Grapus
Grapus was the most important pioneering French graphic collective of the 20th century and existed from 1970 to 1992. The influence of the group can still be clearly seen in French communication design today.
history
The graphic collective Grapus was founded in 1970 in response to the student and workers' revolt in May 1968 . The protests had their roots in student anger that the clumsy, outdated university system, with a rapidly growing number of students, could no longer maintain the level of education. The revolt was also a protest against the conservative post-war society under President Charles de Gaulle . The protests are said to have been joined by up to nine million workers.
- “You will find the beach under the pavement.” (French: Sous le pavé la plage.) - anonymous graffiti , Paris 1968
Until the student uprisings, the three founders Pierre Bernard , Gérard Paris-Clavel and François Miehe had studied at the Atélier Populaire at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. All three broke off their studies there, Bernard and Paris-Clavel studied another year at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw with the Polish poster artist Henryk Tomaszewski . With his very own style, he strongly influenced his two French students.
- “I don't have the patience to admire beauty for its own sake, virtuosity of the eye or the hand. I prefer a crazy idea to artistic perfection. I tried to express myself differently, maybe it's gibberish, incoherent thoughts in an unfinished, broken sentence. As a result, my drawings often simply have nothing to look at, nothing “pretty”. They are things that cannot please the eye; they are fleeting and difficult to grasp. That may explain why a comparison with cabaret makes sense. ” - Henryk Tomaszewski
The year 1968 also drove a wedge between the local graphic designers in France; the branch of graphic designers developed in the field of commercial advertising and the branch of those creative people who rebelled against the traditional representation system and conceptualized them exclusively in the field of culture and politics. After the establishment in 1970, Jean-Paul Bachollet in 1974 and in 1976 the German Alex Jordan , a master student of Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, were accepted into the collective as celebrations. In 1978 Miehe left Grapus and returned to the École des Arts Décoratifs as a professor.
Grapus achieved initial success with the visualization of left-wing visions. They designed cultural and political posters for experimental theater groups, progressive city councils, for the Communist Party PCF , the Communist Union CGT and for educational campaigns and social institutions.
The special thing about the studio was, on the one hand, the experience of the division of labor, on the other hand, that all works were only signed with the name of the studio and, thirdly, the conception of images with social non-profit character. Grapus used to mix politics with pleasure, true to the motto “fun doesn't cost more money”. Her idealistic goal was to bring culture to politics and politics to culture, and to encourage people to do their own thing. By publicly stimulating private fantasies, lost utopias were regained.
- "Utopias are based on the memory of things that we have not yet been able to realize" - Paul Ricœur (French philosopher)
Many graphic techniques that seem natural today were first used by the Grapus. As early as the 1970s, they were printing photos out of focus, using handwriting against all viewing habits, gluing their own pubic hair into the creative composition, using grease stains and other things that at first sight seem impossible. The poster was a very important medium. Here they achieved an effect through the combination of collages and graffiti and the technique of visual interruptions (detournement), i. H. a message is diverted by visual vandalism. They developed the strategy of paradoxical intervention in public space: Their aim was to regain part of public space and thus also a piece of democracy with their work. Grapus developed his very own visual language, with apparently naive handwriting, bright and luminous colors, sensual shapes and spirited sensory impressions.
The founders of the group, Pierre Bernard, Gérard Paris-Clavel and François Miehe were characterized by a lack of inhibitions, a poetry of conception and a general distrust of advertising and its propaganda techniques. In Bernard's opinion, the viewer is only touched when the sensory impression has passed through the filter of personal experience and inner conviction.
- "Il faut s'approprier le message." (You must make the message your own.) - Grapus
You helped develop the idea of the graphic artist as an author. Every order brought by the customer was questioned. It could happen that a customer wanted a poster, but Grapus wanted a different medium such as B. thought a brochure would be more useful and suggested it. Customer relationships were difficult. A certain type of customer only came once and never again.
More than 20 people worked there during the studio's weddings. This later led to work being carried out in three separate units. In 15 years the studio created many of the well-known graphic icons of that time in France. For example the corporate design for the Sécours Populaire , La Villette , or the Louvre . The founders of Grapus were active members of the PCF, the French Communist Party, until the 1980s, for which they also designed posters for election and other campaigns. The collective's crisis began around 1987. There was a dispute over direction between Bernard, Paris-Clavel, Alex Jordan and Jean-Paul Bachollet. While Paris-Clavel wanted to maintain the old radicalism and no longer wanted to work for state model institutions, Bernard approached these institutions, such as the Louvre. He believed that graphic communication can also be an instrument of social change when working the major state cultural institutions. Alex Jordan and Jean-Paul Bachollet tried in vain to mediate between the two extremes. This can also be seen in the work of the Grapus members after the separation. While Paris-Clavel's work became increasingly radical, Bernard's work more closely approximated that of a large, international design office. His long-term interns brought with them international influences from their home countries. Since the late 1980s - in contrast to Gerard Paris-Clavel and Alex Jordan - a strong Dutch influence can be seen in the design and typography of Pierre Bernard.
Splitting up of the group
- Gérard Paris-Clavel founded the group Les Graphistes Associés (LGA) together with Vincent Perrottet in 1989/1990 and was active there until 1992. He designed a lot of posters with a strong political link. In 1989/1990 he also founded the Ne Pas Plier association with others.
- Pierre Bernard founded the Atélier de Création Graphique (ACG) in 1990 with Fokke Draier and Dirk Behage .
- Alex Jordan founded the group Nous travaillons ensemble (NTE) together with Ronit Meirovitz and Anette Lenz in 1990 .
literature
- engagement & graphic design. Interviews and images on post-grapus groups such as NDE, ne pas plier, graphiste associes. ISBN 3-926796-62-6 . ( Excerpts )
- Dieter Urban: Posters. Posters. Over 400 selected works by leading designers. Stiebner, Munich 1996.
- Alain Weill: Encyclopédie de l'affiche . Editions Hazan, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-7541-0582-8 , 374-375 m. Fig.