Project Proposal

Ad for Job Cigarette Paper by Alphonse Mucha, 1896.
Note how the cigarette paper is secondary to the sensuous beauty of the model.

Women in the art historical context are usually subject to a dichotomous existence. In one vein, they live as these radically amazing exceptions to the rule; indeed, their exceptionalist fame comes not as an appreciation of technique, but as a reinforcement of the established patriarchal rule. The seconds space where women reside is not a space, but rather a plane. They occupy the image as subject, meaning little more than fruits arranged in a wicker basket. One movement in particular had no excuse to subscribe to the standard imagery. At the turn of the 19^th century, design experienced an unprecedented revival. Paris lifted its advertising bans and, almost overnight, the streets blossomed. Soft muted colors poured over the dark industrial landscapes. The influence of newly curated Japanese woodblock prints challenged the strict details of classicism into economic and abstracted line and shape. Art nouveau reigned supreme. 

Monaco, Monte Carlo Ad, Alphonse Mucha, 1897

The primary characteristic of Art Nouveau is the almost complete deviation from classicism in image and form. As a graphic design student, Art Nouveau was a strong deviation from what I knew. The organic, curvilinear lines and illustrative, ornate images pushed text to the margins and let the true artistry of design shine. I almost fell in love...almost. The single facet that prevented my complete satisfaction was the blatant and lazy objectification of women. Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was an absolute master of the craft and the genre, and his fame came from a poster of a Moulin Rouge dancer, undoubtedly a disadvantaged woman, flashing her semiopaque undergarments to men. He romanticizes the experience of French nightlife masterfully; however, he disregards the real issues these women faced. Alphonse Mucha’s intoxicatingly complex work is absolutely timeless; yet, the best he could do with an advertisement was have a woman hold the product while writhing seductively.  Jules Chéret, one of the fathers of the movement, was the worst offender of all. His images became so archetypal that remarkably beautiful women of his day were called “Cherettes”. A real woman was prone to literally became dehumanized into a man’s concocted image.These men did not single-handedly establish the patriarchal structures; however, as designers they shirked their responsibility to challenge those hegemonic visual dialogues. 

Advertisment for the Moulin Rouge, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1891
Lautrec mastered unprecedented levels of abstraction. His compositions are dynamic. the colors are refined and engaging.

I think the aesthetic of Art Nouveau is fresh, complex, and involves a level of craftsmanship that most students don’t know exists. To refute the purity of the male gaze in art nouveau work, I would love to parody posters of art nouveau. Initially, I wanted to filter them through a female gaze and put very archetypically desirable men and gender nonconforming females on them. Then, through further thought and exposure to more readings, I realized visibility validates existence. Also, objectifiying men makes me no better than the men who objectify women. I'm choosing instead to highlight unconventionally beautiful women. Women who serve as archetypes for groups of people who live outside the dialogue of what society deems desireable.

Advertisment for La Loïe Fuller, Jules Cheret, 1893.
Cheret's free-wheeling beauties became the new standard of beauty. 

My medium is paper lithography prints. I chose paper lithography because it is as close to the original Art Nouveau medium as I could get. Traditional lithography involves a limestone slab on which designs were marked with various layers of wax pencils, wax washes, and other oil based mediums. Using the scientific principle that oil rejects water but accepts other oils, artists would wet the stone and apply ink. The oils in the wax and pencils would accept the oil-based inks; however, the exposed stone would absorb water...and reject the ink. The process was extremely taxing compared to modern printing methods, and required absolute mastery of craft. I possess neither the supplies nor the instruction to execute actual limestone lithography. I do, however, have the capacity and supplies to do paper lithography. This kind of printing process relies on the exact same scientific principles, made easier with the convention of laser printer toner. When you print an image, the toner used in the laser printer to actually create the image contains oils. Using the exact same process, I can wet that printout, causing the water to absorb water and the toner to reject it. Then, when I roll ink over the print, the laser toner picks up the ink and the wet paper rejects the oil-based inks. The short video below explains why printers use certain colors: Cyan (a shade of blue), Yellow, Magenta (a deep rich shade of pink) and Black.

Execution so far is going well. I'm in the middle of rendering my sketched parodies into computer images which I will then separate into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (the standard printing colors), print with a laser printer, then actually implement on a lithography press. I could definitely just print these images using standard technology; however, authenticity in medium yields a much richer result with this project idea.