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ladislav sutnar: design in action ...........................................................................................................................................................................................
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ladislav sutnar: design in action |
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| zurich museum of design, switzerland march 6 - may 2, 2004 http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch the museum of design zurich is the first venue on an extensive european tour for this comprehensive retrospective, assembled by the museum of decorative arts in prague. ladislav sutnar was a graphic designer and design theorist. sutnar, understood practical function and the need to control and organize the plethora of information that was fast bombarding contemporary life of the 1940s-1960s. was a pioneer for functionality in design, what is now called 'information design' (he designed one of the most common yet revolutionary graphic devices - the parentheses around american telephone area code numbers). although somewhat overshadowed in western europe by his contemporaries, including russian constructivist el lissitsky and bauhaus master laslo moholy nagy, sutnar was nonetheless well-known in prague - a 1934 exhibit, ‘ladislav sutnar and the new typography’ earned major notices at the time. --- graphic design sutnar became one of the leading graphic design forces of the 1940s-1950s. he harnessed certain avant garde design principles and injected visual dynamism into even the most routine content without hindering accessibility. the basic structure was rational; juxtapositions, scale and color were curiously abstract : he used geometric forms to build signs that would attract and guide the eye from one level of information to the next. repeating symbols and forms helped him express an industrial sensibility. for magazines he developed strict, though mutable, typographic grids, framing sans-serif modern typefaces with white space in a way that prefigured the precise, architectonic compositions of post-war swiss design. sutnar was a constructivist in the purest sense. ladislav sutnar published many articles and books but is perhaps best known for his book: 'visual design in action'. in the 1940s when sutnar introduced the theoretical constructs that defined good design, american commercial art rarely addressed this issue. sutnar was stern about matters of order and logic and fervently sought to alter visual standards by introducing businessmen and commercial artists to 'the sound basis for modern graphic design and typography,' which he asserts in this book , 'a direct heritage of the avant-garde pioneering of the twenties and thirties in europe. it represents a basic change that is revolutionary.' 'without efficient typography, the jet plane pilot cannot read his instrument panel fast enough to survive. ' he said. his 'catalog design' (1944) and 'catalog design progress' (1950) were guidebooks to clear the chaos of printed material. new means had to come to meet the quickening tempo of industry. graphic design was forced to develop higher standards of performance to speed up the transmission of information. --- product design his work as a product designer is less known to day. he designed toys, glass tea sets, and porcelain dishes... --- ladislav sutnar (1897 – 1976) was born in pilsen, czechoslovakia in november 9, 1897. educated in prague. he taught at the state school of graphic arts, prague, from 1923-36. at the height of his powers as an exponent of czech modernism and after having designed graphics, products and exhibitions, he travelled to new york as exhibition designer for the 1939 world's fair czech pavilion. just after the fair opened, hitler's armies marched on czechoslovakia, and dismembered the country. the pavilion closed immediately, and sutnar, decided to remain in new york. --- more writings by sutnar - periodical articles -'commercial symbols in architecture.' architectural record 120 (september 1956): 256-261. -'how important is the surface to design?' print 13 (january-february 1959): 29. -'ladislav sutnar: ecology and the needs for visual design.' idea 21 (march 1973): 58-63. - books -and lönberg-holm, k. 'catalog design'. new york: sweet's catalog service, 1944. -'design for point of sale.' new york: pellegrini and cudahy, 1952. -'package design: the force of visual selling.' new york: arts, inc., 1953. -'visual design in action: principles, purposes.' new york: hastings house, 1961. - 'an interval of design freedom' signature from 'visual design in action: principles, purposes.' - 'transport: next half century.' new Yyrk: canterbury printing co. 1950. --- more info on ladislav sutnar http://www.sutnar.com ---  ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? ------- |
 ladislav sutnar, 1934, foto josef sudek courtesy museum of decorative arts in prague  book cover, photomontage in frontispiece, 1958  visual design in action, 1961  visual design in action (spread), 1961  graphic design for addo-x, 1956-1959 courtesy cooper- hewitt, national design museum, new york  dummy, poster for american airlines, 1958 courtesy cooper- hewitt, national design museum, new york  an icon of czech inter-war design, the glass tea set, 1931 kavalier, sázava, für krásná jizba drustevní práce, courtesy museum of decorative arts in prague  porcelain service, basic model in white, 1929-1932 epiag, loket, sázava, für krásná jizba drustevní prác, courtesy museum of decorative arts in prague  elephant, ca. 1930 courtesy museum of decorative arts in prague  walrus, ca. 1930 courtesy museum of decorative arts in prague  'build the town', building block set prototype, 1943 courtesy cooper- hewitt, national design museum, new york |
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