DesignContext: OUGD401 - Essay - Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period?

Sarah Heal - Level 4 - CoP

Choosing a particular period from 1800 to the present, in what ways has art or design responded to the changing social and cultural forces of that period? ( 2 specific examples )

‘The emergence and flowering of a psychedelic style coincided with one of the most revolutionary periods in the twentieth century’ - (Grunenberg, 2005, p.7)

Art and design during the revolutionary mid sixties to early seventies undoubtedly correlated to the cultural and social goings-on of that time. In a time shifting from suits and shift-dresses and days at the office to bohemian fashions, recreational drug use and the practice of 'free love', art and design was most definitely at the forefront of this riotous decade. ‘…in America alone, art historian David Kunzle estimated in his book, Art as a political weapon, that between 20,000 and 40,000 different poster designs were produced during the period 1965-75’ - (Aulich, 2007, p.224).

‘The free wheeling shapes, exaggerated acid colours and pervasive formal entropy of psychedelic art continue to be met with aesthetic revulsion and intellectual arrogance’ - (Grunenberg, 2005, p.7).

This essay will reject the stereotyping that hippie/psychedelic art receives, - that it is a culture derived from laziness, unenlightened and absent minded rebellion. It will also begin to explore the connections and influences between the psychedelic art movement/hippie art culture to what it is believed was the cause of it’s birth: the Vietnam war (certainly in America), music and hallucinogenic drugs. Hopefully, it will be shown in this essay that the Hippie movement had a political engine, not just a recreational one. Wes Wilson, the San Franciscan poster designer, can be argued as a prime example of this point. It will also be observed how Art Nouveau style was revived in this movement.

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‘By 1968, American involvement in Vietnam had become a focus for discontent’ - (Aulich 2007, p.223).

As America's involvement with the brutal Vietnam War increased, it became a national centre of attention for frustration and sadness. Since America had recently been involved in two major world wars, there was somewhat of a backlash. With this in mind, along with an ever-growing market of youth (the ‘birth of the teenager’ only being a decade earlier in the 1950’s), the US anti-war movement gained momentum. There were sit-ins and demonstrations of students and other young people burning their drafts in opposition (the average age for draft was 19 years old, so was something that directly affected them). ‘Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973.’ - (uncredited, 1996-2013 ,Web). The war was not only overbearing in it’s numbers, but was frustrating and none progressive on the front line: ‘U.S. soldiers commonly became frustrated with the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Many suffered from low morale, became angry, and some used drugs.’ - (Rosenberg, undated, web).

In the UK, however, this countercultural and political backlash had been going on for some years: ‘The counterculture was apolitical, as far as party politics was concerned because most politicians were seen as lying hypocrites, serving vested interests, not the people. However, it was active in issue-based campaigns: CND, which many of them were involved in during the early 60’s, and the anti-Vietnam war campaign which grew out of that.’ - (Miles, 2011, web) and so the already existent underground scene started to gain energy and dared to put it’s head up with a radical change in attitude, and did this by showing themselves visually through art...

‘The straight, consumerist lifestyle was not to their liking, but they did not object to others living it’ - (Miles, 2011, web)

Collectively on both sides of the Atlantic ocean, this peaceful rebellion brought many opportunities for art and design to communicate the passionate message of the people: ‘[the anti war movement] found a voice in alternative styles of behaviour, dress, music & underground graphics in America and Europe’ - (Aulich, 2007, p.223). Through encouraged experimentation, along with the growing popularity of multi-media, a whole new array of art was being produced in this free spirited environment.

Alongside all of this was the increasingly popular use of recreational drugs because of this new liberal attitude towards life: ‘Psychedelic artists were deeply entrenched in popular culture, while at the same time being influenced by the mind- altering effects of drugs and participating in counter- cultural activities’ - (Grunenberg, 2005, p.7). So perhaps inevitably, the hallucinogenic visionaries filtered through into the arts through crazy patterns and unusual colours in light shows, and into the illegible curves of psychedelic lettering (found in the works of Lee Conklin, Wes Wilson, & Bonnie Maclean, to name a few).

