The New Design of Write and the Four

As the twentieth century rolled around new forms of art were being introduced to the world. While Art Nouveau was still a dominating style in graphics artists from all disciplines looked to other forms of expressing their styles. Most of these interests were fueled by the technological and industrial advances of the time. Many artists kept in mind the fundamentals of Art Nouveau by trying to break away from the fixed design styles of natural and historical concepts and create new abstract or non-conceptual designs. Germany Scotland and Austria were the main hubs during this time for designing new styles of artwork that would portray the social, economic, and cultural changes of the time.

            One such example of this was American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, whose geometric design style focusing on spatial organization was just reaching the eyes of European designers and artists. To Wright, space was the most important element of design, this came about when he worked with his friend on a printing press. Working on the press taught him many valuable lessons about space and how negative space can be used effectively. He used blank space as boundaries that keep his work organized as well as to combined elements for his design to work together. His works during this time brought him to the head of the modern movement which influenced many others.

            In Scotland, Wright’s work was inspiring a group of individuals who would later become known as the Four. J. Herbert McNair, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and sisters’ Margret and Frances Macdonald all attended the Glasgow School of Art where they brought about a new style of geometric art influenced by Wright’s design style. Because this new style had never been seen before in Scotland, art scholars and observers were furious with the Four. Editor of The Studio however loved their boldness and traveled to Glasgow to publish articles about them reminding everyone that the purpose of design was to attract attention and that this new design style did exactly that. Through these articles the Four became revered around Europe but were very much looked past in Britain.

Mackintosh designed this poster for the Glasgow School of Fine Art,
that caused outrage among its observers.

Wright used geometric shapes in his borders as seen above.
This style was used to create eye appealing perimeters for the designer to work in.

This is an example of Wright's rectangular design used to help different
elements of the whole piece to work together more efficiently.