Henry van de Velde, Tropon: L'Aliment le plus concentré, 1898
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IMAGE LIST | ACTIVITIES
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This is the only poster ever produced by Van de Velde, one of art nouveau's most acclaimed designers. It was created for the Tropon food company as part of a comprehensive design program, the first of its kind for a commercial enterprise. The rhythmic lines -- purely graphic -- appeared on everything from packages of powdered egg white to advertisements and the company's stationery.
Van de Velde avoided the more sensual qualities of French art nouveau. These springing curves, energetic rather than langorous, are more abstract and less dependent on plant forms than those of Hector Guimard, for example. His logolike treatment of the fim's name makes it an active element in the design. Framed by a repetition of angular rules, it has looked to some like a preview of the twentieth century's machine aesthetic. In fact, Van de Velde moved to Germany and in 1907 helped found the Deutsche Werkbund, often regarded as a forerunner of the Bauhaus.
Van de Velde had first achieved success as a painter, mostly with symbolist-tinged works in the neo-impressionist style of Seurat. But at the final exhibition of Les XX in 1893, he showed a large wall hanging, embroidered and appliquéd with the assistance of his aunt. It marked a turning point for his career. He went on to design a house for his family -- though he had no formal training as an architect -- as well as all its furnishings: wallpaper, silverware, porcelain. With his wife, he also designed women's clothes that were less confining than the corseted norm. Van de Velde's shift in focus was strongly influenced by the social doctrines of the arts and crafts movement and his own commitment to a more egalitarian future: "the hope of a happy and egalitarian future lies behind these new decorative works," he wrote in 1894 in La Société Nouvelle. The applied arts, he felt, could join individual and the community.
"Catalogues, posters, advertisements of all sorts.
Believe me, they contain the poetry of our age."- Guillaume Apollinaire, 1912
Learning Activities
Art
• Design a poster for a food using a purely abstract design and incorporating type.
• Design a typeface that reflects current industrial design.
Social Science
• Investigate the history of advertising. Consider how the Internet has changed or will change advertising techniques.