A–D: Volume 7, Nos. 1 – 6
Oct. – Nov. 1940 to August – Sept. 1941
An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates
Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]
Six issues of A–D [formerly PM] complete with original covers and all inserts bound into a single decorated cloth volume by the craftsmen at the Composing Room in an edition of 400 copies. Blue cloth boards with leather gilt spine labels. Printed Publishers Index for Volume 7 bound in. Blue spine cloth slightly lightened, and all four tips nudged. Textblock lightly dust spotted. Steinweiss edition with tape reinforcements to decorated boards, otherwise all six bound issues in fine condition in a nearly fine Publishers binding.
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 7, No. 1: October-November 1940. Original edition. Slim 12mo. 4-color similetone perfect bound and sewn wrappers. 76 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Original cover design by noted WPA artist Philip Reisman [who is also the Featured Artist].
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 7, No. 2: December 1940 – January 1941. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Thick printed perfect bound and sewn 4-color Photo offset wrappers. 40 [xx] pp. Original wraparound cover design by featured artist Lucille Corcos.
[Paul Rand] 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 7, No. 3: February/March 1941. First edition. Slim 12mo. Stitched and perfect-bound two-color wrappers. 74 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Wraparound cover design by Paul Rand.
[George Giusti] 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 7, No. 4: April - May 1941. Original edition. Slim 12mo. 4-color Photo offset perfect bound and sewn wrappers. 76 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Original cover design by George Giusti.
[Alex Steinweiss] 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., June-July 1941 [Volume 7, No. 5]. Original edition. Spiral-bound paper-covered boards printed in 4-color letterpress. Screen-printed acetate frontis. 76 pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks. Original Letterpress cover designed by Alex Steinweiss.
Robert L. Leslie and Percy Seitlin [Editors]: A-D [An Intimate Journal For Art Directors, Production Managers, and their Associates]. NYC: The Composing Room/P.M. Publishing Co., August-September 1941 [Volume 7, No. 6]. Original edition. Slim 12mo. Stitched and perfect-bound printed wrappers. 56 pp. Illustrated articles. The cover is an original 4-color offset design by Matthew Leibowitz.
[6] 5.5 x 7.75 volumes with 426 pages of articles and trade advertisements. Issue highlights include:
- Philip Reisman Cover art and illustrated insert.
- A Portfolio of Lithographs and Drawings by Hubert Davis
- Ballet of the ABC's or the Crafty Linotyper: Layout by Herbert Matter, illustrated by Emery I. Gondor. “Created for the 1941 October-November issue, the Ballet of the A B C’s or The Crafty Linotyper, is a performance of startling virtuosity. Written by Percy Seitlin and illustrated by Emery I. Gondor (a Hungarian émigré artist who had arrived in New York the same year as Matter), it stands in the tradition of children’s books fashioned by such designers as El Lissitzky or Kurt Schwitters; books that sought to employ line, type and image as source materials from which to construct exquisite dreamlike stories. It is the tale of a linotype printer who, when he attempts to fix a broken linotype machine, is suddenly faced with three girls identified as ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ from inside the appliance. Free from the linotype, the girls suddenly begin to dance with the Crafty Linotyper, his assistant the Printer’s Devil, and the foreman. When the foreman gets angry about the amount of time that has been lost, ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ jump back into the linotype and the two men return to their work. When the foreman has gone, however, the Printer’s Devil returns to the back of the machine where he helps ‘the Quick Brown Fox’ and ‘the Lazy Dog’ out, and proceeds in a joyous dance with them. Eventually, the linotype explodes and all the letters burst asunder.—Kerry William Purcell in Eye 55 [Spring 2005].
