Art and Advertising in the 1920s and 1930s

The early 20th century was one of the most progressive eras in history. There were social, political, and scientific advancements that had a direct impact on the average person's day to day life. One area that made giant advancements that is often over-looked is art and advertising.  There were drastic changes in the arts. The arts were often looked at as being something that was unnecessary and encouraged people to be slothful. But with the changes that came in the early 20th century, art became something that the average person would be exposed to on a daily basis. A reason that art and advertising changed was becomes the public view on art changed. People started to attend movies, art exhibits, and civic art projects more often. The styles and techniques used in the early 20th century in art and advertising differ from the styles used in the decades directly prior in the way companies and cities branded themselves, the way they advertised, and the public view on civic art. 

Before the turn of the century, companies ways of branding themselves did not vary very much. The logos were often ornate and used very sophisticated fonts. These ornate styles were often lacking in color, as well. Today, companies take full advantage of shading, varying colors, and differentiating themselves from the competition. You first start to see these techniques used in abundance in the 20s and 30s.  The Coca-Cola company is a prime example of a company that rebranded itself in this time period. Before, Coca-Cola used many serifs and used hard edges to attempt to make themselves stand out. However, when they rebranded themselves and took a more modern, "simplistic" approach they get ride of all serifs, make the design have rounded edges, and use a bubble style. This new style is meant to grab the consumers eye and entice him to buy the companies product or go to the advertised event. This new way of advertising had a direct impact on the way companies advertised their new products and events. 

The way that companies advertised products changed drastically in this time period. Before the simplistic style became so widespread advertisements would take up huge amounts of space with very little fonts that included all information possible about the event or product. The ads were often crowded and not very aesthetically pleasing. This Camay Soap ad is a perfect example of this style that squished all the information. This style made consumers have to work to get all the information out of these advertisements. This advertisement also uses only black and white and takes full advantage of shading, which is different then how the designers of the minimalistic posters took full advantage of color at every opportunity. This poster made for "The Beaches" is a great example of the minimalist style that comes from the early 20s. This advertisement takes advantage of colors that are well used, using complementary color schemes, and also only uses a little bit of text. The advertisement only states what exactly it is advertising and who it is by. Although there are some companies that knew they needed to change with the times but they also felt that the old style had its perks. This advertisement used by Kodak illustrates an interesting combination of the two styles. It has minimalist style illustrations that use color and a good use of color patterns by using gradients, monochromatic and complementary color schemes. The changes in advertising illustrated by these three advertisements had an impact on how people viewed art because of how often they were exposed to it. 

  Many cities used Civic art as a way to advertise their cities and entice people to visit and move to their cities. Cities like Chicago and Philadelphia took full advantage of this. These public art projects Helped changed the public view on art and the affect it could have on people. Cities that used this new style of art did so mostly because of a new widespread interest by the average citizen to see art in their city.  Cities also used these civic projects to make the city itself more aesthetically pleasing. The used these projects to help with city planning. Many people would not consider the beautification of cities, "artwork" but the civic art projects that were paid for by the city in hopes that it would make their city look better fits into the definition of art, "any field using the skills or techniques of art."  The change in style of city planning had direct impacts on people's lives. Large cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Cincinnati were directly affected by this new public interest in art. 

The beautification of cities and towns,  the change in styles in advertisements, and the rebranding of companies are all evidence of the different styles used and the change in attitude towards are in this time period. Art was no longer considered something for the high class that was only to be seen by them. It was no longer just private collections, but rather something to be enjoyed by all. Art was made more public, it was used around cities as well as in them. It was in this time where we first start seeing art become what it is today, something to be shared and loved by everyone.