ARH Notes and Reaction 4-3-12

Notes:

Herbert Matter

Known for his use of imagery and scale shift

Skewed Mountain pictures – Swiss Tourism

Angled Type

In 1936 Matter comes to U.S.

Part of the New York Club that included Paula Cher and Jackson Pollock

Does ad for Knoll – abstraction of form speaks about the form. Embraces negative space. Uses chair as art in itself to advertise it. Very successful

Saramin Chair

In U.S., Modernism was not easily embraced.

Liked visual contrast in corporate movement.

Liked dots and diagonals in graphics.

Reuses elements in many works.

Walter Pipic got rich inventing the cardboard box. Innovates the industry.

Tchischold typography is savagely attacked in the U.S.

Lester Beal (1903-1969) distilled it down for America. Works as a designer. Moves studio to NYC like Madmen.

1935 – Pioneers in Peoria; Loves arrows and fill lines.

At this time people resist having running water installed on their property from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, is a huge step in bringing Modernist ideas to the U.S.

Initiatives, Posters, and Events.

Abstraction becomes popular.

Personal Thoughts:

Herbert Matter was a very interesting man. Fascinating how one man could do so much to change public perception of modernist ideas. He broke a lot of ground for the people that came after him. It is remarkable how he was interested in so many different mediums. I enjoyed looking at his photography quite a bit. It is a shame that he never really enjoyed taking pictures of his son and grandson for posterity. It seems to me that he missed out on a good bonding experience. From what he film showed, it seemed like his family highly respected him but could not get very close to him. The film showed that as Herbert got older, the more distant he got from his family and the more obsessed he got with his work. Worst of all is that his best work seemed to be when he was more connected to his friends and family, not to say that his work with Giacometti wasn’t interesting.

Questions:

Did he have any other notable romances that inspired his art? Was his wife the only woman to pose nude for his photographs? Was nudity a part of his lifestyle as a young married man or was it just something his wife did for him for inspiration?