Week 9 Graphic Design and the Industrial Revolution - A History of ...

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A HISTORY OFGRAPHIC DESIGNproduced the Swedish Song Quartett poster (c. 1867) and the graphics for the poster of Grover Cleveland and Thomas A.Hendricks in the 1884 presidential campaign. Hallmarks of his designs were meticulous and convincing tonal drawingand the integration of image and lettering into a unified design (Fig. 9-52).Louis Prang (1824–1909), page 164, a German immigrant to America whose work and influence were international inthe Victorian Era. His knowledge of printing chemistry, color, business management, designing, engraving, and printingitself was of great value when he formed a chromolithography firm with Julius Mayer in 1856. In addition to creatingart reproductions and Civil War maps and scenes, he produced literally millions of album cards printed with images ofwildflowers, butterflies, children, animals, and birds, called “scrap.” He has also been called the father of the AmericanChristmas card for his pioneering work in holiday graphics. Unable to find high-quality, nontoxic art materials for children,he began to manufacture and distribute watercolor sets and crayons. Finding a complete lack of competent educationalmaterials for teaching industrial artists, fine artists, and children, he devoted tremendous energy to developingand publishing art instruction books (Fig. 9-54).Walter Crane (1845–1915), page 168, one of the earliest and most influential designers of children’s picture books.Apprenticed as a wood engraver as a teenager, he was twenty years old in 1865 when his Railroad Alphabet waspublished. A long series of his toy books broke with the traditions of printed material for children and sought only toentertain. He drew inspiration from the flat color and flowing contours of Japanese woodblock prints and was the firstto introduce them into Western art (Fig. 9-65).Randolph Caldecott (1846–1886), page 168, a bank clerk who developed a passion for drawing and took evening lessonsin painting, sketching, and modeling. He possessed a unique sense of the absurd, and his ability to exaggerate movementand facial expressions of both people and animals brought his work to life. His humorous drawing style becamea prototype for children’s books and later, for animated films (Fig. 9-66).Kate Greenaway (1846–1901), page 170, Her expressions of the childhood experience captured the imagination of theVictorian era. As a poet and illustrator, she created a modest, small world of childhood happiness; as a book designer,she sometimes pushed her graceful sense of page layout to innovative levels. The clothes she designed for her modelshad a major influence on children’s fashion design, and she became a renowned graphic artist whose books are still inprint (Fig. 9-67).James (1795–1869) and John (1797–1875) Harper, page 170, used modest savings—and their father’s offer to mortgagethe family farm if necessary—to launch a New York printing firm called Harper Brothers in 1817.Wesley (1801–1870) and Fletcher (1807–1877) Harper, page 170, joined the Harper Brothers firm in 1823 and 1825, respectively.Eighteen-year-old Fletcher Harper became the firm’s editor when he became a partner.Thomas Nast (1840–1902), page 171, an artist-correspondent for Harper’s Weekly. Fletcher Harper hired him when hewas twenty-two to make battlefield sketches during the Civil War. The power of his work was such that President AbrahamLincoln called him “the best recruiting sergeant” and General Ulysses S. Grant declared that he had done asmuch as anyone to bring the conflict to a close. His deep social and political concerns led him to strip away detail andintroduce symbols and labels for increased communicative effectiveness in his work. He has been called the father ofAmerican political cartooning. The graphic symbols he popularized and focused include a number of important images:Santa Claus, John Bull (as a symbol for England), the Democratic donkey, the Republican elephant, Uncle Sam, andColumbia (a symbolic female signifying democracy that became the prototype for the Statue of Liberty). His relentlesspolitical graphic attack of Tammany Hall culminated on election day in a double-page cartoon of the “Tammany tiger”loose in the Roman Colosseum devouring liberty, while Tweed, as the Roman emperor surrounded by his elected officials,presided over the slaughter (Figs. 9-71a and 9-71b).Charles Dana Gibson (1867–1944), page 171, His images of young women and square-jawed men established a canonof physical beauty in the mass media that endured for decades. His illustrations of women were dubbed the “GibsonGirls” (Fig. 9-72).Howard Pyle (1853–1911), page 172, His own work and remarkable gifts as a teacher made him the major force thatlaunched the period called the Golden Age of American Illustration. He published over 3,300 illustrations and twohundred texts ranging from simple children’s fables to his monumental, four-volume The Story of King Arthur and His
A HISTORY OFGRAPHIC DESIGNKnights. The meticulous research, elaborate staging, and historical accuracy of his work inspired a younger generationof graphic artists to carry forward the tradition of realism in America. He was twenty-three years old when he receivedhis first illustration commission from Scribner’s Monthly in 1876 and developed his style with the advances in photographicprinting and the four-color process system (Fig. 9-73).Volney Palmer, page 172, opened what is considered the first advertising agency in Philadelphia.N. W. Ayer, page 172, in Philadelphia as N. W. Ayer and Son, pioneered the advertising agency as a consulting firm withan array of specialized skills. In 1875 Ayer gave his clients an open contract that allowed them access to the real ratespublications were charging the agencies; he then received an additional percentage for placing the advertisements. Inthe 1880s, Ayer provided services clients were not equipped to perform and publishers did not offer, such as copywriting.By the end of the century, he was well on the way toward offering a complete spectrum of services: copywriting,art direction, production, and media selection.
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