Jazz Modernism (CoP Practical). Final.

Here is the results of my process.

Positives:

Turned out nicely in terms of an illustrative process. Contextually it is strong, every element owes it's visual essence to the jazz age. It's slightly random yet structured like jazz. Shows tribute to expressionism and impressionism which was the artistic brother to jazz. Due to it's format it can be seen in many different ways as illustrated in the pictures, again similar to jazz.

Negatives:

Wanted to do so much more with this, had many plans that didn't come to fruition. This is more of a glimpse of an overall vision. Needs more content. Feels as though it's missing something. Some of the illustrations aren't as refined as I wanted but this is the nature of expression.  

Publication. Development.

After I'd decided roughly on a visual aesthetic and content derived from my contextual references I could begin to think about the format and layout of the actual publication. 

Originally I had planned to print these dancing forms on a bongo skin as a cover. Unfortunately the bongo skin I found came in the post a day before printing after the screens had already been set up and when cropped down to the document dimensions was too small. It resulted in the corners being cut which didn't fit right with the feel of the rest of the publication. This meant I had to make some adjustments during printing to allow for this error. 

Once I had my fold out format I could arrange my main content and then illustrate the smaller figures around the text to give me an overall composition.

Typographically I'd already decided on a style of text which had an expressionist feel and was popular around the time of the Jazz boom.  

 Obviously some things change in transition to the final and it's nothing like what I originally had in mind but I feel it shows strong contextual reference and thought resulting in something which visually owes its roots to jazz.

Publication. Experimentation.

I knew from the start that I wanted the publication to feel expressive and I guess you could say 'jazzy'. This meant that it needed that hand rendered element.

Trying to let my own expression come through, it took the form of these Keith Haring/Henri Matisse figures in an almost tribal dance to jazz. I wanted to keep some essence of the Negro roots and culture in there and elements of impressionism and expressionism which I know jazz musicians were inspired by at the time and vice versa. These artistic influences within the time are vital to expressing Jazz in an informed and viable way.

Jazz Publication. Content Plan.

- Book Cover of Dancing Figures printed on drumskin preferably, if not then similar textured paper. 

- Inner Cover, black paper, slightly heavier stock. Title 'music of the machine age: jazz and modernism'. Finished with foiling.

- Preface/Introduction. DPS, illustrated (figures playing trumpet & guitar or piano sketch) introduction explaining context of book.

- Brief history of Jazz age. Includes quotes related to subject.

- DPS of Jazz portraits or jazz instruments illustrated. 

- Jed Rasula article. Explains jazz and it's links with artistic modernist movements.

 

 

Jazz. Further Visual Influence.

I recently stumbled upon some images which I feel expand on the album covers found earlier.

 

Cliff Roberts visual style for 'the first book of Jazz' is exactly what I had in mind. It looks like an african tribe painting and feels free, the perfect way for me to visualise Jazz. This tells me that to get that authentic feel I will need to try and stay away from the computer and get some hand rendered images which can be taken straight to screen print.

Modernity and Jazz.

Modernity is defined in the dictionary as
- the state or quality of being modern.

Here we will be looking at modernity, in direct relation to Jazz.

"Approaching the topic of jazz and modernism, one might begin with the emergence of bebop, which was routinely called “modernist” in the 1940s. While the debate about bop replicated aspects of earlier disputes about literary and artistic modernism, the parochial nature of the debate (largely confined to fans, journalists, and record collectors) insulates it from the more compelling issues associated with modernism. An alternative approach to the topic might enumerate encounters with, and opinions about, jazz by recognized modernists. Ezra Pound, for instance, backed George Antheil's concert hall amalgamation of jazz with futurism, even as he disparaged the piano as an agent of jazz (confusing it with ragtime). But most of the modernists had little interest in jazz, and to detect fugitive traces of their encounter with it one would have to scrape deep recesses of the biographical barrel (and, in most cases, the evidence would illustrate a larger pattern of Negrophilia or Negrophobia, adding little to the study of jazz). A third approach, adopted here, is to regard jazz as a conspicuous feature of modernity as it was manifested during and after the Great War. In that capacity, jazz unquestionably informed modernism as intellectual challenge, sensory provocation, and social texture."

- Jed Rasula, 2012.

Jazz as Decal Essay by Jed Rasula 2012. PDF 

 Modernity as a Cultural Style - Jazz in Black and White. 

American Modernism

Due to it's American origins this resource shows some interesting links between modernity, jazz and how they stood for similar values.

The American writer Lawrence W Levine described Jazz as "a catalyst of shifting national consciousness". It shows how times were changing in the states due to the influence of modernity and it's views.

Jazz itself owes it roots to black slave culture primarily but is a melting pot of different cultures. It was a positive new genre for the modern age and a direct product of modernity and modernism. At the time it was the progressive musical brother to the artistic revelations seen in painting, sculpture, design, fashion and architecture. An overall creative blanket, fresh and vibrant.

Daniel Gregory Mason charged that jazz "is so perfectly adapted to robots that the one could be deduced from the other. Jazz is thus the exact musical reflection of modernist industrial capitalism".

Irving Berlin called jazz the "music of the machine age." Players drew influences from everyday street talk in Harlem, as well as from French Impressionist paintings.

Jazz. Visual Culture.

Blue Note Covers:

The blue note covers show some interesting jazz related graphic design. It aims to capture that freedom with simple methods of breaking down rigid Swiss modern typography and crashing it together with illustrative elements. Certain examples could be seen as a mash of modernism and post-modernist aesthetics.

Bluenote Records History.

 Art Deco:

Art deco was the artistic movement around when looking at jazz in context.


Wiki - Art Deco.

In it's visual form it was a progression from the curves and organic forms found in 'art nouveau' to linear symmetry and straight edges. When first emerging in the 1920's it was seen as modern and innovative and reflected a return to money and glamour after the dust had settled from the first world war. It's influence can be seen in movements such as pop art and it's aztec influenced shapes are starting to re-emerge in contemporary fashion and design.

Return to Art Deco stlyes in Fashion.
  

The art deco aesthetic is reflected in the Jazz cover designs of the time. They used vibrant colours and geometric shapes but with a fluidity about them so they don't feel too rigid. It's like they are re-shaping, cutting and pulling apart the old to create something new.

Personal Thoughts:

The aesthetics of Jazz are pretty much what I had in mind. These kind of images were scattered around my house growing up and it feels very familiar to me. The style also transitions nicely into the type of publication I had outlined in my initial thoughts.