A–D
August – September 1940
Irvine Kamens, 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 6, No. 6: August-September 1940. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Thick printed perfect bound and sewn wrappers. 57 [7] pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Original 2-color photo offset cover by Featured Artist Irvine Kamens. Wrappers lightly edgeworn with a couple of faint scratches. A very good or better copy.
5.5 x 7.75 Digest with 57 [7] pages of articles and period advertising:
- Irvine Kamens: Wraparound cover by Irvine Kamens as well as a one-page essay on Kamens by Howard Willard with a photograph of Mr. Kamens. This article is followed by a 7 pages of Kamens' work, with 17 examples presented in black and white.
- Camera Composition (designed by Stanley Brown)
- Editorial notes
- Jean Carlu
- Books and Pictures
- Artist as Reporter: black and white art by WPA/PWA-era artists Frank DiGioia, Tom Funk, Lyle Justus, Victor Candell, and Don Freeman. Freeman's contribution is a full-page drawings of Orson Welles in the make-up chair being transformed into Charles Foster Kane! Very cool indeed.
- A-D Shorts
- A full-page image from the 1939 New York World's Fair of the spiral ramp to the Road of Tomorrow by Walter Dorwin Teague.
Irvine Kamens (1912 - 1955) was born in Russia, and arrived in the United States at the age of 5. He studied at the Pennsylvania School of Fine Arts. He went to New York in 1931 and was associated for a time with the American Bauhaus Group. He was art director for Lester Russin Associates and worked for such clients as Lederle Laboratories, WABC, Continental Can Corporation and Imperial Wallpaper. He was a contibutor to Life and Fortune as well as Men’s Wear and The Reporter. During World War II he worked in London for the American Office of War Information creating posters for the Psychology Warfare Division in Europe.
Jean Carlu originally began training as an architect but turned to commercial art after an accident cost him his right arm. During the 1920’s and 1930’s he was a leading figure in French poster design. In 1937, he was chairman of the Graphic Publicity Section of the Paris International Exhibition. He came to the United States to organize an exhibition at the New York World’s Fair, for the French Information Service. He remained here when Paris was captured by the Germans. It was during his time in the US the he designed one of his most famous posters - America’s Answer! Production This poster won him a New York Art Directors medal as well as being voted poster of the year. He also designed work for Container Corporation of America and Pan American Airways.
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.