- George SwitzerA 6-page illustrated article on Industrial Designer George Switzer. Paul Rand: “I was apprenticed to George Switzer [ a progressive industrial designer in New York], who was influenced by French and German typographers,” Rand said about his earliest exposure to avant-garde design. “Among others I was directly influenced by Piet Zwart, the Dutchman; El Lissitzky, the Russian; [Laszlo] Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian; Jan Tschichold, the Czech; and [Guillaume] Apollinaire, the Pole; not to mention the Chinese and Persians.” In Rand’s early work his inspirations were obvious—that is, to anyone in America who knew of these relatively unknown European masters. But before long, he found his voice, synthesizing European notions of typography and composition with a uniquely individual, Brooklyn way of conceptualizing. — Steven Heller
- Lucille Corcos (1909 - 1973) Cover artist who studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the age of 20 designed her first cover for Vanity Fair magazine. She was a regular contributor to Life, Fortune, Collier's, Mademoiselle and the Saturday Evening Post. She illustrated many books for the Limited Editions Club and she wrote and illustrated The City Book. Her work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Musem, Museum of Modern Art and is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
- Paul Rand by László Moholy-Nagy A 16-page letterpressed insert designed by Paul Rand, features an original foreward by László Moholy-Nagy of Chicago's School of Design. This was the first cross-referencing of these two modern masters. László Moholy-Nagy, a pioneer typographer, photographer, and designer of the modern movement and a master at the Bauhaus in Weimar, may have come closest to defining the Rand style when he said Paul was “an idealist and a realist using the language of the poet and the businessman. He thinks in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems, but his fantasy is boundless.”
- Robert Josephy: Design for a CareerDesigned by Josephy and Union Designer with layout by Evelyn Harter.
- George Giusti Cover and 11-page insert on the recent Swiss emigré . Includes samples of his surrealist-inspired work for posters,magazine and book covers, packaging and more. On a visit to the US, in 1938, George Giusti was enticed to stay and work with Herbert Matter on the Swiss Pavilion for the 1939 New York World's Fair. During his career, Giusti designed covers for Time, Fortune, Holiday and other major magazines as well as publications for the US Information Agency. He was art consultant to Geigy Pharmaceuticals in the US and Switzerland.
- The Index of American Designby Holger Cahill (director of the WPA Art Program). For you WPA/FAP enthusiasts, here is a 16-page article that catalogs and displays many pieces of early american design in ceramics, fabric, etc. But the really interesting part is the editorial preface and call to action that alerts readers to the fact that Lincoln Rothschild and eleven other WPA supervisors in the NYC area have had their jobs suspended due to allegations of Communism, Nazisim and non-citizenship. This serves as a chilling reminder that it can (and does) happen here. Consider yourself warned.
- The Gallery Art for Advertising: 8-page article deals with the associated American Artists plan to sell their works directly to the public. This AAA article includes many WPA/FAP artists, including Grant Wood, Don Freeman, James Chapin, Margaret Sullivan, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Aaron Bohrod, and Walter Quirt.
- Alex Steinweiss A 16-page color profile of the Art Director for Columbia Records with many examples of cutting edge streamline moderne graphics. The artwork is reproduced in four-color letterpress, and magnificent b/w photo engraving. There is even a screen-printed acetate title page. The Steinweiss cover is widely recognized as a singular high point in American Graphic Design that has been reproduced in countless histories and anthologies.
- Herbert Bayer's Design Class 13 black and white reproductions pages of student photomontages by William Taber, Gene Federico, E. G. Lukacs, Eleanor Mayer, Ernest Cabat, Jere Donovan, Fritz Brosius, Sol Benenson, David Weisman, Robert Pliskin, R. H. Blend, Eugene Zion, Edmund Marein. Plus: What is Taught and Why - A Footnote to the Recent Bayer Classwork Exhibit at the A-D Gallery.
- Designs in Glass by Contemporary Artists from the Steuben Collection16 black and white reproductions pages including full-page reproductions of the art-glass work of Jean Cocteau, Salvador Dali, Raoul Dufy, Duncan Grant, Jean Hugo, Peter Hurd, Fernand Leger, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keefe and others.
