In the lecture about modernist design, I was intrigued by how the various art movements such as De Stijl, Surrealism and Dadaism influenced graphic design with their philosophies and techniques of creating art and content. In particular, Surrealism caught my attention as its ideas felt the most conceptual and thought-provoking to me, since it dealt heavily with the human psyche and subconsciousness.
SURREALISM (1920s – 1950s)
Surrealism grew out of the earlier Dada movement, with its key difference being that it did not champion the nonsensical, irrational anti-art that Dadaists produced as a reaction against the chaos of the post-war world they lived in. Although, Surrealism did share a common thread with Dada in that it questioned the too-rational European politics and ideologies that they believed caused the first world war. In order to do so, Surrealists were concerned with reuniting the conscious and the unconscious to create a ‘surreality’. They drew heavily from the ideas of Sigmund Freud that there was untapped potential in our unconscious, and that it could be a source for greater imagination and ingenuity.
TECHNIQUES OF SURREALISM
Surrealists engaged many different techniques to create art, many of which influenced graphic designers at the time. These methods can still be seen in today’s graphic design. Here are some examples:
Automatism
Surrealists engaged in automatic drawing, in which the artist suppresses conscious thought and allows the hand to move freely across the paper. As the drawing is left mostly up to chance, Surrealists believed that this could be a way to unlock the unconscious, with no restriction to the flow of thought. This idea of mark-making was adapted into design too.
A.M. Cassandre for Harper's Bazaar, 1939
Edward Fella, page from lettering book, 1992
Collage
The collage was a technique of cutting up reality and rearranging them to form an alternate reality, and Surrealists favoured this method of creating art to subvert ideas of rationality and logic. This was readily applied to graphic design as well.
Roman Cieślewicz, alphabet for Guide de la France mystérieuse, 1964
Louis Fishauf for Central Illustration Agency
Grattage/Frottage
Frottage refers to the technique of rubbing graphite on paper over wood or other grained substances and grattage is the method of scraping a painted canvas. Both methods sought to create partial images that were to be completed in the mind of the viewer. The influence of this technique can be seen in the combination of textures and partial images in various graphic design.
Roman Cieslewicz, Katastrofa, 1961
Vaughan Oliver & Simon Larbalestier, theater poster, 1998
Juxtaposition
Surrealists also tended to use juxtaposition, placing objects that are not normally associated with each other next to each other to create a subversion of reality. The application of this technique in graphic design was widely seen during the time of the surrealists, but also in design today.
Abram Games, Your Britain, Fight For It Now poster series, 1942
Karel Teissig, film poster, 1967
Elliott Earls, print, 2016
Surrealist images of dreams, fantasy and oddity continue to inspire us today. The many methods used by Surrealists had clear influence on the graphic design of the early 20th century, and its impact can still be seen today in various forms of design. Reality is often subverted to create intriguing and eye-catching images. While the aesthetic direction of Surrealist art acted as a statement against rationality, today Surrealist techniques are used as both visual stimuli and expressive devices.