THE REFERENCE LIBRARY · 306 VISUAL LANGUAGES

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1500

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Timeline focus 306 cards, ordered by closeness to 1500

c. 700–presentWest Asia & North Africa

Islamic calligraphy

c. 1100–presentTibet & Himalayas

Tibetan thangka painting

c. 1150–1500Western Europe

Gothic illumination

c. 1200–1700Iran & Central Asia

Persian miniature

c. 1200–1500Armenia & Cilicia

Armenian illumination

c. 1200–1600Western India

Jain manuscript painting

c. 1250–1500Siena, Italy

Sienese painting

c. 1250–1517Cairo, Egypt

Mamluk Qur’an illumination

c. 1300–1900Ethiopia

Ethiopian manuscript illumination

c. 1368–1644China

Ming literati painting

1392–1897Korea

Joseon court painting

c. 1400–1550Low Countries

Early Netherlandish painting

c. 1400–1550Central Mexico

Mesoamerican codex painting

c. 1400–1520Florence, Italy

Florentine Renaissance painting

c. 1450–1900Türkiye

Ottoman illumination

c. 1470–1550Germany

German Renaissance woodcut

1499Venice, Italy

Aldine illustrated-book design

1498–99Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

Aq Qoyunlu manuscript painting

1493Nuremberg, Germany

Nuremberg Chronicle

c. 1510Germany

German martyrdom woodcut

c. 1530–50 / 1630Mughal India

Mughal imperial album leaf

1531–1700Augsburg, Germany & Europe

Emblem book

c. 1465Jaunpur, India

Jaunpur Kalpasutra page

1538Nuremberg, Germany

Dürer geometry treatise

1540Venice, Italy

Renaissance architectural treatise

1459Low Countries

Late-medieval devotional print

1454–1455Mainz, Germany

Gutenberg Bible typography

c. 500–1450Eastern Mediterranean

Byzantine illumination

c. 1550–1850South Asia

Mughal miniature

c. 1550–1900Odisha & West Bengal, India

Pattachitra narrative scroll

c. 1570–1868Kyoto & Edo, Japan

Kanō school painting

c. 1570–1800China

Chinese woodblock novel illustration

1570–1700Antwerp, Amsterdam & European print networks

Renaissance atlas cartography

c. 1570Mughal India

Hamzanama narrative painting

c. 1580–1675Dutch Republic

Dutch Golden Age painting

c. 1580–1725Deccan sultanates, India

Deccani miniature painting

1590Genoa, Italy

Venetian epic book illustration

c. 1595Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

Ottoman prophetic biography illustration

1402Korea

Kangnido world-map painting

c. 600–1400West Asia & North Africa

Early Arabic paper manuscript

c. 1300–1400Goryeo Korea

Korean Buddhist sutra illumination

c. 1600–1750Europe

Baroque print culture

c. 1600–presentBắc Ninh, Vietnam

Đông Hồ woodcut

c. 1600–1900Java, Indonesia

Wayang beber narrative scroll

c. 1600–1850Rajasthan, India

Rajasthani court painting

c. 1600–1800Cuzco, Peru

Cuzco School painting

1603China

Ming folding-fan landscape

c. 1610–1640China

Ming vernacular novel woodblock

c. 1615–1868Kyoto & Edo, Japan

Rinpa painting

1615China

Ming Buddhist sutra woodblock

1633Nanjing, China

Ten Bamboo Studio color-print manual

1634Mughal India

Mughal natural-history album leaf

1642Japan

Early Japanese printed tale

1648Anhui, China

Qing topographical print book

c. 1300–1350Iran

Ilkhanid Shahnama painting

c. 1300–1350Iberian Peninsula

Hebrew micrographic Bible page

c. 1650–1900Russia

Russian lubok

c. 1650–1900Siam (Thailand)

