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A Type Specimen page, 1950
"Elaine Lustig Cohen (b. 1927) is the pioneering female graphic designer who incorporated the aesthetic vocabulary of European modernism into American graphic design, during the 1950s and 1960s. After training as a painter, she developed her design skills working with Alvin Lustig (whom she married in 1948). Following Lustig's premature death in 1955, she took control of the studio and between 1955 and 1961 produced a distinctive series of covers for publishing houses Meridan Books and New Directions. With their strong concepts, abstract forms and typographic invention, they represented a break from the prevailing tradition of pictorial illustration in book-jacket design. Her ability to summarize the content of text in the cover design was further aided when, working for architects including Eero Saarinen and Philip Johnson she produced signage schemes intended to express a building's character. She designed many posters and catalogues for New York-based arts organizations, including the American Center for the Arts, the Lincoln Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Jewish Museum. She married Arthur A. Cohen, publisher of Meridian Books; in 1973, they established Ex Libris, New York, a bookshop and gallery specializing in rare volumes of the European avant-garde. In 1995 her contribution to graphic design was acknowledge by an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York." (Livingston, 2003, 51). She continues to paint and create dynamic graphic collage-based work and is represented by Julie Saul Gallery, New York. Elaine Lustig Cohen donated her collection to RIT in 2008. " -Graphic Design Archive Online
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7th Annual Purim Ball, The Jewish Museum, 1963
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Hans Hoffman, 1997
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Primary Structures: Younger American & British Sculptors, 1966
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Literature in America, 1957
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The Philosophy of Spinoza, 1958
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The Federalist, 1961
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Dangling Man, 1959
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Max Ernst: Sculpture and Recent Painting, The Jewish Museum, 1966
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Jonathan Edwards, 1959
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Silver and Judaica Collection, The Jewish Museum, 1963
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The Recollections of Alexis De Tocqueville, 1958
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The Ideal Reader, 1997
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The Disinherited Mind, 1958
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Joseph Conrad, 1947 (co-designed with Alvin Lustig)
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The Book of Jazz, 1958
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Philosophy in the Middle Ages, 1959
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Scenes From the Drama of European Literature, 1959
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Jerusalem and Rome: The Writings of Josephus, 1960
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Clear Writing, 1959
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God and the Way of Knowning, 1957
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Artists and Enemies - Three Novelas, 1997
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New Year's Party Invitation, 1958
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see more of Elaine Lustig Cohen's book covers @ Scott Lindberg's excellent flickr page [link]
and at Graphic Design Archive Online [link]
also see thesilverlining's post which inspired me to finally post these [link]
there are a few more of her works at my flickr page [link]
and even more works at Julie Saul Gallery [link]
5 comments:
Hi Joel! This is a great collection you've posted, her work is so timeless.
Thank you for paying me a blog visit today... so glad to hear a peep from you, you've been missed!
I hope you are very well.
Happy New Year!
Wow, this is fantastic! I may have to do an "Elaine Lustig Cohen Part II" post now. Great stuff and great to see a new post.
Nice links and great that you are back!
Happy New Year!:)
I love this post!
Thanks for the info (and ideas)
*nikki
Thanks for this post and all your posts of this year. I look forward to another good year as I hope you do.
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