           Reading about Mesopotamia, Egypt, Suma, Greek, Rome, Ireland, China, Japan, and Korea (there’s so many more countries and civilizations but these came to the top of my head!) made me appreciate the written language we use today and the extent our ancestors have made to the create organized guidelines and rules.

What really fascinated me was chapter 3 The Asian Contribution, specifically in the section “The discovery of printing”.  I was tempted to research about the art and detail that goes into Chinese calligraphy, but I realized it’s pretty popular among some of my classmate’s blogs after I scanned at a few. Fortunately, I was also drawn to the historical allusion to Japanese empress Shotoku’s desperate attempt to save her and her people from a smallpox outbreak.

A WOMAN? IN HISTORY?? That's a first.

Also known as Empress Koken, Empress Shotoku was born on 718 in the city of Nara and was famous to be the last empress of Japan until the 17^th century. She resembled her mother Komyo by being independent and strong-minded and so much to the point she gave her Buddhist monk lover “the highest position [in government] ever held by a commoner” (The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 1, Delmer M. Brown). Her and her mother both built nunneries and temples all throughout Japan. It was believed that Buddhism would protect Japan from natural disasters and that religion would prevent another famine from 644. Shotoku gained full control of the country after she defeats a rebellion led by her cousin against her and sentences him to his death.

During Shotoku’s second reign, she focused on building a loyal and devoted council of Buddhist priests and placed restrictions such as limiting the amount of land non-Buddhists and aristocrats can privately own. By allowing temples to own as much land as they want and not restricting them, Shotoku was encouraging Japan to embrace Buddhism and was planning to make it the state’s permanent religion (Shinto was fervently practiced and worshipped).

Before the smallpox plague that killed her, Shotoku had survived a smallpox plague 30 years prior and first handedly witnessed the nobles around her die. Her devotion to Buddhism was an attempt to avoid another outbreak, so she took matters into her own hands and ordered the printing of 1 million dharanis or prayer charms around the year 761.  

One of the last remaining originals from 770

Japan already had used block printing, but the amount exceeded and shocked people’s expectations, so the dharanis weren’t completed until 770. At the age of 53, Shotoku falls ill and dies from smallpox.

Shotoku’s dharanis were placed in temples and is recorded as one of the oldest printed works in the world. In this particular example, the dharanis were printed a metal-plate method. To this day some of the dharanis like the one above can still be found hung on a pagoda or in museums. 

Empress Shotoku was not seen in a favorable light during most of her reigns for her rash actions and eccentric personality overshadowed her achievements to promote a new religion that still exists and practiced in modern day Japan. Her first reign as empress of Japan was described at chaotic and unconventional, but Shotoku managed to calm down during her second reign and tried to restore a sense of balance and tranquility to appease and protect her citizens. Though many could argue how unfit of a ruler Shotoku was, it is difficult to discredit her once we see and learn about the enormous effort it to look over and carry out the large scale printing and her contribution to the world of print.  

Sources: 

The Cambridge History of Japan Vol. 1, Delmer M. Brown

Japan: A Country Study by Ronald E. Dolan and Robert L. Worden,

Princeton University Library Chronicle Vol. XLVIII by Marks, Patricia H. 

Uppity Women of Medival Times by Vicki Leon