Thai samut khoi illumination

c. 1660–1750Britain, France & Netherlands

Scientific engraving

c. 1660–1868Japan

Japanese illustrated book

after 1663China

Qing poetry-album calligraphy

c. 1670–1900Japan

Ukiyo-e

c. 1680Edo, Japan

Early Edo pleasure-quarter print

c. 1690–1840Himalayan India

Pahari painting

c. 850–1300Japan

Yamato-e

c. 1150–1300England, France & the Low Countries

Medieval bestiary illumination

c. 1200–1300Iraq & Syria

Maqamat manuscript illustration

c. 1300Hereford, England

Hereford mappa mundi

c. 1700–1950China

Nianhua New Year print

c. 1700–1900Ethiopia

Ethiopian magic scroll

c. 1720–1775France, Britain & Central Europe

Rococo book illustration

c. 1720Paris, France

French Rococo theatrical engraving

960–1279China

Song monumental landscape

c. 1739Edo, Japan

Edo illustrated-book cover

1747Suzhou, China

Suzhou nianhua woodblock

c. 1750–1900Britain & France

Satirical print

c. 1750–1910Korea

Korean minhwa

c. 1750–1900Europe, Americas & colonial print networks

Botanical illustration

c. 1750–1900Netherlands

Dutch centsprent

c. 1750–1868Japan

Japanese Bunjinga painting

c. 1760–1868Kyoto, Japan

Maruyama–Shijō painting

1762–72Paris, France

Encyclopédie technical plate

1766–1767Paris, France

French auction-catalogue typography

1767Suzhou, China

Suzhou beauty-print design

c. 1770–1850India under East India Company rule

Company painting

1770Boston, United States

American Revolutionary news broadside

c. 1775–1806Edo, Japan

Japanese kibyōshi

1224Baghdad, Iraq

Abbasid scientific manuscript illustration

c. 1780–1900Korea

Chaekgeori screen painting

1789–1827London, England

Illuminated printing

1789–1799Paris & France

French Revolutionary print

c. 1790–1860Japan

Surimono print

c. 1790–1860Paris, France

French fashion-journal engraving

1798Edo, Japan

Edo kyōka poetry anthology

c. 1000–1200Western Europe

Romanesque illumination

c. 1800–1850Europe & Americas

Romanticism

c. 1800–1950Mexico

Mexican retablo painting

c. 1800–1900Épinal, France

Imagerie d’Épinal

1806Japan

Edo poetry-album print

c. 1806Edo, Japan

Ukiyo-e courtesan fashion print

c. 1807Japan

Edo jōruri programme print

c. 1810Paris, France

Regency Paris street etching

1814Edo, Japan

Edo dance-manual illustration

1817–1878Edo, Japan

Hokusai manga sketchbook

c. 1820–1850Edo, Japan

Aizuri-e blue print

c. 1825–1875United States

Hudson River School

c. 1830–1900Kolkata, India

Kalighat painting

c. 1830–1850France

Industrial catalogue lithography

c. 1830France

French panoramic wallpaper design

c. 1834–1907New York, United States

Currier & Ives lithography

c. 1840–1910Iran

Qajar lithography

c. 1840–1900Britain & Europe

Victorian chromolithographic ornament

c. 1840–1900Britain & United States

Victorian valentine card

c. 1840–1910Munich and Neuruppin, Germany

German Bilderbogen

c. 1840–1900United States

American sheet-music cover lithography

c. 1840–1900Britain

British railway excursion broadside

1842–1900London & transatlantic print networks

Illustrated weekly newspaper

1848–1900Britain

Pre-Raphaelite illustration

c. 1850–1930Britain, Germany & United States

