Part 2 Project: The 1950s

My finished illustration....method detailed below.

Stylistically, America springs to mind, because in the post WW2 recovery period they, having sustained less structural damage than European nations, were able to quickly divert their manufacturing infrastructure to produce ‘luxury goods’.

The Marshall Plan set out to ‘aid’ the economies of those European countries that would commit to capitalism and consume these non-essential items.

Hence the American advertising industry erupted (‘Advertising is about happiness...’ Don Draper, Mad Men episode 1, set in 1960), in the hope of giving everyone the itch to have their own little slice of The American Dream (on credit, without thought for the environmental impact), a right which they were prepared to defend with witch hunts and a nuclear defence programme to keep the communists at bay.

Despite seeing the drawbacks of this racist, sexist, homophobic era I love it stylistically.

General trends: clarity, elegance, lightness, gradual reduction in formality and conformity as the decade wore on. ‘Organic modernism’.

Colour: muted- beige, brown, grey, olive/dark green, yellow/mustard, orange/pink/red, turquoise

Shapes: organic, curvaceous, symmetry in furniture, asymmetry in surface design, sweeping lines and points, ovals, rounded corners

Textures: shiny, hard, wood, chrome, leather, cotton

Ideas and visual trends: abstraction, style/ function/ comfort/ luxury, glamour, fun, male and female stereotypes

Sources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/interiorsandshopping/8716420/Festival-of-Britain-Back-to-the-Fifties.html

http://www.vegaschool031.co.za/?p=709

http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/1950s_9_timeline_chart.htm

http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/fashion_costume_culture/Modern-World-1946-1960/Post-World-War-II-1946-60.html

H bomb http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8075130353722461105

Contemporary design with 50’s influence is everywhere! I counted over 20 references in this month’s Spanish edition of Architectural Digest magazine, particularly to chairs.

Also

Surface pattern and decoration, wall papers and fabrics by

Sandersons

http://www.carolinekamp.com/2011/02/fabulous-fifties.html

http://www.sanderson-uk.com/50s-wallpaper.aspx

Cath Kidston

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/p-11620-cath-kidston-cowboy-wallpaper.aspx

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/p-14275-cath-kidston-london-scene-cotton-duck.aspx

Orla Kiely

http://www.orlakiely.com

St Judes

http://www.stjudesfabrics.co.uk/

Festival of Britain inspired table ware and wall paper by Mini Moderns

http://www.minimoderns.com/products/festival-porcelain-tableware

http://www.minimoderns.com/products/-festival-wallpaper

Graham and Brown

http://www.grahambrown.com/us/wallpaper-style/retro-wallpaper

Beauty Products

http://fiftieswedding.com/make-up-products-in-vintage50s-style-packaging-perfect-for-gifts-or-yourself/

Reproduction furniture and accessories

http://www.vita-interiors.com/

http://www.cultfurniture.com/accessories-c13/clock-c5

Paint colours

Wayne Hemingway has created a range of Fifties-inspired paints for Crown.

Kevin McCloud is curating the Fired Earth Mid-Century Colours collection

Art

Abstract expressionist style photography by Heather Blockey http://freespaceatthewigg.wordpress.com/tag/heather-blockey/

People and Costume

Dita Von Teese and the modern burlesque movement

More detail:

People & Costume

At the start of the decade dress was quite formal: muted colours, knee length dresses with corset aided nipped in waists, high heels, pointy glasses and bras, narrow suits, hats, gloves, overcoats and scarves. Women hardly ever wore trousers. Hair do’s were still common for women and hair for men was slicked back, ideally to go with their square jaws. Women were groomed to be subservient and housebound, keeping things homely for their bread winning husbands without smearing their red lipstick or chipping their perfect nails.

With the advent of rock and roll in the middle of the decade Teddy Boys were the first teenagers to express themselves through fashion. Dress became more relaxed and less structured as the decade went on.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1950s.html

http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/1950s_9_timeline_chart.htm

http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/1950ssewingpatterns.html

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1950s%20modern

glasses video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LT_5who36wY

Teddy Boys https://www.google.es/search?q=teddy+boys&hl=es&rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&prmd=imvnsb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yaNXT--pGcOV8gPgsuiADw&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=706

Betty Page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A&noredirect=1

http://www.bettiepage.com/

Mary Quant http://www.maryquant.co.uk/top_content.html

Architecture & Interiors

The move was towards open plan living, light, bright, airy spaces punctuated with curvaceous furniture and modern art. Fitted kitchens were introduced.

The typical American motel and diner also spring to mind.

