week4

During the 15th century, Germans introduced wooden blocks printing technique to produce playing cards. They could quickly export these cards throughout Europe because of their lower costs. The substitution of wood blocking and hand coloring with copper plate engraving during the 16th century was the next significant innovation in the manufacturing of playing cards. The mass printing of playing cards was revolutionized with the introduction of color lithography in the early 19th century.

It is believed that playing cards were invented in China.Chinese playing cards, as we understand the term today, date from at least 1294, when Yen Sengzhu and Zheng Pig-Dog were apparently caught gambling in Enzhou (in modern Shandong Province).Cards entered Europe from the Islamic empire. The earliest authentic references to playing-cards in Europe date from 1377. Europe changed the Islamic symbols such as scimitars and cups into graphical representations of kings, Queens, knights and jesters. Different European countries adopted different suits system, for instance Italian, Spanish, German and some other countries deck of cards, even today, do not have queens.

week3

Perhaps it would be possible to consider William Morris the father of modern graphics. In the second half of the 19th century his Kelmscott Press produced many graphic designs, and created a collectors market for this kind of art. In Oxford he associated with artists like Burne-Jones, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Together they formed the Pre-Raphaelites group, and their ideas influenced the modern graphic design considerably.

This Morris Tulip and Willow design (1873) is another example of decorative graphics. By using a diagonal blue, with only some suggestion of orange the artist tries to create a harmonious color scheme that could be used effectively in the design of a poster or other graphic design media.

Week2

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin; 2 November 1699 – 6 December 1779) was an 18th-century French painter . He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities. Carefully balanced composition, soft diffusion of light, and granular impasto characterize his work.

The sole living object in the painting is the cat. Perched in maniacal rapture, the feline is takings its chance on slurping the glutinous flesh of a half-dozen oysters before it’s swatted off the counter. The instruments of death–i.e. kitchen pans and cutlery–await the arrival of the cook. But what is being said about death here and what of life? What did Chardin intend?  Interpretations range from religious overtones of Christ and martyrs, to man versus nature, to the simplest explanation: rays or skates were a regular fixture in French fish markets.  No need for squeamishness here.


Yes, I am sentimental about rays

I have an affection for rays. I’ve watched them sleep in a secluded bay under full moonlight, glide between channels of mangroves, and fly beneath the seawater as if they’ve wings. They’re creatures possessed of a quiet grace: Stay still in the water beside them and they’ll graze your leg if you don’t fear their spiked tail.  Mostly, though, you wouldn’t want to.  As Monsieur Chardin shows us, they are better off beyond the hands of man.