12) 1970's Onwards

From 1970's onwards small groups of verious styles and beliefs went head to head with oneanother this clash between local culture was a regular trending theme amongst the population between the 60's and the 70's. presumably a backlash effect from the punk fad.

These cultures rebel against each other by going against its opposing styles, standing up for there beliefs despite them going against current trends and in general fighting against the normal, it can escalate verbally and physically This is exactly the case with rock and roll and the arrival of punk rock.

Rock and Roll was a new concept that came out of the end of the cold war initially led by artists such as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly. This style of music at its time was considered very inappropriate for children due to its sexual undercurrent and was believer to cause delinquency amongst the youth, this view on this new style of music just made the youths agitated that this form of music was talked down on.

2) The Medieval World

History has shown that the Chinese are normally more advanced than other culture and have new developments much earlier than most other cultures. The earliest Chinese script ever to be recorded and discovered was around about the year 1000 BC and was wrote on animal bones but mostly on the back of shelled creatures such as turtles or snails. this type of writing is called calligraphy and and this specific form of calligraphy is called seal script, some of the characters shown on the shells have been translated by specialist and have been shown to be questions or prays to there gods on behalf of there emperor.

chinese calligraphy advanced futher during the Han dynasty 206 BC - 220 AD due to the development of paper/silk, this new text was called lishu, this was a more understand for of calligrahy, not long after the end of the Han dynasty, a new form of calligraphy took form called the running script, and was called so for its fast flowing strokes that give the illusion of movement. this type of script is still used today

Even though calligraphy has changed immensely over the years there is one thing that has stayed throughout the chinese culture and that is practising the art of calligraphy and how it is really important for them to do so, It became such an important activity within Chinese culture that dances and sword techniques were designed in homage to the shapes of the characters. they believe in order to master one art they had to master both brush and blade

Even things from modern day culture throughout China is still influenced by this elegant form of writing, most martial arts films consist of warriors both weapon-masters or hand to hand experts practising the art of calligraphy. (write some movies down write about the significance of the scene)

MORENA F. Chinoiserie: the evolution of the Oriental style in italy from the 14th to the 19th century, Centro Di, 2009

11) 1950's & 1960's

•Pop Art
pop art was an interesting movement and this post will focus on the work of Andy Warhol

Pop Art was born in Britain in the mid 1950s. It was the brain-child of several young subversive artists - as most modern art tends to be. The first application of the term Pop Art occurred during discussions among artists who called themselves the Independent Group (IG), which was part of the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, begun around 1952-53.

http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Pop-Art-Art-History-101-Basics.htm

pop art is derived from popular culture, taking imagery that is easily recognisable by the masses, and turning it into art, artists use imagery that was in current circulation, in advertising, comic books, and anything that everyone could see, like everyday objects.

campbells soup was the most prolific soup brand of america, it was the soup of the people, rich or poor, everybody could enjoy campbells soup. Warhol recognised this and he wanted to create recognisable art, the image of a campbells soup can was on everything, prints, wallpapers, clothing, shoes, and the image almost began to lose meaning

The same as with campbells soup, Warhol wanted to take a recognisable image and repeat it to the extreme, he repeated the image so many times, printing in different combinations of colours, and it swiftly became the most recognisable image of pop art, it has also became quite the pop art trope to repeat an image four times in different colours in this style

10) 1940's & 1950's

•Commercialism and branding in the 1950s.

50's advertisements were generally laden with sexism for no real reason, ad men seemed to think that women were only for housework and bearing children, but mainly housework. This lead to ad men producing these kinds of adverts that lead people to believe that women were stupid, adverts even implied that housework might even be a bit much for them.

A common theme in tobacco advertisements was recommendations from professionals such as doctors and dentists, advocating a particular brand of cigarettes as healthier than other brands, and therefore you should buy the lesser of the evils.

car advertisements in the 50's were very well done, though they all looked pretty similar, car companies were scared of adverts not showing the car, so all of them will show the car in full, its only later that the adverts started showing how the car would make you feel, or candid shots of parts of the car

many adverts in the 50's were illustrated for print, though this one is photographed, the context of this advert again is very sexist, and implies that if you don't buy this coffee your husband will beat you, this advert is very controversial now due to the issues of sexism and domestic violence, but it was perfectly fine when it was circulating

This advert implies that schlitz beer is as good as eating dinner, and a perfectly fine substitute, it also works on quite a clever level, in that even if you don't want a beer right now, you should have them in the house anyway, because who knows when your wife could burn the dinner, the art in all of these advertisements is beautiful and extremely well done, and are quite witty in concept and execution, though for obvious reason they wouldn't be allowed today