In Europe, however, the reality was mostly still drab, cramped housing for the majority with tiny kitchens which were nowhere near fitted.

Muted colours, curvy chairs, table lamps, spiky clocks and banquettes make frequent appearances.

http://www.franklloydwright.org/web/Archives.html

http://www.midcenturystyle.net/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cshym74/2090497288/

http://www.dougnewby.com/architecture/Styles/Modern_Post-1950/50smodern.asp

Festival of Britain http://www.vads.ac.uk/learning/designingbritain/html/festival.html

Chairs http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/online/a-century-of-chairs/1950s

Palettes and patterns http://www.colourlovers.com/home/blog/2010/01/21/vintage-interoir-design-trends-50s-kitchens

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_furniture_brands.html

https://www.google.es/search?q=50's+england+interiors&hl=es&rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=5chcT_7TMcqA8wPJs4DlDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CCcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=742

Art: Painting, drawing & sculpture

Pop art, pioneered by Richard Hamilton, Jasper Johns and Eduardo Paolozzi among others, emerged as a reaction to abstract expressionism.

Documentary style photography was pioneered by Bruce Davidson who showed the underbelly of the glossy US.

In contrast, pin up paintings of idealised women clumsily exposing their sexy under garments were also popular. I sound like a tight lipped feminist here, but I love these kitschy images.

Pop art http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hamilton-appealing2.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Paolozzi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jasper_Johns%27s_%27Flag%27,_Encaustic,_oil_and_collage_on_fabric_mounted_on_plywood,1954-55.jpg

Photography, Bruce Davidson http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&pid=2K7O3R14QG6O&nm=Bruce%20Davidson

Sculpture http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/exorcising-the-fear-british-sculpture-from-the-50s--60s-6287926.html?action=gallery

50sclipart.com

Abstract expressionism http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/C20th/absexpress.htm

Pin ups https://www.google.es/search?rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&aq=1&oq=gil+elv&ix=seb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=gil+elvgren+gallery

Graphic design: posters, books, typography

Clarity of design becomes the focus, with fonts losing their serifs and company logos becoming stripped and elegant, although there’s also a trend to mix fonts and to use ‘humorous’ letter forms.

Palettes are limited and again, colours are mostly muted.

The designs on the following link are achingly beautiful to me, so stark and clean and clever.

Great graphic design timeline http://www.101010.it/storiagrafica/1950.html

http://typophile.com/node/14964

Advertising

Sexism is rife in 50’s advertising, stereotyping appliance hungry but ditsy housewives.

And cigarettes....more doctors smoke Camels and as your dentist I would recommend Viceroy! (I wish I lived in an era before fags were bad!)

There’s a trend towards hand drawn images.

http://www.vegaschool031.co.za/?p=709

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/feminism/images/23226980/title/sexist-ads-from-1950s-photo

http://www.chickenhead.com/truth/

Transport

Beautiful, beautiful British motorbikes- all that snaky chrome and black leather, but with a no nonsense utilitarianism.

Lovely voluptuous vehicles: buses for seaside trips for the masses and cars and boats for the cashed up few.

http://www.andmas.co.uk/travel_new/bikes/motorbikes.html

http://www.royal-enfield.com/

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/norfolk_broads/norfolk_broads4.htm

Film & TV

Typically loads of smoking, drinking and sexism were depicted but very few black people.

Gritty realism, sentimental domesticity, but also many sanitised versions of ‘how the west was won’ (by massacre and thievery).

Two Spanish films which show the stark contrast between the ‘fitted kitchen culture’ of the US and the cramped ‘newspaper as wallpaper style’ of 1950’s Spain where the fascist dictator Franco was in power.

1963 ‘The Executioner’ http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_verdugo

2004 ‘Tiovivo c 1950’ set in 1950’s Madrid http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiovivo_c._1950

https://www.google.es/search?q=1950's+TV&hl=es&rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XKNXT9XTEc3-8QOxlMCPDw&ved=0CDoQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=742

http://www.crazyabouttv.com/decades/1950s.html

http://www.moviemaidens.com/

http://www.filmsite.org/50sintro.html

https://www.google.es/search?q=1950's+film+stars&hl=es&rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XJ5XT_pOjvjxA8HBhNYO&ved=0CFoQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=742

http://aslan369.tripod.com/Movie/50s/Best50.html

Surface pattern & decoration

Gorgeous, I could lose myself for hours in these geometric, doodley heavens.

