After understanding history of visual art, let us take a look at history of applied art which subsequently known as design. The term design has undeniably wide meaning. Therefore, in this post, I narrowed it down into product design. As a matter of fact, unlike art, the history of design does not record abundant prominent designers or distinctive design movements. In such way, I take historic approach based on influential designers around the world who live in different era.

The most defining feature of these designers is their versatility. Besides their exquisite creations as product designers, half of them also excel as architects and interior designers, while some of them are excellent painters, sculptors, or craftsmen. Their common root from architecture explains why the majority of their products revolve around various kinds of furniture.


The first designer on this list is Frank Lloyd Wright since his works indicate the birth of modern design alongside with the Arts and Crafts movement. This movement emerged in England in the late 19th century to fortify craftsmanship and the importance of design as a response to industrialization. Even though it was initiated by John Ruskin and William Morris, correspondingly with them, Wright was a notable figure. From that time forward the development of design is immensely influenced by visual art, discovery of new materials (ie. plastic, resin, aluminium) and advancement of production processes (ie. injection molding, foam padding, chrome plating).

From this list we can see that each designer possesses his/her own signature style. For each designer, I chose three iconic design works which highly represent their signature. You can see that these designers are consistent with specific materials or forms and the philosophy within their works. Furthermore besides designing products, they are directly involved with the manufacturing process. On the other hand, to market their works, they are often collaborate with renowned firms such as Alessi, Braun, Cappellini, and Vitra. So, who is your favourite from this list?

PS. What is it with black and white portrait and designers touching their faces?


SOURCE
-Couturier, Elisabeth. (2010). Talk About Design. Paris: Flammarion.
-Miller, Judith. (2012). 20th Century Design.  London: Octopus Publishing Group.
-Wikipedia

Bulan kemarin saya berkesempatan untuk memborong buku di Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Indonesia. Salah satu buku yang saya beli berjudul 50 Art Ideas You Really Need to Know oleh Susie Hodge.

Saya pernah menjadi mahasiswa di Fakultas Seni Rupa dan Desain, tetapi saya tidak pernah mendapat kesempatan untuk mendalami bidang seni sehingga saya harus belajar secara mandiri. Bagi saya seni sangat penting karena seni dapat menggambarkan kondisi peradaban dan bagaimana dunia bekerja sepanjang dekade. Memahami seni sama dengan memahami sejarah dengan cara yang lebih menarik dikarenakan visualnya yang memukau. Sebagai seorang pemula, buku ini berhasil menjadi pemandu yang baik.

Buku ini menggarisbawahi 50 pemikiran di dunia seni dimulai dari asalnya, seni kuno, sampai seni kontemporer. Seorang art connoisseur profesional mungkin mengatakan bahwa ada lebih dari 50 pemikiran di luar sana, tetapi penulis berhasil memilih 50 pemikiran yang paling menarik. Rangkumannya dapat dilihat pada presentasi di bawah ini.
Walaupun pemikiran ini ditampilkan secara linear, beberapa pemikiran tumpang tindih antara satu dan lainnya. Ini bisa disebabkan perbedaan pergerakan seni yang terjadi di beberapa negara atau lebih dari satu pergerakan berlangsung secara bersamaan. Meskipun begitu pergerakan tersebut hampir selalu dimulai sebagai respons atas pergerakan sebelumnya yang dianggap 'salah' dan tren terus berganti sesuai dengan kepercayaan religius, penemuan ilmiah, serta kondisi sosial, ekonomi, dan politik yang berlangsung. Contohnya pergolakan agama (byzantine art), penggunaan mesin cetak (early renaissance), reformasi protestan (mannerism), penemuan kota Pompeii (neoclassicism), revolusi industri (impressionism), teori Sigmund Freud (surrealism), the great depression (social realism), dan perang dingin (action painting).

Buku ini menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada pergerakan seni yang sempurna. Setiap pergerakan dianggap benar atau baik pada masanya. Orang dapat berkarya untuk dirinya sendiri mengekspresikan emosi, mempengaruhi orang lain dengan karya seni berlatar isu sosial, atau memancing kontemplasi dengan karya penuh simbolisme yang masing-masing menarik bagi apresiator yang berbeda. Tidak perlu diperdebatkan.

Hal lain yang saya sukai dari buku ini adalah buku hadir dalam berbagi seri. Jika seni tidak memuaskan rasa keingintahuanmu, seri buku ini meliputi subjek yang luas seperti arsitektur, ekonomi, perang, literatur, filsafat, alam semesta, dan sejarah dunia.

BUKU
50 Art Ideas You Really Need To Know
Susie Hodge
Quercus
2011

Last month I had a book haul at Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Indonesia. One of the book that I bought entitled 50 Art Ideas You Really Need to Know by Susie Hodge.

I used to be a student in Faculty of Art and Design but I never had a chance to profoundly learn about art. Hence, I have to learn independently. For me, art is essential since art perfectly depicts the condition of civilization and how the world works through decades. Understanding art means understanding history in a more attractive way because of all the stunning visuals. As a beginner myself, this book acts as an impeccable guide.

The book points out 50 art ideas starting from the provenance, ancient art, up to contemporary art. A professional art connoisseur might say that there are more than 50 ideas out there, but the writer managed to choose the most salient. The summary can be seen at the slide below.
Even though the ideas are presented in a linear way, some of the ideas are overlapping one another. This may be caused by different art movements in different countries or more than one movement happened simultaneously. Nevertheless the movement was almost always begun as a response for previous movement which was considered ‘wrong’ and the trend keeps changing depends on religious belief, scientific discovery, and also social, economics, and political condition occurred. For instance religious upheaval (byzantine art), development of printing press (early renaissance), protestant reformation (mannerism), discovery of Pompeii (neoclassicism), industrial revolution (impressionism), Sigmund Freud's theory (surrealism), the great depression (social realism), and cold war (action painting).

This book shows me that there is no perfect art movement. Each movement was considered right or good at their own time. People can paint for themselves to express emotion, influence others with social interest artwork, or provoke contemplation with full of symbolism artwork which appeals to different kind of viewers. There is no need for relentless debate.

Another thing that I love about this book is it comes in series. If art does not satisfy your curiosity yet, the series covers wide range of subjects such as architecture, economics, war, literature, philosophy, universe, and world history.

BOOK
50 Art Ideas You Really Need To Know
Susie Hodge
Quercus
2011