Alexey Brodovitch |
ICONOFGRAPHICS |
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"If you know yourself, you are doomed."
- Alexey Brodovitch |
excerpt from 'Alexey Brodovitch' by K.W. Purcell. |
Brodovitch in New York,
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Alexey Brodovitch is known foremost for his work on the american fashion-magazine Harper's bazaar.
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Born in Ogolitchi, Russia in 1898 in an aristocratic and wealthy family, Brodovitch's youth was marked by the bolshevik revolution. Being a loyal supporter of the tsar, he became first lieutenant in the czar's White Army.
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In 1920 he fled to Paris as an exile from the October Revolution. Like many other emigrés whom had gained wealth in Russia, he ended up being both poor and workless. For the first time in his life he had to work to gain money. Living in Montparnasse, he found himself in a community of russian artists, which lead to his wish to become a painter.
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He obtained a job as a painter of stage sets for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Diaghilev's approach to design inspired him to move towards the more commercial arts and influenced him in his ideas on the lack of boundaries between different arts.
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Bal Banal
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Brodovitch entered a poster competition which searched for the most innovatory design to anounce an upcoming ball. He won the first prize, leaving a drawing by Picasso behind. His design symbolically represented the idea of masking in the switch between colors black and white. This 'Bal Banal' poster was the beginning of his career as a graphic designer as it brought him to the attention of various designers and agencies.
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martini advertisement
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The ad agency Maximilien Vox asked Brodovitch a design for Martini Vermouth. The result, based on strict geometric forms and basic colors resembled the constructivist style as seen in El Lissitsky's work.
While politically he was sympathetic with czarist russia, his artistic work shared the ideas of the avant-garde. This might mean that avant-garde ideas in design, which are thought to be post-revolutionary, actually predate the revolution and were non-political in origin.* |
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Athelia
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Soon his work was in great demand, designing posters and advertisements. He became art director for Athélia Studio, which gave him the opportunity to direct all aspects of a creative production. He had become one of the most respected designers of commercial art in Paris, but Paris began to lose its spirit of adventure it initially had. He looked across the Atlantic for new opportunities and was asked to come to Philadelphia to organize design classes at Philadelphia College of Art.
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At that moment Bodovitch was one of the pioneers to bring modernist ideas to America.*
Design of the early thirties was conservative and lacked of radical experiments. This could be explained by the economic situation after the Wall street crash in 1929. Many companies felt the need to show stability and used trusted methods in their advertisement design. |
* More would follow. In the mid 1930's Paul Rand, influenced by avant-garde european art, started his own design practice. |
At the Philadelphia college of Art Brodovitch teached by using examples of european graphic design, questioning his students about the placing of the elements and the decisions made by the designers. He once said "we learn by making mistakes. We must be critical of ourselves and have the courage to start all over again after each failure. Only then do we really absorb, really start to know."* He placed himself on the same level as his students, treating them as equals. He often brought real design assignments to the classroom, asking his students to think along.
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* Brodovitch, 'Brodovitch on Brodovitch', 45. |
In 1933 he started workshops that were open to all professions, known as the 'Design Laboratory'. In every assignment the students were challenged to avoid clichés, capture the essence, use their mistakes and look within themselves for the solution. Brodovitch was known for contradicting himself. He would say one thing and the next week he would say the oposite. This way he urged his students to think for themselves.
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Brodovitch reviewing
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As expected his work didn't go unnoticed in America. The photographer Ralph Steiner who worked for Harper's Bazaar, recognized the potential of Brodovitch as a designer. He introduced him to Carmel Snow, editor-in-chief of the magazine whom immediately offered him a job.
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"I saw a fresh, new conception of layout technique that struck me like a revelation: pages that bled beautifully, cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and arresting. Within ten minutes i had asked Brodovitch to have cocktails with me, and that evening i signed him to a provisional contract as art director."
- carmel snow* |
* Carmel Snow and Mary Louise Aswell,'The world of Carmel Snow', NY, McGraw-Hill, 1962,90. |
Harper's Bazaar,
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Harper's Bazaar,
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Brodovitch created a harmonious and meaningful whole using avant-garde photography, typography and illustration. After being hired he asked several old friends like Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Raoul Dufy, Marc Chagall and A.M. Cassandre to work for the magazine. Cassandre created several of the Bazaar covers between 1937 and 1940.
Brodovitch was the first art director to integrate image and text. Most american magazines at that time used text and illustration seperately, dividing them by wide white margins. |
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Ramon and Renita
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This spread from 1935 shows the integration of all graphic elements. Brodovitch accentuates the fluidity and movement of the images by using repetition and diagonal and horizontal stress. He uses the contacts like frames from a film and creates the illusion of movement and spontaneity across the left-hand page. The strips of film overflow onto the opposing page, as if the dancers have twirled across the spine of the magazine. The enlargement on the right-hand page depicts the grand finale of this dance numer.
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Mock-up spread for
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Brodovitch cropped his photograhps, often off-center, brought them to the edge of the page, integrated them in the whole. He used his images as a frozen moment in time and often worked with succeeding pages to create a nice flow trough the entire magazine. This brought a new dynamism in fashion layouts.
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Two Guys and
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The typeface he preferred was Bodoni, but when needed he switched to Stencil, Typewriter or a script. He matched the typeface with the feeling or with the need for an appropiate effect. Legibility was not his primary concern.
His layouts are easily recognized by his generous use of white space. Colleagues at other magazines saw his sparse designs as truly elegant, but a waste of valuable space. |
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If you don't like full skirts...
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Unknown
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Besides his work at Bazaar, his freelance work grew throughout the forties.
In 1949 Frank Zachary felt the need to create an american publication focused on art and design, like there had been several in europe. When looking for an art director they thought of Paul Rand and Brodovitch. Rand appeared to be too much of an artist and not enough of an art director, so Brodovitch became director of Portfolio. |
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Portfolio 1, winter 1950
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Brodovitch used only type on the cover, which was unusual for american magazines at that time. He wanted to create a magazine unlike any other. The first issue of the magazine is filled with a range of design influences that formed Brodovitch's creative vision.
But as they had chosen to create a no-expense-spared magazine and a rejection of any advertising at all, the magazine ended up folding after just three issues. |
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Portfolio 2,
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During this time Brodovitch was frequently absent from the Bazaar office, not only because the load of jobs he was offered, but also because of his problem with alcohol. It was partly because of this heavy drinking that Brodovitch was fired from his position at Harper's in 1958.
His wife Nina died in the same period and, left without a pension, his financial and physical situation worsened. He died in 1971 in a small village in southern France where he had spent the last three years of his life. |
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Harper's Bazaar,
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New Arrangements for Dinner.
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The Consensus of Opinion
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The Ultra Violets
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The Ultra Violets
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Tips in Your Fingers
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Mainbocher
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READING
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