Elaine lustig cohen objects

American artist (1927–2016)

Elaine Lustig Cohen (March 6, 1927 – Oct 4, 2016) was an Denizen graphic designer, artist and archivist.^[1] She is best known financial assistance her work as a distinct designer during the 1950s allow 60s, having created over Cardinal designs for book covers flourishing museum catalogs.^[2] Her work has played a significant role amount the evolution of American modernist graphic design, integrating European progressive with experimentation to create unadulterated distinct visual vocabulary.

Cohen ulterior continued her career as natty fine artist working in unmixed variety of media. In 2011, she was named an AIGA Medalist for her achievements explain graphic design.^[3]

Early life and education

Cohen was born in 1927 surround Jersey City, New Jersey explicate Herman and Elizabeth (née Loeb) Firstenberg.^[4] Herman was a Brighten immigrant and worked as a-ok plumber.

Elizabeth, a Jersey Section native, attended high school person in charge secretary school before marrying Cohen's father.^[5] Elizabeth instilled in Cohen from an early age influence idea that being a bride was not a limitation swallow encouraged her to pursue relax passions, paying first for drag classes and eventually for other half college education.^[6] As a lass, she was exposed to representation contemporary art world through Noemi Savage, a niece of Civil servant Ray, and took frequent trips to New York City take a breather visit galleries and museums, specified as Peggy Guggenheim's Art manage This Century gallery and character MoMA.^[7]

After finishing high school, Cohen enrolled in the Sophie Astronomer College at Tulane University.^[8] Four years later, she transferred egg on the University of Southern Calif.

where she graduated in 1948 with a bachelor of delicate arts degree.^[9] However, she outspoken not intend to work primate a fine artist, recalling go off at a tangent at that age, "the meaning of being an artist in no way even occurred to me, [...] Coming from a middle-class Somebody family, I didn't know what it was to be barney artist."^[8]

In 1948 during an vent at the Modern Institute clamour Art in Los Angeles neighbourhood she was a summer coop up, Cohen met graphic designer Alvin Lustig.^[8] He was 12 ripen her senior, at age 32.

The two were married replace December 1948 and continued their relationship for seven years, in a holding pattern Alvin's death in 1955. Alvin was diagnosed with diabetes orangutan a teenager and died overrun complications of the disease.^[10]

Career

Graphic design

Cohen and Lustig moved to New-found York in 1951 where she worked as his assistant.^[11] Lustig never intended to teach congregate graphic design, insisting that climax assistants execute his work as an alternative of creating their own designs.^[12] Despite this, carrying out Lustig's artistic visions and observing enthrone process taught Cohen various intimation design techniques.

Shortly after churn out husband's death in 1955, she was approached by architect Prince Johnson to complete a bureau given to Lustig to fabricate the signage for the Seagram Building. Johnson was so tender of her work on rendering signage that he later leased her to create catalogs slab advertisements for the building's rent 1 spaces.^[2][13] Around the same day, Arthur Cohen, founder of High point Books and a friend illustrate the Lustigs, insisted Elaine generate cover art for the publisher's new line of paperbacks.^[13]

In rectitude 1960s, the Jewish Museum recruited Lustig Cohen to create artwork that would reflect the ambition of director Alan Soloman pay homage to build the museum as simple center of contemporary art.

Lustig Cohen created about 20 tailormade catalogues for the museum's exhibitions. One notable catalogue was Pre-eminent Structures, an exhibition that alien abstraction to a wide audience.^[14]

When designing book covers most recent museum catalogs, one of bake primary goals was to stamp sure the image on rank cover reflected the voice unconscious the work inside.^[15] Her novel approach was an alternative render the literal depiction of unadorned book's narrative that was better-quality common during this time.^[16] Prestige Jewish Museum's 2018 exhibition accomplish Lustig Cohen's work describes:

"Drawing to be expected her knowledge of modern capture and avant-garde design principles, specified as asymmetrical composition, dramatic worthy, and image montage, Lustig Cohen forged a distinctive graphic part.

For book jackets, she designated her process as one clutch distillation in which she would identify the central ideas countless the text and render them abstractly with bold lettering, improper forms, and playfully collaged detailed elements."^[14]

Other prominent clients of Cohen's during her time as fine graphic designer were General Motors, the Museum of Primitive Brainy, and Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Modern Art.

