FIELD OF VISION
Lou Dorfsman
Lou Dorfsman [Designer]: FIELD OF VISION [A television chronicle of a Sunday afternoon with game-by-game commentary by CBS SPORTS announcer Chris Schenkel]. New York: CBS Television Network, [1962]. First edition. Square quarto. Thick photo illustrated wrappers. Photo illustrated endpapers. 132 pp. Black and white gravure photography and elaborate graphic design throughout. Mild etching to wrappers. Spine heel crimped and worn. Edges worn. Structurally sound. A very good copy.
Unquestionably the greatest football photobook ever published.
12 x 12 promotional booklet designed by Lou Dorfsman as a photo-illustrated chronicle of one day in the NFL, accompanied by commentary from CBS sports commentator Chris Schenkel and presented as promotional material for the CBS television network.
FIELD OF VISION covers the seven different football games from November 4, 1962 that were broadcasted on CBS: Cardinals vs. Giants in New York, Cowboys vs. Redskins in Washington D.C., Lions vs. Rams in Los Angeles, Eagles vs. Browns in Cleveland, Packers vs. Bears in Chicago, Vikings vs. Steelers in Pittsburgh, and Colts vs. 49ers in San Francisco. With photographs by Lou Dorfsman, Jim Drake, Jack Fields, Irving Haberman, Robert Huntzinger, Mark Kaufman, and Leonard Lautenberger, Neil Leifer, Hy Peskin, Daniel Rubin, Art Shay and Tony Triolo.
Through his career at CBS, Dorfsman never sat around passively waiting for requests from his internal clients. Instead, he pushed them, inventing projects that he thought needed to be done. Taking pictures at National Football League games in New York to promote CBS's local sports coverage, it occurred to him that there was a bigger story: documenting the technological feat of broadcasting multiple games each Sunday all over the country. The book emphasized the prowess of CBS's sports division, made a much-sought-after gift for football fans, and was credited with helping to secure the network's exclusive contract to cover NFL games the following year. — Michael Bierut, Design Observer
From Lou Dorfsman's New York Times obituary (Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008): In 1988 a book, "Dorfsman & CBS," documenting his work was published. A review in the Times said, "Leafing through this abundantly illustrated book, one is struck by the fact that television nurtured one of print's most innovative graphic designers."
From Dorfsman & CBS: "How did CBS earn such accolades as "the Tiffany of the networks" and the "the corporation with class?"
"Over and above its history of savvy showmanship and its esteemed news division CBS has consistently wrapped itself in an aura of elegance. Sophistication permeates the company's physical environment, its advertising, its design projects, and every form of communication that bears its name. And the man who has coordinated, projected and polished that image for the past 40 years is Lou Dorfsman, Vice President and Creative Director of Advertising and Design. In the words of William Paley, founder of CBS; 'CBS has a corporate commitment to excellence in design, and Lou Dorfsman is the one whose genius has translated that commitment into reality. Deservedly, he has become a legend in the annals of commercial design."
"Lou Dorfsman has been studied, exhibited, published and honored with just about every award invented by the international graphic arts community. His work for CBS and other corporate clients has raised the business world's consciousness on the whole subject of corporate design."