Pop-up and movable book

c. 1850–1915Edo and Tokyo, Japan

Japanese omocha-e toy print

1851–1852Iran

Qajar Qur’an illumination

c. 1855United States

Dutch sea-trade lithograph

c. 1860–1910Britain & United States

Arts and Crafts

c. 1860–1900Europe

Japonisme

c. 1860–1885Paris, France

French theatrical lithography

1864United States

American Civil War campaign lithograph

1868–1912Japan

Meiji woodblock print

1868–1890sTokyo, Japan

Meiji kaika-e print

c. 1870–1900France

Impressionist poster

c. 1870–1940Bombay, Calcutta & pan-Indian print networks

Indian calendar art

c. 1870–1910United States

American chromolithographic trade card

1872–1949Shanghai, China

Shen Bao newspaper layout

c. 1872Paris, France

Japoniste figure painting

c. 1875–1895Kolkata, India

Calcutta bazaar lithography

1875Tokyo, Japan

Meiji illustrated newspaper nishiki-e

c. 1875–80Kolkata, India

Battala devotional woodcut

1878Paris, France

French family-portrait lithographic culture

c. 1880–1910Europe

Symbolist print

c. 1880–1913Mexico City, Mexico

Posada broadside graphics

c. 1880–1914Paris, France

French illustrated newspaper supplement

c. 1885–1915Europe & United States

Pictorialist photography

1888Korea

Korean literati orchid painting

c. 1890–1914Europe & United States

Art Nouveau

c. 1890–1910Scotland

Glasgow Style

c. 1890–1947Kolkata, India

Bengal School

c. 1890–1939Eastern Europe & New York, United States

Yiddish theatre poster

1890Tokyo, Japan

Kyōsai accordion picture-book

c. 1890–96Mexico City, Mexico

Mexican calavera verse broadside

1891–1898Hammersmith, London, England

Kelmscott private-press book design

1892–1930sCairo, Egypt

Al-Hilāl literary magazine

1892–1945Berlin, Germany

Berliner Illustrirte photojournalism

1892Paris, France

Montmartre color-lithograph publicity

1894–1930sBombay, Lonavala & India

Ravi Varma Press oleograph

1894–1897London, England

The Yellow Book aesthetic

c. 1895–1930United States & Europe

Newspaper comic strip

c. 1895–1930Paris, France

French pochoir illustration

1896–1914Munich, Germany

Jugend magazine graphic

1896–1914Munich, Germany

Simplicissimus satirical weekly

1897–1918Vienna, Austria

Vienna Secession

c. 920–1100León, Castile & northern Iberia

Mozarabic Beatus illumination

c. 1100Tibet

Tibetan mandala diagram

1900Atlanta, United States

W. E. B. Du Bois data portraits

1902Mexico City, Mexico

Manilla calavera broadside

1903–1932Vienna, Austria

Wiener Werkstätte graphics

c. 1904–1955Japan

Sōsaku-hanga (Creative Print)

c. 1905–1925Germany

German Expressionist woodcut

c. 1905–1914Berlin & Munich, Germany

Plakatstil

c. 1905–1920United States, Britain & Europe

Women’s suffrage poster design

c. 1905–1965London, England

London Transport poster design

1906–1931Tbilisi, Tabriz & Baku

Molla Nasreddin satirical magazine

1907Tokyo, Japan

Meiji design-book graphic

1909–1918Italy

Italian Futurist typography

1910–1934New York, United States

The Crisis magazine design

1910s–1930sNew York, United States

Vogue illustrated-cover modernism

c. 1910–1930Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Careta illustrated weekly

