Tensions between tradition and modernity in early Argentine graphic design (1910-1950)

Studies on the shaping of graphic Design in Argentina have traditionally focused on the expansion and consolidation of modern ideas in the visual domain, and emphasised the idea of the project. In this line, different authors coincide in conceiving Design as the result of the modern debate of the mid-twentieth century, in clear contrast to previous practices in the field linked to the graphic tradition. However, some of these practices reveal new ways of understanding visuality and the profession, close to what would later be known as "Design". This paper seeks to extend the study of the configuration of the field of local graphic Design, identifying a first moment of transition from the logics of art linked to industry in its transition to design, between 1910 and 1930, understood as a moment of cleavage where the tensions between tradition and modernity become evident. In a second moment, in the middle of the twentieth century, some institutional spheres of training such as universities and research centres will institutionalise these new conceptions which, as part of a web of relationships, shaped a new profession in Argentina: that of graphic designer.