AGI CALIFORNIA 1985
Alliance Graphique Internationale
AGI Members and Guests: AGI CALIFORNIA 1985. [N. P.: Alliance Graphique Internationale, n. d. April 1985]. First edition. Slim quarto. Printed stapled wrappers. 64 pp. 22 photos by James Cross. 72 illustrations by AGI members and guests. Commemorative keepsake: a fine uncirculated example.
4.5 x 5.75 softcover booklet with 64 pages with 22 photographs and 72 caricatures produced during the Alliance Graphique Internationale 1985 California Congress.
Includes caricatures and doodles by [and/or] portraying Takenobu Igarashi, Alan Fletcher, Saul Bass, Richard Hess, Richard Danne, Gene Federico, Art Paul, James Cross, Elaine Bass, Massimo Vignelli, Samuel N. Antupit, Fernando Medina, FHK Henrion, Mel Calman, Ed Benguiat, R.O. Blechman, Jelle Van Der Toorn Vrijthoff, Arnold Schwartzman, Tina Blackburn, Colin Forbes, Ray Eames, Henry Wolf, Fritz Gottschalk, Steff Geissbuhler, Josep Pla-Narbona, Bruce Blackburn, Seymour Chwast, Stuart Ash, and a few folks whose signatures were not readily decipherable.
For those of you unfamiliar with the AGI, here is how they describe themselves and their mission on their website: "The AGI [Alliance Graphique Internationale] unites the world’s leading graphics designers and artists in a professional club of common interest and achievement. It is an élite club. Its members have been collectively responsible for the identity design of most of the world's top corporations and institutions as well as for countless examples of globally known packaging, publications, illustration and posters."
"The AGI holds exhibitions of members work which are highly influential in disseminating new forms, techniques and ideas. There is a book publishing programme based on the thoughts and works of members. There are contacts with colleges and schools, government bodies and commercial institutes, all aimed at promoting graphic design and visual literacy."
"In the 1940s, commercial artists, mural makers, typographers, printmakers, art directors, illustrators and poster designers increasingly realised their common bonds, and the modern profession of graphic design began to be defined. In 1951, five graphic artists two Swiss and three French decided to formalise their relationship into some sort of association. Their idea was simply to share common interests and friendships across national and cultural borders. "
"It was a notion that soon attracted leading exponents of the graphic arts from elsewhere in Europe and in the USA. In 1952 the Alliance Graphique Internationale was incorporated in Paris with 65 members from 10 countries. The first AGI exhibition was held in Paris in 1955 and in 1969 the headquarters moved from Paris to Zurich. Student seminars were introduced in 1979 and the first Young Professional AGI Congress was held in London in 1994."
"Membership of the AGI requires reputation and achievement of the highest order and commitment to the processes of visual learning and perception, unfettered by cultural differences. The AGI remains dedicated to the universal aspect of graphic design as a means of communication and information, and its ideals remain relevant to the new world of visual literacy which its members have helped to bring about. "