The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Decorative Arts & Design
The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design Details
Review “As a fan of what is frequently labelled ‘mid-century modern’, I’ve hoped for years for a book that would do the graphic design of the era justice and really scratch below the surface. Luckily, The Moderns absolutely doesn’t disappoint.” (Theo Inglis, Creative Review)“I am impressed by the editorial structure. The preliminary chapter on émigrés is very informative. Also, the chapter headed 'Homegrown' includes a number of deserving individuals whom I knew nothing of, other than rare chance glimpses of some individual unattributed pieces.” (Professor Ian McLaren, Member of the 1972 Munich Olympic design team)“Among some of the more noteworthy names are Paul Rand and Alexey Brodovitch, however, the book also includes the work of many ‘true discoveries’, designers whose work although not widely documented, very much contributed to and helped shape this monumental phenomenon.” (Ruby Boddington, It’s Nice That)“I love this book so much. It’s almost as if you had downloaded my brain and retro-engineered a book where I would just plotz over every single illustration. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” (Michael Bierut, Pentagram Design)"This lavishly illustrated book is a veritable behemoth of midcentury graphic design magnificence. It's a comprehensive resource for students, and a deliciously striking read for anyone interested in this fascinating period of design." (Emily Gosling, AIGA Eye on Design) Read more About the Author Steven Heller, America’s leading critic and historian of graphic design, is the author or editor of more than 170 books on design and popular culture, an influential design educator at the School of Visual Arts, and a recipient of the Smithsonian National Design Award.Greg D’Onofrio is a designer and educator, and cofounder of Kind Company and Display, a graphic design collection. Greg has curated, lectured, and authored essays on twentieth-century modern graphic design history. He teaches the history of graphic design at the School of Visual Arts. Read more
Reviews
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." This book has certainly filled in all the gaps I had looking into the history of all major art movements (specifically modern design related movements). More than ever after reading this book, I have become inspired if not more motivated than ever to refine and develop my own vision/system for designing things. You honestly just can't get the same type of quality education/inspiration browsing through the web on Google, Wikipedia, or even going to school for that matter :o. Who knew history could be such a breath of fresh air! It certainly feels like you're picking the brains of the past and retrieving real-world context and experience from these classic modernist designers.If you're serious about being a world class graphic designer someday, you have to read this book. I love how in the intro elegantly explained that there are 3 major types of modernists: 1. Rational moderns, 2. Exuberant moderns, and 3. Eclectic moderns. --Really does give you a framework on looking/ categorizing things. In terms of the content itself, the author is very good at capturing the true essence of each artist with carefully selected works, quotes, and background of all the selected pioneers. In my opinion, super practical esp. for visual learners like myself.The author does a great job in putting these modern artists in the context of how each of them has applied radical, original modernist values during the time design was branching out of the extremes of fine arts and mainstream advertisements (around the 1920's). How the author managed to isolate all the trends and “isms” (such as impressionism, expressionism, futurism, dadaism, cubism, etc.) of all the major art movements around the 1920's, is truly astonishing! I applaud these authors for their hard work, attention to details, and passion to share their knowledge with the rest of us. Good content is not easy to make. These guys have to have learned everything there is about all the artist and their own books along with the entire history from the early expressionist era to everything after WW2.... From the intro and disclosure of how they chose which designers to show examples from to the very end, they manage to remain consistent, comprehensive, and concise throughout the entire book. Diving deep on the hand-picked early immigrant graphic designers who came to America around WW1 and American designers whom all contributed to this early shift in what has now become modern graphic design. I couldn’t recommend this book enough and would easily pay a lot more for it too. I must admit, for $34, this is a total steal. This book is beautiful inside and out. I am actually considering buying another one so that I can start annotating it >__<. I even made my own old school (not so modern, but super practical) paper bag book cover so that I can feel comfortable taking this book to coffee shops! After reading this book, I can say that I've walked away with a strong understanding of key artists and the ability to connect the dots much easier moving forward in this ever-changing world we live in.
