Customer Reviews

Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age: Selections from the Merrill C. Berman Collection

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this book is a real find! there are some truly magnificent and stylistically ground-breaking samples of early 20th century graphic design here. most of the selections represent the pinnacle of the german and russian avante-garde designers of the 1920's and 30's, including alexandr rodchenko, el lissitsky, lazlo-moholy nagy and many others. But there is also a decent overview of french and american designers as well.

this period of work is profound because of it's ingenuity, daring graphic experiments in text and layout, and it's use of collage, photos and text, and dada influences to create bold graphic statements. the pieces included in this volume span many different media in the graphic arts...war propaganda, art exhibition posters, product advertising, civil program posters, packaging, publishing, and even fine art.
it is a testament to this collection of designers, because many of them worked simultaniously in many different mediums all at once, especially those involved in the bauhaus movement and the russian avante-garde artists.

this book is an excellent overview of this period in graphic design, and would provide endless inspiration for anybody involved in any field of design. i cannot recommend it strongly enough!