By identifying a psychedelic poster, you are (typically) looking for a lack of grid for typography, distorted, almost illegible lettering, a kaleidoscope of a colour scheme and art-nouveau or folk-style imagery. From this description, you can imagine that these aesthetics are closely linked to drugs such as LSD.

And so, as a glorious result of all of these factors, the psychedelic era was born.

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‘The underground was a catch-all sobriquet for a community of like-minded anti-establishment, anti-war, pro-rock'n'roll individuals, most of whom had a common interest in recreational drugs. They saw peace, exploring a widened area of consciousness, love and sexual experimentation as more worthy of their attention than entering the rat race.’ -(Miles, 2011, web)

An example of the psychedelic art in the UK would be ‘Stop Nuclear Suicide’ by FHK Henrion (1963). [Image 1 below] It’s neon yellow shades blended with darkest black is unusual and startling like most psychedelic art and gently reflects the illusive visionaries of psychedelic drugs. The innovative overlay of different images shows rebellion against conformist modernist art reflecting the free-loving people of the time. [‘There seems to be a deep-seated suspicion towards the psychedelic arts formal exuberance and it’s suspicious proximity to popular culture, suggesting the continuing domination of high modernist and formal principles’- (Grunenberg, 2005, page 7) (of course this photo technique preceded this time, but definitely became more apparent through alternative art such as this) . As this technique has been used, the iconic mushroom cloud stem mimics and blends into the nose of the skull image in the background almost making the two images become one. This could represent the association between nuclear weaponry unto others as suicide to yourself. This eery and powerful image is branded with the CND sign, another confirmation of a definite link to the anti-war scene.

The poster was designed to symbolize the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in general and what they represented. It was banned by London Transport for violating their conditions against showing images that could cause controversy. For what would be considered as not very offensive today, was radical and rebellious back then, which gives an interest into how times have changed. Ironically, it could be argued that the fact that times have changed, could be owed to campaigns such as this back then.

Another example of this would be the ‘Easter March’ poster by Ian McLaren from 1966. Visually, it can be noted that it is heavily influenced by Op art/ psychedelic styles because of its illusive or ‘trippy’ black and white imagery. Although aesthetically this is definitely more of a modernist styled example, it could be argued that this is because it was created for a wider audience, to possibly recruit more followers for the campaign. The CND logo is worn proudly in the top left hand corner.

Across the Atlantic, at the epicenter of the US hippie movement in San Francisco was poster artist Wes Wilson.

Wilson is renowned for his influential involvement in the psychedelic music scene through his artworks. As he was repeatedly commissioned for posters for protest gigs hosted by Bill Graham, it made him one of the most notorious artists of this era (since Graham was the most popular host of these ‘happenings’). We can consistently see through many different examples of his work the typical distorted lettering, wacky colour schemes and monochrome imagery that portray this strong psychedelic style; ‘[Wilson] had no real formal training as a graphic designer....To the San Francisco designers, legibility was considered secondary to the look and feel of the overall design’ - (Brignall, 2013, web) .

The fact that most of the bands listed in these pieces are those that were supporting the anti-war movement shows the interdependence between the two worlds. This point in particular can be observed in his poster for ‘A Tribal Stomp’ [2nd image] - a poster commissioned for a music night held in ‘Fillmore Auditorium’, the infamous hippie music hall in San Francisco. The bands listed in this image are ‘Jefferson Airplane’ and ‘Big Brother and the Holding Company’ - both heavily supportive of the anti-war movement through their songs [Jefferson Airplane’s; ‘Volunteers’ is a good example of this]. In this image, although this particular image lacks colour (I could not find a coloured version with a decent size), the actual poster contained purple, yellow, red and blue with a white background, free from the boundaries/ rules of general modern design.

