Postcubist Pictorial Modernism

The reading for tomorrow’s class is about the postcubist pictorial modernist movement that occurred approximately around the 1920s-1930s. This movement, known as art deco, created graphic design that was geometrical and influenced by cubism, Bauhaus, the Vienna Secession, De Stijl and suprematism. One key graphic designer who used art deco was Edward McKnight Kauffer, who moved to Europe after seeing the Armory Show in Chicago in 1913 and decided that Americans were not yet attuned enough to the modern art movement. He applied modern art to design, particularly poster design, creating 141 posters for the London Underground. Other influential designers were A.M. Cassandre, who was a master of integrating words and imagery into one total design, and Jean Carlu, Paul Collin, Austin Cooper, and Joseph Binder.

I found it interesting that Cassandre went back to the Roman alphabet and tried to recreate it anew with the Peignot alphabet. Using all capitals as smaller forms for the lower-case letters was definitely different than people were used to reading as normal body text, it is not a comfortable way to read now that we are so used to reading lower-case letters. I think that is why Cassandre’s attempt to revive the Roman alphabet was unsuccessful, though it can be appreciated.

When did modern art/art deco finally come to America and influence the graphic designers here?