Louis Prang

Louis Prang (1824 –1909) was an American printer, lithographer, and publisher.  He is sometimes known as the "father of the American Christmas card."  Prang's early activities in the US publishing architectural books and making leather goods were not very successful, and he began to make wood engravings for illustrations in books.  In 1864, Prang went to Europe to learn about cutting-edge German lithography.  Returning the next year, Prang began to create high quality reproductions of major art works.  He felt that chromolithographs could look just as good as, if not better than, real paintings.  The reason Prang decided to take on the challenge of producing chromolithographs, despite criticisms, was because he felt quality art should not be limited to the elite.  Prang also began creating series of popular album cards, advertised to be collected into scrapbooks, showing natural scenes and patriotic symbols.  At Christmas 1873, Prang began creating greeting cards for the popular market in England and began selling the Christmas card in America in 1874.

References: 

•  Bethany Neubauer. "Prang, Louis"; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Taber Prang Art Co.

• David Raizman, History of Modern Design, Prentice-Hall

Bendwood chair

Michael Thonet (1796-1871) was a German-Austrian independent cabinetmaker in 1819.  In the 1830s, Thonet began trying to make furniture out of glued and bent wooden slats.  Thonet's essential breakthrough was his success in having light, strong wood bent into curved, graceful shapes by forming the wood in hot steam.  The No. 14 chair is the most famous chair made by the Thonet chair company.  Also known as the bistro chair, it was designed using a unique steam-bending technology, known as bentwood that required years to perfect.  Thonet’s No. 14 was made of six pieces of steam-bent wood, ten screws, and two nuts.  The wooden parts were made by heating beechwood slats to 100 degrees Celsius, pressing them into curved cast-iron molds, and then drying them at around 70 degrees Celsius for 20 hours.  The chairs could be mass produced and disassembled to save space during transportation.  With its affordable price and simple design, it became one of the best-selling chairs ever made.  About 50 million of Thonet's No. 14 chairs were sold between 1860 and 1930, and Chair No. 14, today known as 214, is still produced by Thonet's factory.

References

• Alice Rawsthorn (7 November 2008). "No. 14: The chair that has seated millions". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/10/style/design10.php.






David Raizman, History of Modern Design, Prentice-Hall

Wedgwood Jasperware

Jasperware is a type of stoneware first developed by Josiah Wedgwood. During his long career Wedgwood developed revolutionary ceramic materials, notably basalt and jasperware. It is noted for its matte finish and is produced in a variaty of different colors, but the best known is a pale blue that has become known as Wedgwood blue. Jasperware is his most successful innovation, was a durable unglazed ware most characteristically blue with fine white cameo figures inspired by the ancient Roman Portland Vase. The most famous artist Wedgwood employed at Etruria was the sculptor John Flaxman, whose wax portraits and other relief figures he translated into jasperware. Along with Wedgwood’s invention of jasperware he also impacted the pottery world by his invention of the pyrometer, a device for measuring high temperatures-invaluable for gauging oven heats for firings, earned him commendation as a fellow of the Royal Society.

References:

•  http://www.thepotteries.org/potters/wedgwood.htm

• David Raizman, History of Modern Design, Prentice-Hall

Michel-Eugene Chevreul

Chevreul has influential in the world of art after being named director of the dye works at the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris. After working at Gobelins Manufactory in Paris he received many complaints about the dyes being used there. The people told him that the blacks appeared different when used next to blues. Chevreul realized that the colors intracting differently depending on the base color. He determined that the yarn's perceived color was influenced by other surrounding yarns, which led to a concept known as simultaneous contrast. Simultaneous contrast identified by Michel Eugène Chevreul refers to the manner in which the colors of two different objects affect each other. The effect is more noticeable when shared between objects of complementary color. 

References:

• Chevreul, Michel Eugène (1855). The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours, and Their Applications to the Arts (2 ed.). London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.

• David Raizman, History of Modern Design, Prentice-Hall