Commentary On The History Of Communication Design

Commentary On The History Of Communication Design

HA4103 Image + Text:

Themes in the History of Communication Design



Exhibition Proposal



Anti–historicism is a self–explanatory term – to overtly oppose and challenge whatever came before. Anti historicism plays a large part in the Dada movement, an avant–garde movement said to have began in 1916's Zurich out of the negative reaction to World War 1. The war demonstrated that capitalism had outlived the progressive role it once held and now socialism or barbarism was being offered alternatively. Art also suffered and the alternative for this appeared to be Dadaism. The movement was ultra–leftist, anti–war, anti–establishment and most relevantly, anti–art.



The Dadaist movement was a direct criticism of traditional artistic values and ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The first image I propose for the exhibition is of Marcel Duchamp's 1917 'readymade' Fountain.



Fountain is perhaps Duchamp's most famous work and one of the defining pieces of art from the 20th century. In 1917, to have a urinal, lay flat with only a signature was certainly not considered 'art'. It was the most famous of Duchamp's 'readymades', which took an established functional object and claimed it as the artist's own, perhaps due to it's controversial nature. 'It epitomises the assault on convention and accepted notions of art for which Duchamp became known.' (Howarth, 2000)



Duchamp attempted to submit his work to the Society of Independent Artists, an organization that promised that any artist could get their work exhibited for a fee of $6, and was rejected. 'Signing the urinal "R.Mutt" assured anonymity, and the board took the bait, refusing to exhibit Fountain on the grounds that it was obscene, was not art, and would bring ridicule on the society.' (Shiner, 2001, p291). This is a perfect example of how Duchamp challenged and tore apart the conservative views on what art 'should have been' at the time. By submitting a urinal as a piece of work, he questioned what art was and pushed what it could be. Anti historicism is described as anti–ornament and losing the aesthetic value of

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