1911–1917New York, United States

The Masses radical magazine

1911–1939Berlin, Germany

Die Dame illustrated magazine

1912–1925Paris, France

La Gazette du Bon Ton fashion plate

1914–1915London, United Kingdom

Vorticist magazine

1914–1918Britain, United States & Commonwealth

World War I recruitment poster

1914–1930sPetrograd/Leningrad & Moscow, Russia/USSR

Rabotnitsa workers’ magazine

1915–1935Russia & USSR

Constructivism

c. 1915–1940Global

Art Deco

1915–1925Russia & USSR

Suprematist print

c. 1915–1945Japan

Shin-hanga

1916–1930Germany & Switzerland

Dada photomontage

1917–1931Netherlands

De Stijl

c. 1918–1937United States

Harlem Renaissance

1918–1932Amsterdam, Netherlands

Wendingen magazine

1918–1922Russian Soviet Republic

Soviet Red Army poster

1918–1936Tokyo, Japan

Akai Tori children’s magazine

1919–1933Germany

Bauhaus

1919–1921Russia & early Soviet cities

ROSTA Windows

1919–1930Moscow, Russia & USSR

Russian avant-garde book design

1919–1921Moscow & Soviet Russia

ROSTA window poster

1920s–1950sMexico

Mexican muralism

c. 1920–1935Moscow & Leningrad, USSR

Soviet children’s book design

c. 1920–1938Prague, Czechoslovakia

Czech Poetism

1920–1930Moscow, USSR

VKhUTEMAS graphic workshops

1920–1939Moscow & Leningrad, USSR

Soviet book-jacket design

1920–1925Paris, France

L’Esprit Nouveau purist journal

1920Moscow, Soviet Russia

Communist International magazine

1920s–1940sUnited States

Black Mask pulp-cover design

1920Barcelona, Spain

Catalan satirical weekly

1920Madrid, Spain

Spanish illustrated weekly cover

1920Havana, Cuba

Havana modernist magazine cover

1920sNew York, United States

Photoplay fan-magazine cover

1920New York, United States

Reconstruction political magazine

1920Berlin, Germany

Die Aktion Expressionist cover

1921–1927Mexico City & Xalapa, Mexico

Estridentist print culture

1922–1991Moscow, USSR

Krokodil satirical magazine

1922–1923São Paulo, Brazil

Klaxon Brazilian modernist magazine

Original interpretive visual213

1923–1933Germany & Central Europe

New Typography

1923–1932Hanover, Germany

Merz periodical

1924–1966Europe & Americas

Surrealist collage

c. 1924–1935Moscow & Leningrad, USSR

Soviet film poster

1924–1925Tokyo, Japan

MAVO magazine

Original interpretive visual218

1925–1945Vienna, Austria & Britain

Isotype

1925–1965Germany, Japan, United States & Europe

Photobook modernism

1926–1955New York & United States pulp presses

Pulp science-fiction cover

1926–1945Shanghai, China

Liangyou pictorial magazine

1927–1932Madrid, Spain

La Gaceta Literaria modernist page

c. 1928–1935Japan

Japanese proletarian print

1929–1970Manila, Philippines

Filipino komiks

1929–1940sNew York, United States

Fortune magazine editorial modernism

c. 1930–1975Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata, India

Indian film poster painting

1931–1949China

Chinese New Woodcut Movement

1933–1948India

Harijan newspaper layout

1934–1958New York, United States

Alexey Brodovitch editorial design

1934–1944Tokyo, Japan

NIPPON magazine photomontage

1935–1943United States

WPA poster

1935–1943United States

WPA cultural poster

1936–1939Republican Spain

Spanish Civil War poster

1937–c. 1960Mexico City, Mexico

Taller de Gráfica Popular

1939–1945United Kingdom

Abram Games wartime poster

1939–1945United Kingdom

British wartime information poster

c. 1941–1975Canada

National Film Board poster

1942–1945United States

Office of War Information poster

c. 1945–1975Onitsha, Nigeria

Onitsha market literature

c. 1945–1989Poland

Polish Poster School

1945–1955Paris, France

Lettrist typography

1945–1975Vietnam

Vietnamese revolutionary poster

c. 1948–1965United States

UPA animation graphic design

c. 950–1050Germany & Ottonian Empire

Ottonian illumination

c. 1950–1970Switzerland

Swiss Style

Original interpretive visual246

c. 1950–1970Switzerland, Brazil & worldwide

Concrete poetry

c. 1950–1975Switzerland & worldwide