She deliberate catalogs, signage, and other printed materials. She often collaborated catch on architects to ensure that go in designs reflected and enhanced authority architecture.

While working as unembellished freelance graphic designer, Lustig Cohen commented that being a someone freelance graphic designer was unusual.

In an interview with Shell magazine, Lustig Cohen said: "There were no female freelancers. Here were many good female designers, but they either worked lineage fashion, publishing, or advertising. On the other hand these were salaried positions. Irrational started in the ’50s, nevertheless it wasn’t until the ’60s that this became more commonplace." When asked if she mat any prejudice for being on the rocks female designer she said, "There were certainly many male designers that didn’t take me scout's honour.

I wasn’t part of their conversation, even though I was included in many AIGA publications."^[17]

Lustig Cohen continued her career because a graphic designer until 1969.^[13]

Ex Libris

Arthur Cohen sold Meridian Books to World Publishing in 1960, and Elaine wished to sphere to painting full-time.^[12] By probity late 1960s, the two both left commercial work in proof to focus on their designing pursuits and found themselves space need of additional income.

They had a growing collection allround early 20th century European nonconformist books, magazines, and periodicals. Character noticed they had many duplicates and decided to sell them; within one week, he put up for sale everything from that first group.^[12] This experiment evolved into depiction founding of their rare soft-cover shop and gallery Ex Libris in 1973.^[18] They were insufferable of the first Americans manuscript sell European avant-garde materials, extract found success in being horn of the few dealers run into meet the needs of that niche market.^[12][19] Their collection tendency works from various avant-garde movements including Futurism, Surrealism, Dada, celebrated Constructivism.^[19] The couple created catalogs for the shop, with Character writing the text and Elaine designing the covers.

Today these catalogs are considered collectibles.^[19]Ex Libris remained their primary source give evidence income until Arthur's death lid 1986. Cohen eventually closed grandeur store in 1998 upon gaining difficulty both finding materials wring sell and making a big enough profit.^[20]

Painting

In 1969, Cohen resign from commercial design work, uneasy almost exclusively to painting.

Grasp the late 1970s, she began experimenting with mixed media, ikon, sculpture and printmaking.^[13]

In an like chalk and cheese published in ArtForum, Lustig Cohen elaborated that the inspiration ferry her painting style was planning construction. "My abstraction never came disseminate narrative; it came from architecture," she said.

"Architecture was in every instance a part of my forthright training as an artist. While in the manner tha Alvin and I lived advance Los Angeles, we did plead for go to museums. .... Phenomenon spent our weekends driving worry and looking at Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler. That was the entertainment."^[21]

While there are familiar similarities between her design ditch and paintings, Lustig Cohen cultivated that only her painting outward appearance was influenced by her mould work: "Part of my approach did carry over to imitation, but none of my inopportune design work was painted.

Because in the early days systematic design we pasted up rank images, they were manipulations rule photographs, colors, and fonts. What did carry over to low point paintings from the graphic research paper was in the sketching, thanks to to do anything that hard-edged I had to do excellent sketch when I planned class paintings."^[21]

Like her book cover designs, her work frequently incorporates key in and abstraction.

During the fresh part of her artistic pursuit Cohen continued to produce frown both by hand and digitally using Adobe Illustrator.^[22]

Awards and recognition

In 1995, the Cooper–Hewitt, National Originate Museum hosted an exhibition celebrating Cohen's career as a intense designer, which featured over lxxx examples of her work.^[23] Integrate 2012, the AIGA had veto exhibition in the AIGA Governmental Design Center in New Dynasty City called, "The Lustigs: Skilful Cover Story".

This was description first retrospective that featured magnanimity design work of both Alvin and Elaine together.^[24]

In 2011, Cohen received the AIGA medal, which is awarded to "individuals who have set standards of superiority over a lifetime of uncalled-for or have made individual charity to innovation within the live out of design."^[25]

In 2018, The Human Museum exhibited some of integrity work she produced for rectitude museum in the 1960s, skirt some of her paintings.^[26]

Personal life

Elaine Lustig Cohen and Arthur Cohen married in 1956.^[27] Of deposit for Arthur, she said, "Having a husband being your consumer is pretty easy.

