POSTERS BY MEMBERS OF THE ALLIANCE GRAPHIQUE INTERNATIONALE 1960 – 1985
Rudolph de Harak [Editor]
New York: Rizzoli, 1986. First edition. Quarto. Embossed black cloth titled in silver. Printed dust jacket. 200 pp. 168 full-page, four-color poster reproductions. Short biographies of 167 contributing AGI members. Multiple paper stocks. Designed by the editor. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of -print. Bright dust jacket with minor wear to upper and lower edges. A fine copy in a nearly fine dust jacket.
8.75 x 12.25 hardcover book with 200 pages and 168 full-page, four-color poster reproductions from AGI designers. It is hardly surprising that this is a beautifully designed and printed book. Highly recommended.
”The graphic designer's work centers on visual communication, a process of problem solving that embraces aesthetics. Among the many forms this takes are books, record covers, brochures, postage stamps, billboards, corporate identity programs, and posters. But of all these, there is no richer or more exciting medium than the poster to express the creative personality of the designer.”
This volume consists of profiles of 167 AGI members with full-page, four-color poster reproductions. Here is a partial list of designers represented: AUSTRIA: Georg Schmidt; BELGIUM: Jacques Richez; FRANCE: Jacques Dubois, Marcel Jacno; GERMANY: Anton Stankowski, Karl Oskar Blase, Heinz Edelmann, Hermann Eidenbenz, Hans Hillmann; ENGLAND: Alan Fletcher, Milner Gray, Tom Eckersley, F. H. K. Henrion, Herbert Spencer; ISRAEL: Jean David; ITALY: Bruno Monguzzi, Franco Grignani; JAPAN: Yusaku Kamekura, Shigeo Fukuda; HOLLAND: Wim Crouwel; SPAIN: J. Pia-Narbona; SWEDEN: Olle Eksell; SWITZERLAND: Armin Hofmann, Donald Brun, Josef Muller-Brockmann, Celestino Piatti, Kurt Wirth; UNITED STATES: Walter Allner, Saul Bass, Herbert Bayer, Rudolph de Harak, R. O. Blechman, Lou Dorfsman, Ivan Chermayeff, Seymour Chwast, Colin Forbes, Lou Danziger, Paul Davis, Gene Federico, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand, Deborah Sussman, Bradbury Thompson and George Tscherney, Massimo Vignelli, and many others.
For those of you unfamiliar with the AGI, here is how they describe themselves and their mission on their website: "The AGI 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. "
Rudolph de Harak (1924 – 2002) once said about his design method, ''I was always looking for the hidden order, trying to somehow either develop new forms or manipulate existing form.'' The nearly 350 covers he designed throughout the 60's for McGraw-Hill paperbacks, with subjects like philosophy, anthropology, psychology and sociology, offered him a place to test the limits of conceptual art and photography. He used the opportunity to experiment with a variety of approaches inspired by Dada, Abstract Expressionism and Op-Art. His McGraw-Hill paperbacks, especially, had a strong influence on contemporary graphic design.
Not content to work in one medium or genre, Mr. de Harak created exhibitions, including a celebration of American sports for the 1970 Osaka World's Fair. He designed shopping bags for the Met and delivery-truck graphics for The New York Times. He had commissions from the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Park Service, the National Endowment for the Arts and the United States Postal Service.
His spirit of restlessness carried over to his own firm. ''He would build up an office and fire them all, and then he'd start up again,'' the designer Thomas Geismar of Chermayeff & Geismar recalled.
Mr. de Harak taught graphic and exhibition design at Cooper Union for 25 years and was a visiting professor at Yale, Alfred University, Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute. In 1993 he received a medal for lifetime achievement from the American Institute of Graphic Artists.
“Superficial and stylish graphic designers tend to reduce their syntax to a temporary gospel and spread it everywhere on everything. Good design solutions, however, are probably timeless.” — Bruno Monguzzi