Contents
Editorial
On the Publication of Design History / Nakayama Shuichi
Articles
The Representation of National Identity: Hungarian Poster, 1885-1930 / Iguchi Toshino
In the Periphery of “Art Manufacture”: The Encouragement of Arts and the School of Design in Mid-Nineteenth Century Manchester / Suga Yasuko
Building on the Past, Looking to the Future: Design History in the Twenty First Century / Jonathan M. Woodham
Book Reviews
Victor Margolin, The Politics of the Artificial / reviewed by Sarah Teasley
Kashiwagi Hiroshi, Modan dezain hihan (Modern Design Critique) / reviewed by Monden Sonoko
Noise
Playing between Two Points East and West / Minami Takeshi
Guidelines for Submission of Manuscripts
Constitution and Bylaws
Notes on Contributors
–
How to Order Your Back Issues
Editorial
On the Publication of Design History / Nakayama Shuichi
Article 1
The Representation of National Identity: Hungarian Poster, 1885-1930
Iguchi Toshino
Keywords
Hungary, Posters, National Identity
Abstract
This paper pursues how Hungarian national identity represented graphic design and posters as a visual media. We have to acknowledge the rich collection of posters in Hungary, and we can recognize dynamic changes in the styles and contents of the posters in a parallel with the changing social and political system. I categorize them in four historical phases: the posters produced at the turn of the century, during the First World War, during the revolution in 1918-19 and in the inter-war period. The factors framing design reside in the complicated relations between social and ethnic problems.
After the Ausro-Hungarian dual monarchy was established by compromise (Ausgleich) in 1867, the main policy in administration, education and cultural activities was the standardization of Magyar as the national language for all people including minorities. Then a revival of the Magyar ethnicity became prevalent in fine arts and design.
At the turn of the century, Hungarian national identity was reflected in Secessionist architecture, as can be observed in the Asian taste of the Museum of Applied Arts designed by Ödern Lechner. This is a realization of the Hungarian nation-state as an ‘Imagined Community’. The poster printed at the Millennium Exhibition in 1896 organized to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the Magyar Conquest was a typical example of historicism.
During the First World War, when nationalism reached at its peak, visual expressions veered strongly towards political propaganda. There are 246 posters printed during 1914 and 1918 in the collections of the War History Museum, the Szavó Ervín Library in Budapest and the Hungarian National Gallery. These can be classified into six categories with respect to their themes: (1) books and newspapers, (2) the promotion of national bonds, (3) advertisements for war exhibitions, films and theater, (4) the exaltation of fighting spirit, (5) the International Red Cross and charity programs, and (6) memorial days. Designs represented a sense of belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Posters in the revolution period from 1918-1919 were printed as propaganda supporting the Hungarian Soviet Republic (Tanácsköztársaság). In this period, designs showed the way to social revolution and the construction of a proletarian society. Magyar ethnic motifs and the decorative Secession style are not to be found in these propaganda posters, which demonstrate that Hungarians sought their identity not in Magyar nationhood but in International ideology. The most famous graphic designer, Mihály Biró, had once made propaganda posters promoting national bonds during the war years, but then changed his work to support the revolutionary government and working class.
When the Hungarian Soviet Republic collapsed, its artists went into exile. After retuning from exile in the late 1920s, they created posters that promoted economic activities. The styles of posters, which now employed the universal style, reflected modernism’s advances in the arts. Avant-garde artists Róbert Berény and Sándor Bortnyik, who had worked on propaganda for the Hungarian Soviet Republic, changed their styles and aims to create advertisements. Bortnyik also founded a design school in Budapest and taught graphic design in what was called the Bauhaus style. In this way, he brought the theories of rationalism and functionalism from Western Europe to Hungary. Designers’ activities and work of the period demonstrates that designers in the interwar years sought their identity in Europe.
From these observations, we can conclude that Hungarian design history represents the history of national identity.