Lucienne Day was a genious.

https://www.google.es/search?q=lucienne+day&hl=es&rlz=1C1AVSA_enES462&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yp1XT9CjO8Kk8QOR9rzTDg&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=742

First I made a hybrid spider diagram/ words to pictures/ mood board as a brain storming exercise:

NB Added 19.3.12 I've just found out that the Miro piece I used as an example of 50's art was actually made in 1922/3...an example of the internet sometimes being unreliable...

Then drew some thumbnail sketches:

I also printed out more images for colour and style reference:

And made a sketch of a pattern that I found on the internet that I wanted to include in the background of my illustration:

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS275SlfDGU4r0CJZXPavpltgp60N84lhmHOKTzSZLZo0R9jkJhYA

My illustration- 'The Dawn of the American Dream':
Reflection:

I got a bit carried away with the research for this project, it was such fun and so fascinating.

I mainly used the internet, in other circumstance it would have been great to visit a museum (Design, V&A) to see pieces in 'the flesh', I also watched a bit of Mad Men series 1, clips of 50's American films on youtube and a couple of Spanish films that the local librarian found for me.

The pictorial spider diagram/ mood boards were time consuming but were a great way of distilling the information and getting a feel for sketching the items that I wanted to included in the final illustration. They also helped me to make more connections between events and categories.

Having sketched the thumbnails I decided that I wanted to include:

• the H bomb cloud, as America committed to a nuclear defense programme at this point to defend their right to consumerism against the communists. I wanted to use the cloud as a metaphor for the 'American Dream' of an endless supply of luxury goods.
• a television, as this was a major advertising tool and colour tv was introduced in the US in the 50's. Although it is switched off its presence is prominent and the chair is facing away from it, but the figure is twisted towards it as she relaxes into a consumerist daydream.
• a woman because the scope for depicting the fashion of the era was more interesting and also because women, white middle class 'house wives', were the target of the advertisers. I took photographs of a friend in similar poses and used those for reference.
• a typical chair, I plumped for an Arne Jacobsen style
• surface pattern, as it was such an important aspect of interior design
• smoking, because it was ubiquitous and the effects on health were not exposed until later in the decade

I chose a cartoon format because it is evocative of the era and the illustration was aimed at a teenager, also I wanted to draw in a loose-ish style.

Colour-wise I wanted the 'real' environment to be a bit 'drab', lots of brown, and I wanted to depict the dream items in glorious technicolour because advertising plays on this juxtaposition.

That's also why I chose the materials-coloured pencil for the 'real' environment and felt tip for the daydream. Felt tip pens were introduced to the UK in the 50's. In retrospect the materials don't give the effect that I really wanted as they're a bit 'rough', but now that I've subscribed to Digital Image magazine I 'll be able to learn to produce the effects I want with photoshop. Ideally I'd like to remake the image when my skills allow.

Added 4.4.12: I've made a digital version of the image (see above) using a very slow method involving photoshop and illustrator, but it was well worth the effort as I'm very pleased with the result. Doubtless my skills will improve with practice. I decided to keep the hand drawn feel of the original but brightened the colours, I like the way they're 'flat', in keeping with the cartoon feel. I learnt the importance of scanning all line drawings before adding colour so that tracing the outline is easier in illustrator.

I chose to apply the pattern to the whole of the background without using perspective as it was easier but also adds to the 'surreal' effect of the dream scenario, being abstract in design.

I'm a bit concerned that I might be guilty of plagiarism with the use of this fabric design, which I found on the internet, because although I adapted it to fit the space and changed the colours to make it more 'drab' and simpler to draw, it's still recognisable as somebody else's work. I will check on this.

I chose to write the title free hand, with a mix of styles, as was prevalent at that time but in retrospect I would have got a more polished result had I opted to add the title digitally using different fonts.

Overall I'm happy with my image, the woman looks relaxed and happy in her reverie, her clothes and accessories are typical and I have included elements from most of the categories mentioned in the exercise. I left out film and TV and could have included images in either the dream cloud or on the TV screen if I had planned it better.

Email responses from tutors regarding plagiarism:

Hi Judy  Always good to check these things but I think your gut instinct is correct.

It's only plagiarism if a student is trying to pass something off as their own work.

The students work is clearly making reference to historical source material within

the context of the exercise,  and she's identified that the designs belong to

somebody else. All above board and perfectly appropriate for the exercise in my

opinion. 

all the best Christian

On 14/03/2012, Judy Brown wrote:

Hi Christian,

I received this email and wondered what you thought. I don't see that there's an

issue but I thought i'd better check!

Best wishes, Judy