9) 1930'2 USA

analysis of 3 key photos of the FSA dustbowl programe

in the 1930's dustorms raged through central america for 8 years, destroying crops, and causing poverty, it was caused by drough, and the over work of feilds, dust storms kicked up and caused more fields to be covered in dust as the drought continued. Photography became quite a popular way of showing the Dust bowl period, and one of the most famous dust bowl photgraphers was Dorothea Lange, i will be exploring her work

For eight years dust blew on the southern plains. It came in a yellowish-brown haze from the South and in rolling walls of black from the North. The simplest acts of life — breathing, eating a meal, taking a walk — were no longer simple. Children wore dust masks to and from school, women hung wet sheets over windows in a futile attempt to stop the dirt, farmers watched helplessly as their crops blew away.

this is quite possibly the most famous dustbowl photograph, it is by Dorothea Lange, and shows a poor migrant woman, her two children, and hew newly born baby, the purpose of thes photographs was to show the plight of america at the time and to show what was being done about it, these photos generated unity in the country and spurred the FSA which stressed rural rehabilitation programs to fix the dustbowl problem

this is another photograph by Dorothea Lange, it is of the same migrant woman Forence Thompson, but from a different perspective, it showed her living situation during the poverty period, as she lived with her elderly mother and three children. This photo must have been extremely difficult to see if you weren't effected by the dust bowl, it really showed how far it had came

this is a photo of a farm that was ravished by dust storms, the crops are completely withered, and the house looks ghostly and abandoned, even the tree has been completely stripped of leaves and dried up, features of this photo became a trope of the time, such as the little wooden decrepit house, and the wind mill atop the house

8) 1920's

the propaganda of graphic design and poster illustration in 1920's soviet russia

soviet russian propaganda posters promoted unity and socialism, themes such as helping the country rather than yourself, russia being as one, the graphic design was heavy in these posters as they were all done in an art deco style, which was very fashionable at the time, the posters always showed images of the ideal person, a very fit man with sweat on his brow from manual labour smilling and looking proud of the fact that he is helping his country, or a wealthy looking still very fit man and his beautiful family. This set an ideal fro russian men, they all strived to be like that, they didnt complain about mqanual labour as they were all helping their country, and were all very proud of it.

7) 1900-1920

The Birth of Hollywood.

Paramount Pictures produced very extravagant films
MGM produced opulent feel good films to distract people from the depression
Warner Brothers produced street wise edgy films about like those about investigators

advancements in technology allowed the film industry to take control of lighting and to create much more beautiful and realistic sets
engineering advancements allowed much more impressive filming techniques such as gliding imagery
they built grand theatres to show their grand films
Studios liked to be in control of every part of their production, the only thing that they werent in control of was the music, it was originally played in house as the movie went on, studios didn't like this so they sent out soundtracks to go along with the movies, this allowed them to produce "talkies"
the first talkie was 'the jazz singer' by warner brothers which was about a black jazz singer, a white man played him with black make up on like that of the black and white minstrells
charlie chaplin still produced silent films after the introduction of speech, films like modern times, he was very aware of this and used it well
The first blockbuster hit was produced, gone with the wind, which production cost $4 million and it grossed over $200 million.
Colours were heavily saturated and bright in films when colour was first introduced due to it being new, and people finding it so visually apealling, the bright colours also cheared people up in times of depression
Citizen Kane was produced in 1941, and it 'broke' all of the film rules in terms of camera angles and shots, aswell as set designs
snow white was produced which was the first full length feature animation
Walt disney revolutionised animated film, but became less inovative, as opposed to being drawn frame by frame it was photocopied instead

5) 19th Century

The development of photography in the 19th century meant that war and its aftermath could be
recorded in a true way during the moment, as opposed to previous wars where paintings and
imagery were produce far after the war based on artists interpretation, or stories passed on,
which could lose meaning.

The war being recorded in photography also meant that people at home could see what was
happening in the world around them. It also helped to keep the legacy of the war and keep
people educated about what happened

This September 1862 photo provided by the Library of Congress shows Allan Pinkerton on
horseback during the Battle of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland.


Fortifications at Yorktown, Virginia, during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. 

4) 17th & 18th Century

William Hogarth. A Rake's Progress, 1735

It is said that Hogarth's busy depictions of London set the stage for satirical illustrators such as
James Gillray, i believe this is said due to the exaggerations of scenes and characters in his
illustrations, though his characters are far more believable than those of other satirical
illustrators.

             The eight paintings in William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress (1733) tell the story of Tom Rakewell, a young man who follows a path of vice and self-destruction after inheriting a fortune from his miserly father. It was Hogarth's second 'modern moral subject', and followed the hugely successful A Harlot's Progress (1730). 
             
             http://www.soane.org/collections_legacy/the_soane_hogarths/rakes_progress/

The engravings were made of the series of oil paintings, this was done so that people could
subscribe to the series of prints being produced


James Gillray, Following the Fashion, 1786

James Gillray's work is far more stylised than that of Hogarth's, this is much closer to caricature
work, the illustration is far more satirical, due to the work of Hogarth being context based,
meaning that you need the story to get the joke, but the work of Gillray has little story behind it,
meaning that you could understand the joke intended at a glance.

