THE CUBIST PAINTERS
AESTHETIC MEDITATIONS 1913
Guillaume Apollinaire
Inscribed by Paul Rand to Gene Federico
Guillaume Apollinaire: THE CUBIST PAINTERS AESTHETIC MEDITATIONS 1913. New York: Wittenborn and Company, 1944 [The Documents of Modern Art Number 1, Series edited by Robert Motherwell]. First edition. Slim quarto. Letterpress printed thick wrappers. 38 pp. 20 black and white photos. Wrappers lightly toned, as usual for this series. Light wear overall. Cover design and typography by Paul Rand; this jacket design was his first attempt at pure abstraction, and his first dust jacket and book design. A very good copy.
INSCRIBED BY PAUL RAND: To Gene [Federico] / Best wishes / and regards / Paul Rand / 12/22/44. Gene and Helen Federico were lifelong friends and colleagues of Paul Rand. Helen worked as Rand's assistant at the William Weintraub Agency in the 1940s.
The outstanding characteristic of the Federicos is that these two graphic artists operate successfully and maintain their artistic integrity in a world which is by and large unsympathetic to artists in general and to the problems involved in their work ...
... It is perhaps not amiss in these troubled and troublesome times to note the sociological as well as the cultural contributions of sincere, gifted young artists like the Federicos. They not only seek and affirm a higher standard in the all-important communicative arts but they are in their roles of artists with integrity, are to be numbered among that small but potent minority who strive in an age of increasing "conformism" and mass-produced mediocrity to live and create as individuals, who seek inspiration rather than security in tradition, and who in their work testify to their belief in the creative vitality of the human being.
—Paul Rand: Gene And Helen Federico in Graphis 43, 1952
7.5 x 10 book, with 38 pages and 20 black and white photos. First edition of this translation by Lionel Abel, issued in the Documents of Modern Art series edited by Robert Motherwell.
In an early issue of Graphis, Max Bill reviewed Motherwell's Documents of Modern Art series by stating it was the most important series of modern art documents since Gropius and Moholy-Nagy published the Bauhuasbuchers.