Overview
The Vienna Secession was a group led by Gustav Klimt in Austria, 1897. The group rejected traditional form of art and design and wanted to create things in a new way. The Vienna secession was an extension of Art Nouveau and the unique graphic layouts and illustrations for their magazine Ver Sacrum depicted natural forms in an organic manner with curvy lines including the female figure and floral patterns. The work created by the group incorporated the use of flat geometric shapes to create modular designs which were decorative yet organic. Type used was simple and in sans serif.
Koloman Moser's "Fromme Kalender"
Moser, K. 1903. Fromme Kalender. Lithograph
Koloman Moser designed architecture, furniture, graphics and more under the Vienna Secession. His work played a role in defining the work of the Vienna Secession and other work which was being created at the time.
In Fromme Kalender, Moser depicts a woman holding an hourglass which is surrounded by an ouroboros which could symbolise about the longevity of life and being stuck in the process of time. The artwork makes use of Symbolism and Art Nouveau characteristics as seen in the curvy lines and flat colours. There are 3 colours used namely black, blue and red which contrast leading linework and areas of flat colour to be more vibrant. The woman's hair and clothing is flat and blends together to create an organic black shape. The area behind the figure is a flat blue and the area ate the bottom half of the artwork is text which is in front of a flat red area. The woman is more noticeable than the text and becomes the primary thing to view in the artwork.
Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse's Grateful Dead Psychedelic Poster
(Modern Interpretation of Vienna Secession)
Kelley, A and Mouse, S .1967
Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse worked together on many psychedlic rock posters and are most famous for their for the Grateful Dead shows at the Avalon. They took influence of past art movements including art nouveau and art deco and were involved in created a style which came to define the psychedelic rock period of the 1960s. They tended to use Art Nouveau inspired designs with vibrant colours and curved text which was at times hard to read and was supposed to be reminiscent of an LSD trip.
The poster above relates to Moser's Fromme Kalender as it makes use of few colours that are very vibrant. A woman is depicted leaning on a vase and her hair is depicted as a outlined organic shape similar to the woman in Moser's artwork. The figure takes the centre stage over the text as the becomes secondary and harder to read which caused viewers to look at the poster for longer. There is even a part of the text covered by the woman's head.