International Style editorial

c. 1950–1980Japan

Japanese graphic design

c. 1950–1990Northeast Brazil

Brazilian cordel woodcut

c. 1954–1980New York, United States

Push Pin illustration

c. 1955–1970United States & Britain

Pop Art print

Original interpretive visual252

1957–1972Paris & Europe

Situationist détournement

1959–1989Havana, Cuba

ICAIC film posters

c. 1959–1975Havana, Cuba

Cuban revolutionary screenprint

c. 1960–1975Europe & Americas

Op Art

Original interpretive visual256

c. 1961–1975New York, Germany & Japan

Fluxus scores & multiples

c. 1962–1978Los Angeles & Boston, United States

Corita Kent serigraphy

1965–1971San Francisco, United States

Psychedelic posters

c. 1965–presentUnited States & Mexico

Chicano poster art

c. 1965–1975United States

Black Arts Movement publications

1965–1980United Kingdom

British Rail corporate graphics

c. 1965–1975Japan

Tadanori Yokoo poster

1966–1990Havana, Cuba

OSPAAAL / Tricontinental posters

c. 1966–1976Argentina & Uruguay

Rioplatense political graphic art

1966–1968China

Chinese big-character poster

1967–1980Oakland, California, United States

Black Panther newspaper graphics

c. 1967–1988Palestine, Lebanon & diaspora

Palestinian liberation poster

1967–1980Oakland, United States

Black Panther newspaper design

Original interpretive visual269

c. 1968–1975San Francisco & United States

Underground comix

May–June 1968Paris, France

Atelier Populaire

1968–presentUnited States

AfriCOBRA

1968–1970Tokyo, Japan

Provoke magazine

May–June 1968Paris, France

Atelier Populaire poster

1968–1980United States

1970s public-service poster

c. 1970–1990Global

Feminist graphic art

c. 1975–1990Europe & United States

New Wave typography

1975–1990United States, Britain & global hobbyist press

Early computer magazine layout

c. 1976–1985London, New York & global scenes

Punk fanzine

1978–1982Iran

Iranian revolutionary poster

1979–1985Gaborone, Botswana & southern Africa

Medu Art Ensemble posters

c. 1980–2000Global

Postmodern graphic design

Original interpretive visual282

1981–1988Milan, Italy

Memphis

1984–2005Berkeley, California, United States

Emigre magazine

1987–1995New York & international

ACT UP graphic activism

c. 1990–2000United States

Grunge typography

c. 1993–2003Global

Early web design

c. 300–1000Egypt

Coptic manuscript art

c. 2000–presentGlobal

Data visualization design

c. 2004–2012Global

Web 2.0 design

c. 2012–presentGlobal

Flat design

618–907China

Tang dynasty painting

c. 600–900Ireland & Britain

Insular illumination

c. 825–850Frankish Empire

Carolingian Gospel illumination

late sixteenth–seventeenth centuryChina

Ming painting-manual print

seventeenth–nineteenth centuryIstanbul, Ottoman Empire

Ottoman hilye calligraphy

first half of the 14th centuryEthiopia

Ethiopian double-sided Gospel leaf

early eighteenth centuryLondon, Britain

Landscape-garden treatise engraving

thirteenth–fourteenth centuryChina

Yuan album-leaf calligraphy

late eighth–early ninth centuryWest Asia

Early Kufic Qur’an page

late eighteenth centuryJapan

Edo sketch-album print

early eighteenth centuryJapan

Edo kosode pattern-book design

eighteenth centuryEdo, Japan

Edo embassy news print

15th–16th centuryOttoman Turkey

Ottoman Qur’an page design

17th–18th centuryEgypt

Coptic liturgical codex page

13th centuryChina

Southern Song flower-fan painting

early–mid 14th centuryJapan

Japanese Zen calligraphy scroll

Design recipe generatorBuild a specific visual direction—or let chance make one.

Visual lineageLayout systemFormatMaterialAudience behaviorToneContent structureInteractionConstraint

Create a magazine feature using the visual grammar of Constructivism and a asymmetric modernist field. Make it civic and declarative, designed to be scan in seconds, structured as an archive, and expressed through newsprint and one ink. Use static poster logic interaction. Constraint: one ink color only.