3) The Renaissance

Caxton was the first English printer and a translator and importer of books into England.

Caxton was born in around 1422 in Kent. He went to London at the age of 16 to become an apprentice to a merchant, later moving to Bruges, the centre of the wool trade, where he became a successful and important member of the merchant community. From 1462 to 1470 he served as governor of the 'English Nation of Merchant Adventurers', which allowed him to represent his fellow merchants, as well as act as a diplomat for the king.

Caxton affiliated himself with the household of Margaret, the duchess of Burgundy, sister of the English king Edward IV. She became one of his most important patrons and encouraged him with his translation of 'The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye' from French to English. In the early 1470s Caxton spent time in Cologne learning the art of printing. He returned to Bruges in 1472 where he and Colard Mansion, a Flemish calligrapher, set up a press. Caxton's own translation of 'The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye' was the first book printed in the English language.

In 1476 Caxton returned to London and established a press at Westminster, the first printing press in England. Amongst the books he printed were Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', Gower's 'Confession Amantis' and Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur'. He printed more than 100 books in his lifetime, books which were known for their craftsmanship and careful editing. He was also the translator of many of the books he published, using his knowledge of French, Latin and Dutch. He died in 1492.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caxton_william.shtml

1) The Ancient World

Research further examples of visual communication- especially relating to spiritual or religious beliefs and how they were expressed.

Ancient Egypt.

"A valuable key to the decipherment of hieroglyphs, the inscription on the Rosetta Stone is a decree passed by a council of priests. It is one of a series that affirm the royal cult of the 13-year-old Ptolemy V on the first anniversary of his coronation.

In previous years the family of the Ptolemies had lost control of certain parts of the country. It had taken their armies some time to put down opposition in the Delta, and parts of southern Upper Egypt, particularly Thebes, were not yet back under the government's control.

Before the Ptolemaic era (that is before about 332 BC), decrees in hieroglyphs such as this were usually set up by the king. It shows how much things had changed from Pharaonic times that the priests, the only people who had kept the knowledge of writing hieroglyphs, were now issuing such decrees. The list of good deeds done by the king for the temples hints at the way in which the support of the priests was ensured.

The decree is inscribed on the stone three times, in hieroglyphic (suitable for a priestly decree), demotic (the native script used for daily purposes), and Greek (the language of the administration). The importance of this to Egyptology is immense.

Soon after the end of the fourth century AD, when hieroglyphs had gone out of use, the knowledge of how to read and write them disappeared. In the early years of the nineteenth century, some 1400 years later, scholars were able to use the Greek inscription on this stone as the key to decipher them.

Thomas Young, an English physicist, was the first to show that some of the hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone wrote the sounds of a royal name, that of Ptolemy. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion then realized that hieroglyphs recorded the sound of the Egyptian language and laid the foundations of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture."

https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/t/the_rosetta_stone.aspx

6) Impressionism art nouveau

Examples of Art Nouveau in Illustration and Graphics.

Art Nouveau translated to "New Art" is a style that became most popular between 1890-1910, it encompasses such a wide array of mediums, such as painting, sculpture, jewellery, metalwork, glass ceramics and so on. The style incorporates natural forms in a major way as most artists greatest influence was nature, not in the beauty of nature like most other art forms, but instead that actual forces of nature, birth, life, and death.

Art Nouveau by Alfons Mucha 

Alfons Maria Mucha, often in English and French as "Alphonse Mucha" was a Czech artist born 1860, he is knows for his beautiful paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs, all done in "The Mucha style", which later became known as art nouveau, this is why Mucha is often considered the inventor of Art Nouveau. Mucha's work commonly features beautiful young women in neoclassical robes, surrounded by vines or flowers, women often have huge circular frames behind them in a similar way that the Mother Mary usually is depicted with a halo. I believe that these shapes represents a rosary, which is said to represent the life force inherent in the womb.

Rose by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

             Charles Rennie Mackintosh, born in Glasgow 1868, was an architect, designer, and artist. He was quite large in Art Nouveau, and he had a big influence on European designers. Mackintosh's work differs greatly from Mucha's in many ways, but it is similar in the way that his work still features subtle colours, and vivid shapes and forms,

References
http://www.alfonsmucha.org/biography.html
http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/a/art-nouveau/
http://www.mucha.cz/index.phtml?S=biog&Lang=EN
http://www.charlesrenniemac.co.uk/how-it-began
http://www.crmsociety.com/crmackintosh.aspx