Gothic Revival

The Gothic Revival style was inspired by the medieval design that came before it.  This style was part of the mid-19th century romantic movement associated with architecture.
This style that was mostly in America was enhanced and advanced by Alexander Jackson Davis and Andrew Jackson Downing, architects and authors of Rural Residences(1837), Cottage Residences(1842) and The Architecture of Country Houses(1850).
The Gothic revival style was also a popular style for churches. They had castle-like towers, parapets and pointed arched windows.

Example of a church with Gothic Style in Gozo in Nadur.

source: Mid-19th Century Period. 2013. Mid-19th Century Period. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/mid-19th_century_period/2386/gothic_revival_style/293443. [Accessed 17 May 2013].

how Japanese art influenced Vincent Van Gogh.

Japanese art had a great influence on Van Gogh, especially Japanese woodcuts. This happened when Van Gogh moved to Paris in 1886. This was the time he was introduced to impressionism as well as Japonism. He liked the bold designs, vivid colours and the flat areas of colour it had.
Van Gogh's brother(Theo) ran an art gallery at the time in Montmartre. This helped Vincent get in contact with ukiyo-e, an Japanese artist. Van Gogh spent a lot of time in the gallery studying the works and what made them have the Japonism style. He later became a collector of ukiyo-e's work.
Van Gogh copied two designs of Japanese landscape printmaker, Hiroshige. He copied the prints 'The Bridge in the Rain' and 'Flowering Plum Tree'. In the 'The Bridge in the Rain', Van Gogh filled the border with calligraphic figures that he got from other Japanese related prints.
Van Gogh created a version of 'The Courtesan' in the same fashion as the others. This piece was based on Kesai Eisen's work, another Japanese artist. The frame of this piece was as well filled with Japanese prints. Even though Van Gogh copied the prints, the changed them to make them fit his style as well. The copies Van Gogh made had brighter colours and a greater contrast could be seen from the colours.


'The Bridge in the Rain'


'Flowering Plum Tree'

source:  Japonisme, Japonaiserie, Japanese Influence on Van Gogh . 2013.Japonisme, Japonaiserie, Japanese Influence on Van Gogh . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/influences/japonisme.html. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

Olympia painting. Edouard Manet.

Edouard Manet's painting 'Olympia' in 1863 was the first well known painting from a Western Culture that involved the influences of Japanese style. This painting made Manet the first person to be documented that lead to the French Japonisme style.
Taking genuine interest in the Japanese style, Edouard Manet, made these implications subtly, making the style his own, making his work not all of Japanese. This subtle hints could not be seen by the casual viewer.
'Olympia' had elements of light, shadow and shade but the figure in the composition had a certain flatness and  focus was made on the contour line that the Japanese style was famous for.



source: documented file.

Japonisme

japonisme and Japonism are both French terms. They were first used by Jules Claretie in the book "L' Art Francais" which he wrote in 18 72. The book is about the influence of Japanese art on Western art.
Japan opened trade again with the west and sold fans, porcelains, woodcuts and screens. These were all first time seen by European countries mostly effecting France and The Netherlands. This was around 1854.
Japanese art got a lot of attention from the World's Fair that was held in Europe in 1862. In the 1860s', Japanese art such as woodblock prints became very popular and got a lot of other artists inspired. Some of these artists were Monet,Degas and Van Gogh.





source: Japonisme, Japonaiserie, Japanese Influence on Van Gogh . 2013.Japonisme, Japonaiserie, Japanese Influence on Van Gogh . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/influences/japonisme.html. [Accessed 16 May 2013].

Paimio Chair

The Paimio chair was designed by Alvar Aalto. The chair was created as part of the Paimio Sanatorium's overall project. This was won by Alvar Aalto in 1929. instead of using metal tubes which was popular at the time, Aalto wanted something that will feel warmer, more at home. In 1931, the Paimio chair was created with bent plywood and laminated wood. The simple design was made not only for looks but also for people to feel free and not claustrophobic while sitting.



Aalto 41 Paimio armchair - Lounge & Sofas - Furniture - Finnish Design Shop. 2013. Aalto 41 Paimio armchair - Lounge & Sofas - Furniture - Finnish Design Shop. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.finnishdesignshop.com/furniture-lounge-sofas-artek-paimio-aalto-paimio-armchair-p-4371.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Erik Nitsche

Erik Nitsche was born in Naursanne, Switzerland. His family was very open minded towards art, this being that both his father and grandfather were well-known photographers and they had friends like the artist Paul Klee that was very close to the family.

He studied a the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich. He graduated in early 1930s' and started working in Cologne, Germany. He was later hired by Maximilien vox in Paris. There, he did illustrations for magazines and newspapers.

Nitche then left for the United States. He started his work in Hollywood, making movie set designs for musicals. He didn't stay there long and left for New York.

In New York, he worked as a freelance graphic artist for major american fashion magazines. Some of these were LIFE, LOOK and VANITY FAIR.
in 1940, the people behind Air Tech and Air News magazines asked him to become an art director for their magazines. These were specialized technical magazines with charts and graphs, mostly about aerodynamics and hydraulic systems. 

He was very productive in the 1940s', working for a large number of clients as an art-director. In 1948, he became an art director for Mademoiselle magazine for a couple of issues before Bradbury Thompson took over later
Nitsche was restless and called himself a 'nomad'. This was because he could never keep a job for very long.
He later got involved in the Gotham agency. He was assigned as art director in 1955 and could build the company's image the way he wanted.
He was working for General Dynamics when they were working on the first atomic submarine. Nitsche was given very few information on how the submarine would look like and had to give it his own touch. He made it look nothing like a killing machine and rather as a progressive tool in peacekeeping. That was the start of all General Dynamics products.
Nitche built himself a total corporate identity between 1955 and 1960. This included advertisements  posters, brochures, annual reports and a book called 'Dynamic America', a 420-page book about the company history.
When he decided to finished his career he moved to Munich. He kept designing stamps and record sleeves. This stopped in 1995 when he was diagnosed with fatal illness which took away his health and strength. He died on November 10, 1998.
His work spoke for itself in fact he once said "preferred to the the work, not talk about it." Even though he was not a big part of it, he did play a role in Modernism. He always followed his own intuition and for this, he did not take on the Swiss international style because it felt too cold and distant. Saying this, his work did resemble the Swiss style but his classic typography distanced it from it. This might have caused his absence in the Hall of Fame.

   

information from: Erik Nitsche - iconofgraphics.com. 2013. Erik Nitsche - iconofgraphics.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.iconofgraphics.com/Erik-Nitsche/. [Accessed 15 May 2013].

Savoy Vase

The Savoy Vase was named after a restaurant in Helsinki called Savoy which opened in 1937. Even though the vase is named after the restaurant  it was not made for it. It was a part of a series of designs which Alvar Aalto entered into a competition and won.
Aalto wanted the forms to blown into molds of thin steel sheets. This was so that molds were easily replaceable to make remodeling possible. He took part in production trying to soften the sharpest curves. Then the molds had to be done in wood. This continued until 1954 when the wooden molds were replaced with cast-iron molds.
The original height of the vase was 140mm.
There are a lot of people who have different opinions to the form of the Savoy vase. Some say it represents the characteristic shapes of the Finnish landscape. Others say it was Aalto's intention to make it formless, symbolizing formless nature.



Alvar Aalto: Savoy Vase (1936). Text by Jan Michl. 2013. Alvar Aalto: Savoy Vase (1936). Text by Jan Michl. [ONLINE] Available at:http://janmichl.com/eng.aalto.html. [Accessed 15 May 2013].