Tessa Siverling
AH 531 Art and Society
The life and artistic style of Saul Bass
Introduction
“When I began to do titles many, many years ago – the dark ages, when designers lived in caves – I went through a very intense learning experience with some extraordinary film makers,” Saul Bass – 1996 As a graphic designer, I like to look at other designers work and analyze their style. It helps me in my own work to see what others are doing and how they’re doing it. One designer who has really influenced me and whose work I love is Saul Bass. He was a master of presenting and communicating things in such a different and interesting new way. He has an iconic and unique style that really had an impact without being over the top. I definitely try to emulate what he does in a lot my work and keep things simple but still want them to have that same impact that his art did.
Background
He was born in New York City May 8, 1920. His parents were eastern European immigrants. He graduated from James Monroe High School and after that he went and studied at the Art Students League in Manhattan and he was also attending classes with György Kepes at Brooklyn College. He then went to Hollywood during the 1940’s to do print work for film ads and that’s how he met up with filmmaker Otto Preminger to design a film poster for the movie Carmen Jones. Otto ended up being so impressed with his work that he asked him to do the title sequence too. Bass saw this as an opportunity to be able to improve the audiences experience and also help with the mood of the film within the opening moments. He was really one of the first people to realize the potential for the opening and closing credits in a film. He has done numerous title sequences and I chose to talk about...
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...urative minimalism that he loved to use. These were also a poster for Precious released in 2009 which showed things from several of the posters Bass did, including Anatomy of a Murder. Some other pieces that were meant to be a tribute to his work are the cover art for The White Stripes' single The Hardest Button to Button and the designs don’t by comic book artist J. H. Williams III's for the Batman story "The Black Glove".
It seems like Saul Bass really dabbled in a little of everything. In addition to movie posters, he designed many posters for film festivals, magazines, and some book, and album covers. For the Academy Award Presentation he designed five posters and he also did the Student Academy Award for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and in 1962 he illustrated Henri’s Walk to Paris which was his only children’s book, written by Lenore Klein.
As the original mastermind behind the “...lost” surf boards that began showing up a few years ago, Drew Brophy gave new life to the almost forgotten art of surfboard illustration.
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Graphic designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister has always had a unique way of viewing the world, therefore has created designs that are both inventive and controversial. He is an Austrian designer, who works in New York but draws his design inspiration while traveling all over the world. While a sense of humor consistently appears in his designs as a frequent motif, Sagmeister is nonetheless very serious about his work. He has created projects in the most diverse and extreme of ways as a form of expression. This report will analyse three of Stefan’s most influential designs, including the motives and messages behind each piece.
Wet Canvas, no date, Jules Cheret: The Father of the modern poster, found here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/Museum/Artists/c/Jules_Cheret/, (accessed 26/11/2013).
Strunk, William and White, E. B. The Elements of Style (4th ed.). Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA, 2000.
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