Art Nouveau Poster

So here is my poster based on the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements. I based my poster on one of my favorite movies, which happens to be Aladdin. I specifically focused on the main female character, Jasmine. I tried to show her torn between the freedom she longs for (symbolized by the bird in her hand, just like the doves she releases in the movie) and being loyal to her father and kingdom (shown at the bottom). 

Pieces I was inspired by:

I used the girl as the focus of my poster. 

Used the flowers in her hair to add to Jasmine's hair. 

Used pattern in the background. 

Used border for my poster. 

Used the bird. 

10 Common Elements from Art Nouveau & Arts and Crafts Movement:

1. Soft Organic lines can be seen in both her hair and the green border. 

2. Black outlines are are seen throughout the female figure form, as well in her hair. 

3. Women were often the center of art nouveau posters, so for that reason I chose Jasmine and not Aladdin from the film.

4. Centering images or having a focus point (often a woman) was very common in posters back then. Although the city scape at the bottom is a little big, your eye first goes to the woman in the middle. 

5. I tried to stick with a bright color palette as well. Most posters tended to use only a few colors. I used about five main colors, and a few shades of those. 

6. Natural inspiration was a big influence during the art nouveau period. it was very common to see floral and plant-like images seen in posters. I tried to incorporate it throughout the image- floral pattern, flowers near border and in her hair, and the bird in her hand. 

7. Borders were often seen as additional element to many posters, something Grasset often did. 

8. Pattern became particularly popular during the arts and crafts movement. William Morris was a great designer of theses patterns, so I included one his patterns in the back. 

9. Simplified, flat shapes were something that started emerging in Herni de Toulouse-Lautrec's work. I tried to include that in mine with the city scape at the bottom.   

10. Symbolic shapes were also another element that became popular. I used the city to represent Jasmines' loyalty to her father and country, and the bird represents her freedom. 

Day at the Frist

So this past weekend the Frist was celebrating their (10th?) birthday and had free admission all weekend. So I took advantage of it and went to see the Vishnu: Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior and William Eggleston: Annoiting the Overlooked exhibits.

I was really excited about the Vishnu exhibit because I really enjoy Indian culture. However, I'm not very familiar with their main religion, Hinduism; so the trip was very informative. Most of the exhibit consisted of sculptures or stone carvings with a few other pieces such as small icons and paintings, but they were all so beautiful. The elaborate details, especially in the stone carvings, were so detailed and ornate. It made think of the illuminated manuscripts we studied in class earlier this year. The stone carvings were the equivalent of the hand-painted pages of the book. I couldn't take pictures and I don't remember the name of the one particular piece, but I remember seeing it and just thinking "Wow, someone actually carved all of this out hundreds of years ago probably only using primitive tools."It was a piece about two feet wide and consisted of a large group of people within a triangle (think the artwork above the columns on the front side of the Parthenon). The details on each person's face were so small, you could point out the eyes and each finger on every individual who were only a couple of inches tall.

There was a lot more to the exhibit, but I don't remember everything. Here are a few interesting facts that I randomly wrote down:

• Hinduism originated in India, however is practiced worldwide.
• There are multiple gods, but three of the most popular deities are Vishnu the Preserver, Shiva the Destroyer, and Devi the Great Goddess.
• Vishnu stands out from the other gods because he balances his behavior just as he balances the cosmos. He is the savior as well as the creator and destroyer of the of the universe. The story goes that Vishnu was dozing off on the serpent Shesha who floated over the ocean. While he slept a lotus flower grows from his navel, inside was the god Brahma and the universe was created. 
• Vishnu is often depicted with his wife, Lakshmi. Sometimes he is depicted with two wives, Bhu Devi and Shri Devi, who are the two parts of Lakshmi. 
• Men and women are often depicted together, such as Vishnu and his wife. By being placed together this encourages worshippers to acknowledge both sexes. 
• The male represents intellect and spirit. The female represents emotional and physical energy. 

The exhibit also had showcased some worship spaces/shrines. Although there are multiple public places of worship, many people choose to worship at home. The size of the room of worship does not matter, but the area is very symbolic to its worshippers. There are five objects symbolizing the earth's elements found in most rooms: fruit for the earth, flowers for space, incense for air, lamp for fire, and water.

The second exhibit I saw was all photography by William Eggleston. Unfortunately, I lost any notes I had on this exhibit. But the one thing I do remember was that I found out that the cover for one of my favorite bands, Jimmy Eat World, had photography by Eggleston. There were other bands had also featured his work, but again I don't remember. This is Jimmy Eat World's cover:

Overall very successful (and free!) trip to the Frist. Oh, and here's proof of the trip:

This Week in Class II

I was really excited when we began talking about the Art Nouveau period this week. I spent a good portion of time last semester studying the design for a group project, so I became really familiar and interested in it. There are so many pieces that I like, so there isn't one that I can pick as my favorite. I really love all the pieces that have strong nature influences- floral/plant elements and strong organic lines. Alphonse Mucha was one of the first who began incorporating these elements into his works. He focused on a beautiful women surrounded by flowing plant and floral figures:

This poster isn't by Mucha (it's by Henri Privat-Livemont), but I found it online and I loved it:

This Week in Class

So this week in class we began talking about the Industrial Revolution and Victorian Age. Although we didn't talk about this in depth in class, I really found the typography of this time really interesting. Since the advent of the printing press much of typography had been about developing a standard. As time progressed it wasn't just a matter of using type to show/read words, they were used as an art form. We begin to see designers really experiment with typefaces. Some designers played with the size, width, and decorative elements of letterforms. I think today we may take it for granted that we have such a wide variety of typefaces and so many appear each day, but it's something that truly  began evolving during this time.