After Class 03/17/10

Today, Patrick gave his presentation about the lead designers, architects, and influences behind the movement that began at the turn of the century. Frank Llyod Wright was a major influence. He was born in Wisconsin, but the houses he designed stretched across the midwest and into Arizona as well. His homes were "prairie style" homes, and was considered to be way ahead of his time for his visionary thinking. He designed not only the exterior, but all aspects of the house. The interior windows, furniture, and set up were all decided by Wright. His vision was for the house to all be "in sync." All parts of the house flowed together harmoniously. Wright was also a graphic designer. In the winter of 1896, he and William Winslow printed "The House Beautiful" which was written by Rev. C. Gannett. Wright meticulously designed the borders that accompanied every page.
The Glasgow school of the arts produced four tight nit designers and architects who were fans of Wright. "The Four" who were Mackintosh, McNair, and the MacDonald sisters created new geometric designers similar to the geometric designs found in Wright's stained glass and houses. Their designs were streamlined but also had curved floral elements at the end of them. "The four" also designed rooms that were anti-Victorian. They were white walled rooms, that flooded with light and contained few objects as opposed to the overstuffed and busy Victorian rooms. In the posters they designed, they were also the first artists to distort a human body. This was considered very controversial. Other designers were Jessie Marion King and Tawlin Morris who were influenced by medieval style fantasy illustrations. Morris also became the director of the Glasgow school.
The Vienna Secession was a group of students who outed themselves from the Kunstlerhaus school. They rejected what they were learning there and wanted to explore new design and styles. Their greatest accomplishment was "Ver Sacrum" which means "sacred spring". It was a magazine that illustrated the innovative and ever chaning creative designs are artists and editors. It had 300 subscribers, but they always printed 600 copies. This was so that more people could be exposed to their new designs. It was a "design laboratory" where many artists created and pushed the envelope in designs.
The magazine ran for only five years; from 1898-1903. I would be curious to know why it did not suceed? Were they not making any money on it? Did artists go onto other projects and disband?