History of Graphic Design March 23rd

We start the night with Art Deco. The true synthesis of so many of the preceding art movements. Futurism, Constructivism, De Stilj, and Cubism combine to idealize and promote the future and the machine age. The engines of war slowly become consumer products, but to make the consumer like these formerly vilified devices, the artists had to promote them in a cold, unemotional detached way. The propaganda of World War I revolved around the death and destruction of human life so much, it was a challenge to get people to trust these devices. But soon, the faith in innovation was restored and the machine age of art came forward. Air France posters to advertisement for the Underground, Art Deco presented motion and expanded thinking in a visual format. With the drums of war pounding, many of the artists from all the movements that combined to form Art Deco immigrated to the United States.

With the drums of war, though, comes propaganda. The Nazi's and the Americans utilized mythic realism to promote themselves, while vilifying the enemy. The propaganda of this era remains at the idealized form of itself. I feel that even today, if you were to ask teens about war propaganda, they are more likely to cite the not so subtle of the World War II propaganda than any modern form. Granted, this was in the era when posters were the mode of communication. Today, with television, the propaganda is more successfully integrated into others forms, that without training, I feel it would be possible to be unaware of the forces acting upon you. The utilization of the icons and ideals of the enemy to demoralize the opponent and promote patriotism successfully embeds the most negative emotions of the human condition in one's head. I can still clearly imagine the poster of the children playing as the shadow of the Nazi swastika creeps over the yard in which they play. It'll likely remain in my head forever, despite the war being so distant from my generation.