Blog Assignment 5

Artists have always experimented with different art forms and styles. This has lead to many discoveries and failures, the discoveries led to new techniques and styles.

Sir Isaac Newton was one of the first to start experimenting with colors. His take on the color wheels and complimentary colors was revolutionary at the time.

For example, Michel Eugene Chevreul said that "two adjacent colors when seen by the eye will appear as dissimilar as possible." (Chevruel, 1836)

Near the end of the 19th century, Impressionism was the top form of experimentation with colors. Artists were moving away from representation painting, where they would paint something as it looked. By discovering the essence of visual perception and looking into the psychological image of an object, the artists really took painting in a whole new direction.

In Paul Gauguin's Blue Trees, 1888, we can see an odd inclusion of color choices. Normally trees are not blue, but Gauguin is trying to show us how our head sees the trees rather than how our eyes see them.

Vinvent Van Gogh was also, around the same time, interested in experimenting with colors, as seen in his painting: Roots and Tree Trunks, 1890.

Through experimenting our experiences with color and light these artists have strongly developed our understanding of color.

M.E.Chevruel, 1836, in M.Petty, 2011, Color, Perception and Abstraction, slide 6
Figure 1. Gauguin. P. 1888. Blue Trees. Retrieved from http://www.picturalissim.com/t/gauguin_blue_tree_trunks.jpg.

Blog Assignment 4

As long as there have been humans, there has been ornament. “The ornament … being the result of [our] natural instinct.” (Jones, 1856)

Alfred Loos argued that “The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament

from objects of daily use.” (Loos, 1908) This is evident as we can see a vast change of the amount of ornament in our culture since as late as the 19^th century. In 18^th century France, for instance, the royal family was obsessed with ornament and decoration. Because of this, the style of architecture and design of the period is heavily decorated, as seen in the Candelabrum (Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, 1750), shown below. The heavily decorated objects put large strains on the society at the time. The production costs were too high, only the higher classes could afford them and the objects could not be mass produced.

I agree with Loos on this topic. We can see a substantial decrease in the amount of ornamentation on objects. From the decline of the rococo period through to the rise of modernism, we can see a shift towards form and function rather than beauty and moral virtue. A good example of this is the Tea Pot (M. Brandt, 1926) from the Bauhaus, shown below. It is almost completely without decoration. This object is fully focused on its form, using geometrical shapes and simple materials, it is a key element in the modernistic design style.

Throughout time, the decoration of our design and architectural styles has slowly been reduced. The decline in ornamentation is directly related to the evolution of our cultures. 

Loos, Ornament and Crime, 1908

Jones, Ornament of Savage Tribes, 1856

Figure 1. Saint-Germain, J. 1750. Candelabrum. Retrieved from http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/07/arts/07roco-190.jpg

Figure 2. Brandt, M. 1926. Tea Pot. Bauhaus Dessau. Retrieved from http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2007/12/8459-tea-infuser.jpg