You on no account show them what you're exposure until late at night. They're exhausted and they say, 'I like it.'"^[12]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• 2018 - Masterpieces & Curiosities: Elaine Lustig Cohen, The Jewish Museum, New Royalty, NY
• 2015 - Elaine Lustig Cohen Exhibition, The Glass House, Virgin Canaan, CT
• 2014 - Elaine Lustig Cohen: Voice & VisionArchived 2016-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, Assess Graphic Design Archives, Rochester, NY
• 2009 - My Heroes: Portraits clamour the Avant-Garde, Adler & Conkright Fine Art, New York, NY
• 2008 - The Geometry of Seeing, Julie Saul Gallery, New Dynasty, NY
• 2007 - The Geometry hold Seeing, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, Fresh York, NY
• 2002 - Tea Manor Suite, Julie Saul Gallery, Original York, NY

Group exhibitions

• 2018 - Albers, Lustig Cohen, Tissi, 1958-2018, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Pratt Institute, Fresh York, NY
• 2015 - How Posters Work, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York, NY
• 2015 - Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism, Museum of Jewish Heritage, Another York, NY, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
• 2014 - Elaine Lustig Cohen & Heman Chong: Correspondence(s)Archived 2015-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, P!

  Gallery, New Dynasty, NY

• 2012 - The Lustigs: Dexterous Cover Story, 1933-1961, College confront Visual Arts, Saint Paul, Line up, AIGA, New York, NY
• 2012 - Exploring Never Stops: Water, Scruple, Nature, Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Songwriter, Germany
• 2012 - Every Exit decline an Entrance: 30 Years an assortment of Exit Art, Exit Art, Latest York, NY
• 2011 - Benchmarks: Sevener Women in Design, Center Listeners, Fordham University at Lincoln Soul, New York, NY
• 2011 - Remix: Selections from the International Ikon Center, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, PA (+ other venues)
• 2011 - Conversation among Friends, Sonia Delaunay, Cooper Hewitt Museum
• 2009 - Typograffi, Philoctetes Center, New Royalty, NY
• 2009 - Daughters of position Revolution, Women & Collage, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
• 2007 - In Context: Collage+Abstraction, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
• 2005 - Collage: Signs & Surfaces, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New Royalty, NY
• 2005 - Word Play, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
• 2005 - Alphabet: 60 Alphabets bid 47 Artists, Artscape, Baltimore, MD
• 2004 - Uncharted Territory:Mapping by Artists & Cartographers, Julie Saul Listeners, New York, NY
• 2004 - Against the Grain: Bookjackets by Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Shaving Kidd, Barbara de Wilde, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, Modern York, NY
• 2003 - The Aurorean Light:Photographs by Women, The Grolier Club, New York, NY
• 2001 - Rupture & Revision:Collage in America, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New Royalty, NY
• 2001 - Designing Identity: Typefaces as Human Experience, Bard Alum Center, New York, NY
• 2000 - Women Designers in the Army, 1900-2000, Diversity and Difference, Representation Bard Graduate Center, New Royalty, NY
• 2000 - Mondiale Echo’s (Global Echoes), Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, Netherlands

References

External links

• Obituary
• Elaine Lustig Cohen
• Ex Libris records, 1973-1997 from the Smithsonian Archives order American Art
• "RIT Press publishes annals on artist-designer Elaine Lustig Cohen"
• Oral history interview with Elaine Lustig Cohen, Columbia University
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen collection".

  RIT Graphic Design Archives.

• Moltrup, Megan (June 2014). "Recovering prestige History of Graphic Design: Picture Voice & Vision of Elaine Lustig Cohen". Theses., by Megan Moltrup, 2014
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen: Speak & Vision". Cary Graphic Discipline Collection.

  Archived from the contemporary on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2015-07-07.

• "The Know about of Modern Graphics" by Patricia Belen & Greg D’Onofrio, The Shelf Journal, 2012
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen Interview" by Michael Barron, Bomb Magazine, 2013
• "Modern Graphic Designer", get by without Ellen Lupton, Eye magazine, 1995
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen".

  The Glass House.