Design in Contemporary Contexts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Design in Contemporary Contexts - Essay Example So the 1850’s and onwards the term Realism was used by artists and designers. Romanticism was subjective and Realism was objective. The current historicism has been opposed by modernism with a series of ideas that included Romanticism itself. But a painting school originating in France called Impressionism had a particular impact on modernism. Initially it was work done in air not in the studios as they believed that human beings did not see objects but what they see is the light. With time, the studies of the school became a great influence. When the century was turning, there were three concepts that were in conflict. Firstly, machines as being a part of beauty were considered important. Secondly, the subjective experience was important. Lastly, there was a necessity that a system replaces the concept of objective reality. The first fifteen years of twentieth century of modernism were marked by famous artists such as Matisse, the abstract paintings of Wassily Kandinsky and m any others. To this point, modernism enjoyed subjective experience and the idea of a simplified structure. Cinemas were introduced during this period and the idea of moving pictures gave modernism a unique art form. The art of photography also affected modernism. Modernism began to merge with consumer culture during the 1960’s after World War II. Along with modernist art, modernist design entered the popular cultures. This amalgamation transformed the meaning of modernism itself. This kind of modernism suggested the rejection of tradition which itself became a tradition. It also suggested that there was a difference between the elite modernist and mass consumerist culture and this difference had lost its precision. This marked the start of the Post Modernism era. (Museum Quality, 2007). Two Modernist Artists/Designers Marcel Duchamp was one of the modernist artist who had become famous from the year 1916 when he had installed ready-made objects such as hat stands, bottle stan ds in the art gallery. In 1917, the Fountain which was a ready made object had entered the art history as an iconic object. (Meecham and Sheldon, 2005, p.17).One of his famous quotes are: â€Å"The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.† The above quote stated by Duchamp suggests that modernism can be understood in terms of objectivism through observation of the real world entities and incorporating those observations in art. This shows that he followed the Dadaist and Surrealist Movements. Edward Johnston was another famous modernist artist who became famous in the 1919 when he came up with his iconic object called the London Underground which was a modified form of an existing logo and became greatly popular and liked. He was among the early artists who brought corporate taste in artistic pi ece. (MobileReference). One of the famous quotes by Johnston is: â€Å"A man who don’t know history, he don’t know anything.† Hence, this shows that Johnston believed historicism in art. Marcel Duchamp Marcel Duchamp was a French artist who supported the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. His artwork influenced the Western art’s development after the World War I. He influenced many other famous artists with his