To Wilson, every last inch of the poster was an opportunity for design, again, an example of peaceful rebellion against conformity- a common trait amongst the hippie counter culture. In that image in particular we can see no acknowledgment for even the simplest of graphic ‘rules’ such as alignment and border space, or even a limited choice of font styles! : ‘White space was considered bête noire to the psychedelic poster designer whose style of work was intended as a reaction to the prevailing “clean” Swiss style of typography!’ - (Brignall, 2013 web) .

The Native American Indian image in the centre was often a theme in San Franciscan art of this time. There are no unearthed details on the reasons behind this but it could be considered that they are often included for sentimental reasons/ legacy reasons or possibly as a symbol as a fight for freedom.

Another example of these points would be the 3rd image listed below from 1967, another poster for a night hosted by Bill Graham. The girls hair flows freely about the page, and because of this shares the general aesthetics of a hippy girl (Janis Joplin from the band Jefferson Airplane, perhaps?). The hair can also be seen as deeply inspired by art nouveau works by Alphonse Mucha such as ‘Job’ (also below). The rekindling of this design style could be because of the use of drugs also in the Art Nouveau period and so would have appealed to artists in the 1960’s.

The artists listed in THIS poster are also those involved in the anti-war movement.

You can also see the stark colours of black and yellow, like in ‘stop nuclear suicide’. The great tonal range almost takes your breath away, and is certainly eye catching.

Again, you can see that the lettering is almost unreadable, but would have been admired for it’s creativity as opposed to judged for its illegibility back then.

One last example of this kind of art would be the ‘Moby Grape’ poster by Lee Conklin from 1968 (listed below). The first thing to comment on about this piece would be the colour scheme. The simultaneous contrasts of the colours almost make them perpetually vibrate in front of your very eyes. This stimulating illusive technique has been purposely executed to catch the eye of the viewer, and also reflects the experimental and daring nature of the artists, even if it did mean that no one wanted to read the poster! An online article explains about how this was a commonly used and inspiring technique among many of the designers of the time, in this case Victor Mosoco. Secondly, the lettering is almost unreadable as it follows the organic curves of the design, resembling the distortion of aesthetics while under the influence. ( although arguably the most important part of the poster, the typography always would typically come second to the imagery in psychedelic posters) The strong asian style in this poster also seeks intrigue and interest from the viewer, and would successfully appeal as the global fashions and styles all blended almost into one in this era. Notably, again, this particular dance night is hosted in Fillmore Auditorium. Lastly, the strange, puzzle-like imagery would appeal to the viewer because it asks them to work out and define what is actually going on in the image! This optically illusive type of imagery was very popular because of provoking nature, hence why it was often affectionately named ‘the thinking persons art’.

In basic terms, the kind of anti-uniform, anti-war hippies, (essentially) were usually those who were brave/ careless/ free enough to experiment with these illusionary drugs, and this was a very large market. Posters like ‘Moby Grape’ would catch their eye because their interests were largely affected by the drugs they were taking. In the same way, psychedelic music mimics the sound of normal music but while under the influence of drugs and so the characteristics are usually long, drawn out, distorted and are, in general, an audio version of the posters!

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‘The underground papers were produced entirely for idealistic reasons, often communally, and the staff were frequently not paid.’ - (Miles, 2011, web)

The psychedelic art movement could have also been described as ‘disposable’ because of it’s rapidly moving culture and ‘free’ because of its non-profit organizational ethics. ‘That was an important part of the early scene—nobody was super demanding about money.’ - (Marks, 2011, web). Every day somewhere there would be a ‘happening’, ‘sit in’ or a gig, mostly free of charge or very cheap admission. The anti-capitalist frame of mind made this both a successful and unsuccessful time. Successful for humanity and benevolence, but in terms of making a living, very unsuccessful. For example; Richard Branson ran an underground magazine business at this time with little to no profit from the basement of a church (Student Magazine), and Wes Wilson often only charging $60 for an original print run of around 300 for his works.

