Art is Work: Milton Glaser Retrospective is the largest
retrospective show ever held in New York of the work of the
American graphic designer Milton Glaser. The show coincides
with the publication of Glasers eponymous book, Art is Work,
a comprehensive survey of his work in the 25 years since the
publication of his classic Milton Glaser Graphic Design.
One of the most influential and unusual figures in the history of
graphic design, Glaser has been producing memorable images
and objects for more than four decades. From the famous Bob
Dylan poster of 1967 and the universally imitated I Love NY
logo up to the cutting-edge design of his new websites and his
masterful illustrations for Dante’s Purgatory, Glaser has created
some of the most powerful and enduring visual art of our time.
The extraordinary variety
of subject matter and style
in the show demonstrates
why Glaser has been called the Picasso of the graphic arts
field. It includes his posters, magazine and newspaper
designs, interior designs, corporate logos, record albums,
magazine illustrations and typography, as well as watercolors,
drawings, prints and illustrated books, toys, textiles, jewelry
and home furnishings.
Among the more unusual pieces in the show are the erotic
drawings the designer created for a French edition of Boris
Vians novels, a wood-and-glass sculptural tribute to Glasers
teacher, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) and a set of ingeniously
modular childrens building blocks.
The show will also feature rare examples of illustrated books
Glaser conceived for European publishers that have never
been shown in this country, including versions of Charles
Baudelaires Les Fleurs du Mal and Guillaume Appolinaires
Oeuvres Poetiques and Oeuvres en Prose.
Born in 1929, Milton Glaser was educated at the High School
of Music and Art and the Cooper Union in New York, and via a
Fulbright Scholarship, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna,
Italy. He co-founded the seminal Pushpin Studios in 1954,
founded New York magazine with Clay Felker in 1968,
established Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and teamed with Walter
Bernard in 1983 to form the publication design firm WBMG.
Milton Glaser, Inc. is a multidisciplinary design company,
specializing in corporate identity, logos and trademarks,
brochures, packaging, interiors, exhibitions, posters and
websites.
Glaser was the 1972 recipient of the AIGA medal, the highest
honor given to a graphic designer in this country, and is the
only graphic artist ever to have had one-man shows at both
the Centre Gorges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of
Modern Art in New York.
Related Links: