Gendering the Image

Look at your own work.
Write about it's gender orientation.
Write a conclusion about your findings.

I think that my work is gender ambiguous or slightly leaning towards a male audience due to the fact I draw Myself and other males mostly, I also have a boyish sense of humour that comes through in my work. I think that my work is quite modern, but is more similar to artists like Joel Millerchip than an artist like Pendleton Ward who I think creates more feminine artwork. I'm also mostly inspired by Urban art rather than traditional or cartoon artwork, which I see as quite masculine in a way. Most of my work has a limited colour palette often limited to simply black and white which I think is quite ambiguous or non-feminine as opposed to pastel or bright colours which I would see as more feminine.

The Message Behind the Concept

Lecture notes

Semiotics/realism? 

Real life is in colour so how can a black and white photo be real? 

Art needs a spectator to give pictures a meaning of significance. 

Semiotic theories:

Signs
Symbols
Denotation and connotation
Metaphor and metonymy 

Language and speech
Codes
Sound image - Signifier
Concept - signified

Symbolism and colour

Symbols often used within patterns.

 
eyes =  gateway to soul 

Colours and imagery mean different things to different people. 

 
The yellow book was brightly coloured (yellow) to draw the eye. It was seen as seductive and lewd when it was first brought out in 1894-1897, it depicted things that were risqué at the time.

Aubrey Beardsley the illustrator of the yellow book used a lot of symbolism in his work. He emphasised erotic things. 

The Purple book is a modern version of the yellow book.

HALL S. This means this This means that A user’s guide to semiotics, Laurence King Publishing LTD 2012.

Grayson Perry

"Grayson Perry: Who Are You?" is a show presented by artist Grayson Perry as he looks at what he describes as 'Modern Tribes' meaning small groups of people that wouldn't normally be described as a tribe. He met with various 'Tribes' and individuals;
Ex-MP Chris Huhne, Rylan Clark from X-Factor, a Muslim convert, a young transgender man, the Jesus Army, a white gay couple with a mixed-race son, a couple living with Alzheimer's, a group of Irish Loyalists, a group of 'Big Beautiful Women', and the Culture of Deaf people.
He tries to represent these people as best he can through small meetings and sketching sessions in an attempt to capture their own personal identities as individuals, and as their 'tribes'.
Grayson Perry asks various questions to his subjects about various things to do with how they view themselves and how they see their own personal identity, this helps him to get a clear understanding of his subject, and produce a piece of art that through image and medium produces a portrait.
I thought that the portraits were very well produced and thought out, and accurately depicted the Modern Tribes that these people belong to.

The Golden Age of Illustration

Lecture Notes

Illustration became a job/trade in the late 19th Century.

Back to ancient times- cave paintings, ancient Rome, India etc., 

Medieval people 'illustrated' the bible.

18th Century - use of satyr came to be, people started using own voice

19th Century became a recognised trade, more people could read, higher demand for books.

Books aimed at the working class (ladybird books) had lots of picture because they still weren't so good at reading.

Artists more frequently commissioned to illustrate books, illustration became recognised as a trade.

1880-1920 book publishing exploded, libraries very popular which helped grow interest in different genres

New techniques in printing and other technologies. helped grow the trade.

'Aesthetic Movement'- group of rich men, love of 'beautiful things, collected art. (Oscar Wilde)

Children's books became popular, taught kids to read.

Lots of books released about 'good taste', home furnishings, fashion etc.

Illustration followed trends in art.

By 1890 illustration was huge, accepted as true art.

End of 19th century trade routes with Japan re opened, influenced illustration heavily.

Interest in Japonisme

Influence seen in Art Nouveau, big blocks of colour, borders around work.

Alphonce Mucha, Henri Toulouse Latrec, Henri Riviere.

Riviere's '36 views of the Eiffel Tower' directly influenced by Hokusai's '36 Views of Mount Fuji.'

Japanese thought prints were old and dated, they wrapped up items with them to trade, prints became 

popular in the west.

Aubrey Beardsley's work quite shocking, influenced by Japan, his work made fun of western attitudes to sex.

Illustration also becoming popular in continental Europe.

Japanese work heavily influenced Art Nouveau movement.

Christmas illustration became huge, people started giving cards etc.

People were spending more and more money on Christmas.

