A-D
Volume 7, No. 2: December 1940 – January 1941
Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]
Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: A-D [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. New York: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., Volume 7, No. 2: December 1940 – January 1941. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Thick printed perfect bound and sewn 4-color Photo offset wrappers. 40 [xx] pp. Original wraparound cover design by featured artist Lucille Corcos.Wrappers lightly rubbed, but a nearly fine copy.
5.5 x 7.75 digest with 40 [20] pages of articles including Editorial notes; a 6-page illustrated article on Industrial Designer George Switzer; Allen Reeve; Book Design; Books and Pictures and A-D Shorts. Featured Artists are Lucille Corcos and George Switzer.
Lucille Corcos (1909 - 1973) studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the age of 20 designed her first cover for Vanity Fair magazine. She was a regular contributor to Life, Fortune, Collier's, Mademoiselle and the Saturday Evening Post. She illustrated many books for the Limited Editions Club and she wrote and illustrated The City Book. Her work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Musem, Museum of Modern Art and is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Paul Rand: “I was apprenticed to George Switzer [ a progressive industrial designer in New York], who was influenced by French and German typographers,” Rand said about his earliest exposure to avant-garde design. “Among others I was directly influenced by Piet Zwart, the Dutchman; El Lissitzky, the Russian; [Laszlo] Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian; Jan Tschichold, the Czech; and [Guillaume] Apollinaire, the Pole; not to mention the Chinese and Persians.” In Rand’s early work his inspirations were obvious—that is, to anyone in America who knew of these relatively unknown European masters. But before long, he found his voice, synthesizing European notions of typography and composition with a uniquely individual, Brooklyn way of conceptualizing. — Steven Heller
PM magazine was the leading voice of the U. S. Graphic Arts Industry from its inception in 1934 to its end in 1942 (then called AD). As a publication produced by and for professionals, it spotlighted cutting-edge production technology and the highest possible quality reproduction techniques (from engraving to plates). PM and A-D also championed the Modern movement by showcasing work from the vanguard of the European Avant-Garde well before this type of work was known to a wide audience.