|
Activity 1:
Technology
Influences Design
Overview
Changing technologies
used to produce posters strongly influence design. In
the mid-nineteenth century, the introduction of
lithography revolutionized poster graphics. Instead of
static hand-engraved or block-printed images set within
the constraints of letterpress printing, artists could
now use oily chalk to draw pictures and text directly
onto printing stones or plates. Where text dominated
earlier posters, those done with lithography displayed
more color and images placed in central locations.
Poster artists now had more artistic freedom to achieve
the "look" they wanted. The advertising
posters in the McCormick-International Harvester
collection provide the opportunity for students to
explore the differences in those posters designed before
and after lithography was widely available, and to
understand the changes that occurred.
Procedure
Ask students to examine
the six posters found under the Printing Technology
category and their captions in order generate a list of
the various documented chronological changes. Afterwards
have students pick a current product (a popular packaged
food item, car, or clothing label, for example) in order
to create a series of three posters representing the
different techniques found in the McCormick posters.
Have students focus their posters in three categories:
Before Lithography, Color Lithography, Beyond Color
Lithography.
If students want to
replicate the actual techniques of lithography, look for
a classroom kit called "Paper Plate
Lithography" at various art stores or in art supply
catalogs.
Activity 2:
What’s
the Message?
Overview
The advertising posters
of the McCormick-International Harvester collection
allow us the opportunity not only to view the
technological change in farm machinery, but also to
examine the methods used in advertising around the turn
of the century. Many of these methods are still used
today.
Procedure
Have students examine
the following posters under the Iconography
category (12, 14, 18, 30, 31), paying close attention to
the captions written for each poster. Discuss student
observations, with questions, such as: Who are the
potential customers? What makes the poster effective in
marketing the product? How does the marketing fit the
intended audience? Have students observe the
similarities and differences in advertising themes today
versus in the past (factories are no longer shown with
smoke billowing out, for example, but
"romantic" images still find a place). Then
construct a chart on the board, which summarizes the
advertising methods used. Then ask students (as
"prime-time investigators") to gather
present-day examples of similar advertising methods.
(See the sample chart below) A discussion concerning the
relative persuasiveness of advertising can serve as
closure to this activity.
Sample
Chart
|
McCormick
Ad Methods/Techniques |
Current
Examples |
|
"Fantasy"
landscapes for machinery capabilities |
TV
ad for Jeep Cherokee driving up side of snow
covered roof |
|
Placing
contemporary products in historic scenes |
TV
ad for Coors Beer with John Wayne |
|
Use
of wild west and cowboy images to sell
products |
Magazine
ad for Marlboro cigarettes - the Marlboro
man |
|
Use
of child to exploit and emotional response |
Michelin
tires
Many
examples from car wax to soft drinks to
automobiles
|
|
Ad
centers around a pretty woman, the product
is definitely secondary |
Automobiles,
soft drinks |
Activity 3: Another Look
at the Collection
Overview
The
McCormick-International Harvester Collection includes
over 200,000 photographs and about 3,000 advertising
posters. Archivists and curators at the Wisconsin
Historical Society (WHS) selected the posters and
developed the categories in which to place them for this
virtual exhibit. Students can begin to understand this
process by re-categorizing or re-arranging the posters
into their own categories.
Procedure
Divide the class into
groups and assign each group a selection/series of
posters from the exhibit to examine. Each group should
report to the class as a whole on the posters they
encountered. Summarize these discoveries on the board
alongside the established categories: Art History,
Business, Farm Technology, History, Iconography,
International, Location, Printing Technology,
Variations. After the class is familiar with the entire
exhibit, each group can create its own categories and
regroup the images accordingly. Have groups present
their choices, and discuss.
Activity 4: Instruments
of Change
Overview
During the late 19th
century technological change transformed American life.
Most easily recalled are the changes associated with the
growth of factories and urban areas. Yet during this
same time period significant changes were also occurring
on the family farm. Students will develop their
analytical skills by critically examining an advertising
poster from the McCormick-International Harvester
Collection. The
process will suggest the various perspectives and values
held by people during this time period.
Procedure
Produce several copies
of Poster 11. [Click here
to view a printable poster] Make sure the copies do
NOT contain the exhibit caption. Distribute copies of
the poster to groups of students and have them analyze
the poster by answering the guided questions found
below. After students have finished answering the
questions discuss the responses out loud. Students can
learn more about this time period and expand upon the
theme of progress by doing further research on one of
the topics found below.
Guided Questions for
Poster 11*
- Who produced this
poster? When? How can you tell?
- Who do you think is
the intended audience for this poster?
- What is happening
in the poster? What story does it tell?
- Why was the poster
produced? What is its purpose? How can you tell?
- What can you tell
about the values or beliefs of the creators of
this poster? of the intended audience of this
poster?
- What
generalizations can we make about the past from
this poster?
- Are these
generalizations important to us today? Why or
why not?
*Adapted from
PBS web-site section on Using Primary Source Documents
Selected Topics for
Further Research:
- Commercial art:
selling through aesthetics
- The Industrial
Revolution and the making of a consumer society
- The changing nature
of American rural life
- American
agricultural inventiveness
- "Big"
industry: farm equipment and the incorporation
of American agriculture
- Agricultural
industry and its effect on settlement in the
Midwest
- International
marketing of American agricultural equipment
and/or products
|
