Point Essay: Explorations

“The right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this: was it done with enjoyment?”
~John Ruskin
As this unit began, people still explore what it means to be modern. There was a notion of the exotic previously and a desire to be in a place of elsewhere. Not the notion was borrowing on the natural world. According to William Morris this was a medieval revival which was true architecture. In the Red House, William Morris allows the space to rely on the warmth of wood, and the exterior is asymmetrical to resemble the outdoors. This leads to the arts and crafts and the aesthetic movement. Art becomes much apart of space where objects depict value. Interior spaces should be completely decorated which implies an ideal life. An environment which has been altered are the spaces people desire. This raises a question of what’s surfaced and what’s substance.

As the 19th century comes about, many changes occur. There are changes in society where population increases. A scientific development occurs. The industrial revolution allows for new materials- concrete, iron, and steel. These changes alter the interior and the sense of privacy. New ideas occur such as the elevator and the bay window. With new technology, the focus no longer is about ornament but the machine.

Though the industrial revolution pushes design further, the question of whether or not to look forward or backward still arises. Art Nouveau is the first movement to look forward. It embraces new material and does not look back to classic or medieval precedents. Hector Guimard mentions that “it is not the flower to take as a decorative element, but it is the stem.” This idea looks forward rather than backward to typical past design movements. The idea that it is no longer the typical flower which is seen beautiful rather the stem is a surrealistic idea that changes the way one looks at design. The machine becomes a part of decoration in interior spaces. It portrays the moving line and a new fluid style.

The Art Nouveau movement was not popular in the United States, except in decorative. Art Deco started in Paris and soon became popular in elsewhere. It consisted of humorous and the theatre, layers and tiers, and a notion for speed and movement. The movies played a huge role in the influence of design. The movies inspired buildings to look like a set one would see in a movie. The set on the screen was a place of elsewhere, a glamorous place which everyone longed for. It becomes a time of explosion of color and a sense of worldliness. The machine also plays an important role. It transforms the meaning of architecture, purifying forms back to geometry. Design was sleek-so sleek that the past slides right off.

However, what happens when a legacy is handed to the next generation? This matter of fact alters design again. The 20th century becomes a crisis of what good design is about. People look backward to the Crystal Palace and the Eiffel Tower for inspiration. Design tries to move beyond modernism and instead play with forms and textures. However, sometimes too much focus on form and texture leads a design that is not functional.

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It seems as though the crisis is not in modernism, instead the 20th century is an era in which many design languages are occurring that no specific one is apparent. Even today, people are always looking back to what they think good architecture is. People never seem to see the good in what is happening in the moment. In such a short period of time, many life changing events occur altering design tremendously. In our last meeting as a class, it was mentioned that people have this innate feeling to want to go back to the “good ole days.” People strive to move forward in design, yet want everything to be how it used to be. Today, we are in the suburban era where people design for themselves and want everything to be fast and fit their needs. Maybe this era does answer John Ruskin’s quote that design now is done with enjoyment. However, it seems this era has lost a sense about design in itself. Maybe people will recognize this missing link. Who knows what the next design movement will be. I am sure it will continue to look back to the past. Who can say what the “good ole days” consisted of. Design will continue moving forward and looking backward. It is not a crisis but an uncertainty of what is happening in the now.

Reading Comprehension 7

After visiting the Greensboro Collects show at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, I found much art spoke to people and the experience one may have in life. For my group, I was supposed to focus on the “In the Studio” exhibit. This exhibition mentions how the studio is the site for any art production. The studio creates experiences that may look at popular culture or stereotypes. The studio truly emphasizes the emotions of the space or person and their identity. Many of the art selections concentrate on the human form and the simplicity of the lines that make up the human body. The delicacy, and contour lines of the human body capture the emotion of certain aspects and emotion. I chose to focus on “Red Kimono” by George Segal. The art portrays a women in a red kimono with many different colors in her apparel. It does not feature her face but emphasizes more on her hands and the piece she is making. Though faces are main features in many pieces of art. Segal chooses for the hands to be the main emphasis. Hands play an important role in the human body. It allows us to touch and experience our surroundings. In this particular piece, the hands do not touch and create a unified point. The red kimono leads the eye towards the hands but there is no conclusion because the hands are left open. This is a working woman and the sense of continuing work is portrayed in the studio piece. Segal portrays a strong working woman who in the end remains in the experience because her hands will be constantly at work. In "Understanding Architecture," Roth mentions that "it was up to architects at the end of the 19th century to express the character of their time, but precisely what that character was proved difficult to define." Because of the many design languages finding the right path for design becomes unclear. The machine also becomes an important role in the design for the 20th century. Many new ideas come from the machine. Roth states that "the dawning century was to be the era of the machine, of greater speed, and of unprecedented mobility, and the architecture of the new epoch would surely proclaim this mechanization." Though technology becomes more applicable, design becomes distant with various ideas occurring at the same time.

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Though the 29th century is mentioned as an era of the machine, design does not match this description. A machine is to run smoothy with al parts matching accordingly. However, the 20th century becomes a time where design has many variations. Anne Massey mentions in "Interior Design since 1900" that "the early Modern designers hoped to change society for the better with the creation of a healthier and more democratic type of design for all." This calls for exploration in this new design language which in turn reveals many new ideas. This exploration unit is a time of discovery and search in what the right design is.

I think this speaks to many themes in the explorations unit. I chose to diagram this piece of art by having many circles which represent the different colors in the kimono above a vault which does not come to a point symbolizing her hands. This speaks to many of the principles and elements of design in this unit. The colors portray the many design languages continuing in 20th century. These various designs lead into a discussion of what is modernism. However, this question will remain unanswered because it will never come to a final point.