Radical Modernism^267
Dan FriedmanLike “Ultrasuede,” the term
“radical modern” sounds like a
dubious synthetic, or worse,
another arcane subdivision in an
already pretentious taxonomy of
art that includes such updates as
neo-dada and postexpressionism.
But even if one is skeptical
about new and improved art
movements, the terminology
should not get in the way of
appreciating Dan Friedman’s
( 1946 – 1995 ) graphic design, which, infused with his self-defined principles
of radical modernism, is neither synthetic nor pretentious.
Radical modernism originated as a twelve-point manifesto at the
AIGA’s 1989 “Dangerous Ideas” conference in San Antonio, Texas, where
Friedman proposed the unfashionable idea that modernism—as developed
in 1920 s Europe before evolving into a corporate language—remains the
basis for socially relevant andformally diverse design. What he calls “radical
Modernism” is “a reaffirmation of the idealistic roots of our modernity,
adjusted to include more of our diverse culture, history, research, and
fantasy.” Rather than turning to postmodernism, Friedman calls for a
post-corporate modernism that rejects cold universal systems and clichéd
solutions.Radical Modernism (Yale University Press, 1995 ), a monograph
published months before his death at the age of fifty, is a manifesto that
critiques modernism’s failures and perpetuates—indeed celebrates—its
triumphs. But most important, it is a record of a stimulating body of
contemporary work that convincingly blurs the traditional boundaries
between art and design.
Friedman, who was schooled in both the science-based rationalism
of Germany’s Ulm school and the intuitive logic of Wolfgang Weingart’s
convention-busting typography program at the Basel school, rejected the
International Typographic Style that dominated American design in the
1960 s and early 1970 s. As a teacher at Yale and the State University of
New York at Purchase during the early 1970 s, he introduced students to
linguistic and perceptual theory as a way to expand design thinking.