Article 2
In the Periphery of ‘Art Manufacture’: The Encouragement of Arts and the School of Design in Mid-Nineteenth Century Manchester
Suga Yasuko
Keywords
Manchester School of Design, Art Treasures Exhibition
Abstract
The cotton industry was pivotal in industrializing Britain. The central district was Lancashire with its ‘Cottonopolis’, Manchester. By the 19th century, Lancashire was producing enough cotton to fill almost all the world’s demand for calico-printed goods, surpassing India where the trade had started. Lancashire cotton, which thrived until America and Japan overtook its overseas markets in 20th century won economic and political victory, but was also the nation’s most heavily criticised industry, especially from the 1830s when the government officially problematised the relation of art and industry. Although economically successful, it was considered a failure in terms of taste, in which its growing rivals France and Germany excelled. Artistic quality in design sells: but how could it be cultivated? With the trade and Lancashire notoriously associated with ‘bad taste’, local industrialists endeavoured to eradicate this disgrace.
This article discusses how and why the discourse of art was inseparable with local industry. The article discusses two major aspects of the cultivation of culture in Manchester, from the viewpoint of Edmund Potter, one of the largest calico printers and promoters of arts and design education in Manchester: the Manchester School of Design (later School of Art) which encouraged design education, and the Art Treasures Exhibition (1857) to which influential industrialists in Manchester who had connection with the School of Design contributed.
Some calico printers including Potter were against practical design education at the School of Design − they wanted a more ‘artistic’ education. This caused a gap between London policy-makers and Manchester committee members. The Art Treasures Exhibition played the role of bringing two together for once.
The Manchester School of Art was deeply involved with the event and the occasion was considered a turning point for the School. E. Potter, then the president of the School, saw it as ‘the last chance to save the School’ by encouraging local manufacturers’ subscriptions through this artistic spirit. Many of the Council members of the School, like Thomas Bazley, Edmund Potter and Thomas Agnew, acted as executive members of the Exhibition. Students were encouraged to visit.
Several local textile masters such as Horrocks and Potter & co. paid for excursions to the Exhibition for their workers, as did other manufacturers such as Titus Salt of Saltaire. Although it was not directly helpful to the School in terms of finance, the raison d’être of ‘art’ education in Manchester was well justified by the Exhibition’s success. It was concluded that, ‘Manchester is not quite so black as it is represented’. As a result, the annual national presentation of medals for the School of Art students, an important occasion for showing off the Sough Kensington system, was held outside the metropolis for the first time. Cole and Redgrave came up to Manchester to acknowledge the local artistic and educational achievements.
In Victorian Manchester, the notion and policy of design education largely formed by local middle-class manufacturers was much affected by their perception and expectation of art. My conclusion stresses that the production of design was intertwined with the consumption of art culture.
Article 3
Building on the Past, Looking to the Future: Design History in the Twenty First Century
Jonathan M. Woodham
Keywords
Design, Design History, Historiography, Britain, Education
Abstract
Over the past forty years the history of design has grown out of all recognition as a serious field of academic study, research and scholarship. Interest in the discipline has also seen considerable development globally over the period although, more recently, this has perhaps accelerated as a result a number of international initiatives, beginning with an international conference at the University of Barcelona in 1999. Entitled ‘Historiar desde la periferia: historia e historias del diseño’, the conference sought to develop the profile of the subject in the Spanish-speaking world. The proceedings were published in the following year in which a follow-up conference was held in Havana, Cuba. After this, the idea of dissemination developed further with the holding of a third conference on design history and design studies in Istanbul in 2002, entitled ‘Mind the Map: Design History beyond Boundaries’ with a fourth planned in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2004. The increasingly ambitious agenda could be seen in the Mind the Map conference which comprised thirteen strands as well as a workshop on ‘ID in the Periphery: Historical Development Patterns of Industrial Design in Newly Industrializing Countries’. In one strand alone, ‘Design History Narratives: From Local to Global’ there were contributions from Britain, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Singapore and the United States. The significance of the inauguration of Design History Workshop Japan in November 2002, further disseminating research, pedagogy and publication in the discipline in another key geographical and linguistic arena, marks another important milestone in its dissemination and academic development.
Book Reviews
Victor Margolin, The Politics of the Artificial / reviewed by Sarah Teasley
Kashiwagi Hiroshi, Modan dezain hihan (Modern Design Critique) / reviewed by Monden Sonoko
Noise
Playing between Two Points East and West / Minami Takeshi