Wilson describes in an online article how quickly and cheaply he had to work to keep up: “Normally I had to design and deliver printed posters in a matter of a week, or even days. Within three or four days of getting the billing, I had to have the poster at the shop getting printed. For producers like Chet Helms and Bill Graham, that was usually as quick as they could get these bands scheduled. It was just tough to schedule two or three bands way in advance for some reason. I don’t know why, but that was just the way it was. Once in a while, I remember Bill would be real happy if he had over a week in advance and would perhaps have photos for a poster. That was a big deal. It was a pretty fast-moving business in those early days.” - (Marks, 2011, web). This was again, rebelling against everything they’d ever known, anti-capitalist, anti-conformist and most importantly, altruistic.

Although, non-profit and sometimes non-marketable (banned/ controversial imagery), the psychedelic art certainly made a difference. As this online BBC article shows: ‘1969 - Ho Chi Minh dies. President Nixon begins to reduce US ground troops in Vietnam as domestic public opposition to the war grows.’ -(Uncredited, 2013, BBC web). Which is what sets this era apart from others, especially in the materialistic western world. Back then, it was ‘cool’ to take drugs and drop out of school and to help others! And it wasn’t just because it was trendy, either. It was because people wanted change. This can be seen visually through the art, all you have to do is look at psychedelica's preceding artworks to see the sudden difference.

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‘What had started as protests against the Vietnam war expanded to something far wider. The talk was of revolution. Everything about modern capitalist society was suddenly called into question.’ - (Hoyland, 2008, web)

It can be blatantly observed from a design point of view the great impact that the hippie counter cultural movement had on the prevailing modernist social norm and ethics, but also from a societal point of view, too. With the great shift came the art, which then became a symbol of the revolutionary idealists and events of that time. The art is no different to that in it’s own metaphorical way in that it breaks all rules of art and design whether the viewer agrees or not - it’s determined to get it’s message across at all costs. Unlike punk or skate culture, hippie culture was peaceful and did not thrive on negative energy, but focused on making a positive change for liberty and equal rights. The determination and outlandish bravery of those who made it possible can only be greatly admired for the changes they made back then, and the affect it’s had on our ethics today. In an era like no other it’s safe to say that that generation changed the world for the future, enumerating the liberties that nearly everyone we know in the western world is not denied today. The art is so synonymous of the time, it cannot be mistaken for anything other than psychedelic. Will we ever have another social revolution as great as the psychedelic era in the western world again?

“to fathom hell or to soar angelic, just take a pinch of psychedelic” - Humphrey Osmond.

(Summer of Love: art of the Psychedelic Era)

Bibliography

Grunenberg, C (2005), Summer of Love: art of the Psychedelic Era, Tate Publishing, London.

Aulich, J (2007) War Posters - Weapons of Mass Communication, Thames and Hudson, London.

Uncredited, (1996-2013), Vietnam War, history.com/topics/vietnam-war, [web]

Rosenberg, J (undated), Vietnam War - A history of the Vietnam War, About.com, history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm [web].

Miles, B (2011) Spirit of the Underground: the 60s rebel, Guardian News & Media, guardian.co.uk/culture [web]

Brignall, C (2013), The Psychedelic poster art of Wes Wilson, WordPress/BytesForAll, Weswilson.com [web] .

Marks, B (2011) Psychedelic Poster Pioneer Wes Wilson on the Beatles, Doors & Bill Graham, Market Street Media LLC, collectorsweekly.com [web].

Uncredited, (2013) Vietnam Profile: Timeline, bbc.co.uk [web]. - although uncredited, I feel that this is a trusted source as it is from the BBC facts website which is regularly updated and amended.

Hoyland, J (2008) Power to the People, Guardian News and Media Limited , guardian.co.uk/music/2008/mar/15/popandrock.pressandpublishing, [web]

Images

‘Stop Nuclear Suicide’ by FHK Henrion (1963):