History of GD Pictorial Modernism

Pictorial Modernism was the period after world war 1 as America and Europe bounced back. The artwork throughout this era was mainly geometric that resembled art nouveau. Although America did not originally warm up to Pictorial Modernism, it eventually came around as two-dimensionality, contour lines, and simple planes of color were sown into it. Text became abstract as words and images became integrated within each other.

One person that I find interesting throughout this reading is Edward McKnight Kauffer. Aiding in the exposure of modern art to America, he traveled throughout America and ended up in Paris trying to find more exposure to design. Looking at his posters, you can really see abstract design. In one of his London Underground posters, he uses plain color to show a river. He does a good job at applying shadows and other geometric shapes in this poster so the viewer is able to understand what it is.

One question that I pose after this reading involves Cassandre's designed typeface. He created a typeface called Bifur that is unique in the fact that not all the strokes in a letter is present. Even though this text was unique, was it used at all in any other poster work? I feel it takes a longer time to read and understand what is being said would not really be used. What kind of design was it used for?