Fantasy illustration became popular in kids books etc. less realism being used.

"The Golden Age of Illustration was a period of unprecedented excellence in book and magazine illustration. It developed from advances in technology permitting accurate and inexpensive reproduction of art, combined with a voracious public demand for new graphic art.

The American "golden age of illustration" lasted from the 1880s until shortly after World War I (although the active career of several later "golden age" illustrators went on for another few decades). As in Europe a few decades earlier, newspapers, mass market magazines, and illustrated books had become the dominant media of public consumption. Improvements in printing technology freed illustrators to experiment with color and new rendering techniques. A small group of illustrators in this time became rich and famous. The imagery they created was a portrait of American aspirations of the time."

http://www.rafoxsociety.com/what-was-the-golden-age-of-illustration/
2012 •The R. Atkinson Fox Society

Illustration as Object: Fredun Shapur

Fredun Shapur was a Graphic Designer, he was very good at transforming his illustrations into fun interactive objects, they are very stylish toys, and would easily work as collectibles, or learning toys for young children and toddlers. 

"In recent years, designs for children by modern masters like Bruno Munari, Charles and Ray Eames and Alexander Girard have been brought forward, their diminutive audience seen not as undermining but attractive. We should add Fredun Shapur to that pantheon of designers of winning and sculptural objects for children. Shapur’s work was produced by an international array of manufacturers, including Naef, Trendon, Galt Toys, Fischerform and Selecta, but he is best known for transforming Creative Playthings’ logo, packaging and products."

Lady Bird Books

Lady Bird books were very well known due to the fact that they were cheap and beautifully illustrated, many children had the books bought for them by their parents. Lady Bird books was founded in 1867 and since 1914 was producing the classic childrens books, which had a very unique feature about their printing which made them so cheap, they were printed on one large sheet of paper and folded down to the well known 56 page format.

Beatles Album Covers

In this post i am going to analyse The Beatles' album covers, and what they reflect about the times in The Beatles lifespan.

• Please Please Me (1963)

This album was The Beatles' first, they were just a few lads from livepool messing around and making some music, this is shown in the album by them getting a fun picture of them hanging out in an apartment block.

• With the Beatles (1963)

This album came about when The Beatles began to rise to unprecedented fame, and decided they should represent themselves in a more professional way, the lay out in this image is very strange to look at, it is in fact a show of importance from left to right, with Ringo Starr at the bottom right because he is the drummer.

• A Hard Day's Night (1964)

In this album cover they were trying to show the lives and personalities of The Beatles, in order for people to choose their favorite, at this point The Beatles were becoming like merchandie rather than a band.

• Beatles for Sale (1964)

This is the second album of 1964, The Beatles began to release music a lot more quickly due to their ever rising fame, this album cover took a much more serious turn than previous iterations.

• Help! (1965)

At this point The Beatles began trying to change from being heart throb love song writers.

• Rubber Soul (1965)

This album marks the beginning of The Beatles psychedelic faze, due to experimentation in drugs.

• Revolver (1966)

Revolver was a great step forward for The Beatles featuring a heavy amount of experimentation, which lead to them discovering their individual style of music. The cover was designed by Klaus Voormann, a friend of The Beatles.

• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

This was when The Beatles were in full swing of their psychedelic experimentation. The brightly coloured military outfits represent their anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment beliefs of the fictional band depicted on the cover. 

• The Beatles ("The White Album", 1968)

The White Album represents the height of The Beatles popularity, as they don't even have to create an album cover for people to buy it, at this point people were buying anything with "The Beatles" printed on it

• Yellow Submarine (1969)

The Beatles had spent a large amount of time with a guru trying to find themselves, the guru later turned out to be a sham. Growing tensions in the band made it difficult to follow one style of music, the band was beginning to fray. at this point the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was released several months after recording, before the guru experience.

• Abbey Road (1969)

Although Let It Be was the Beatles' final album release, it was largely recorded before Abbey Road. Abbey Road was a project from The Beatles trying to save the band, they worked hard at it, and rehearsed heavily, this album is possibly one of the most famous covers of all time.

• Let It Be (1970)

Let it be was the final decline of the beatles, at this point they were pretty much broken up, and taking on their own solo careers due to artistic differences, it was difficult to get them all to take a photograph together which is why they are all seperate.