- Peter Takal 8 pages of black and white reproductions illustrations.
- The Work of John Averill by William A. Kitteridge
- Posters from Latin America by Mildred Constantine.
- How to Make Animated CartoonsA 16-page condensed excerpt from the book Nat Falk: How to Make Animated Cartoons. NYC: Foundation Books, 1941, prepared by Falk especially for A-D magazine.
- Books Reviewed: Architectural Forum Design Decade [with photograph of sculptural playground equipment by Isamu Noguchi], Years of Art by Marchel E. Landgren, Wings for Words, The Story of Johann Gutenberg and His Invention of Printing by Douglas C. McMurtrie; California and the West - photos by Edward Weston; Print" Vol. 2 , #1; and The Printed Book by Harry G. Aldis; Animal Drawing by John Skeaping; The Suicide Club by Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Nineteenth Annual of Advertising Art - 1940; Picture Making By Children by R. R. Tomlinson; Drawing A Cat by Clare Turlay Newberry; The Great Montezuma by Joseph O'Kane Foster; Typologia by Frederic W. Goudy; Books Alive byVincent Starrett; Seventy Books About Bookmaking by Hellmut Lehmann.
- A-D Shorts mention: Herbert Bayer, Lila Ulrich, A-D Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, and the AIGA; Helen M. Post, Lucille Corcos, The Society of Designers for Industry, Penguin Books, Lester Beall, AIGA, Paul Hollister, Joseph Binder, Herbert Bayer, Fred Cooper, Albert Hirshfeld, Jean Carlu, Allen Saalburg, Everett Henry, Paolo Garreto, Hardie Gramatley, Tony Petrucelli, E. McKnight Kauffer, Boris Artzybasheff, Wahn, Book and Magazine Guild, American Advertising Guild and Henry W. Kent, Irving Pasternack , Herbert Roan, Bill Crawford, Leon Friend, Robert L. Leslie
- Listing of Advertisements: Reliance Reproduction Co., Zeese - Wilkinson Co., Inc., The Composing Room, Wilbar Photo Engraving, Strathmore Paper Co., Wolf Envelope Co., Crafton Co., Ludlow Typograph Co., Flower Electrotypes, Arrow Engraving Co., Supreme Printing Service, Reliance Reproduction Co., Pioneer Moss, Walker Rackliff, Fuchs and Lang Mfg. Co., Spiral, United Looseleaf Corp., Lumarith Protectoid, Longman’s, Green and Co., The Haddon Craftsman, etc.
In 1939, at the age of 23, Alex Steinweiss revolutionized the way records were packaged and marketed. As the first art director for the recently formed Columbia Records, Steinweiss saw a creative opportunity in the company's packaging for its 78 rpm shellac records. The plain cardboard covers traditionally displayed only the title of the work and the artist. "They were so drab, so unattractive," says Steinweiss, "I convinced the executives to let me design a few." For what he saw as 12-inch by 12-inch canvasses inspired by French and German poster styles, he envisioned original works of art to project the beauty of the music inside. In 1947, for the first LP, Steinweiss invented a paperboard jacket, which has become the standard for the industry for nearly 50 years.
Alex Steinweiss was born in 1917 in Brooklyn, New York. His father loved music and instilled the passion in him. In 1930, Steinweiss entered Abraham Lincoln High School. His first artistic endeavors resulted in beautifully articulated marionettes. These brought him to the attention of the art department chair, Leon Friend, co-author of Graphic Design (1936), the first comprehensive American book on the subject.
Matthew Leibowitz (1918 – 1974) attended evening classes at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art while he worked in a design studio during the day. He was Art Director of the Philadelphia Advertising Agency before setting up as a freelance advertising artist. From 1942 he art directed and consulted for several firms including IBM, RCA Victor, Sharp and Dohme, Spalding, Container Corporation of America, General Electric, N. W. Ayer and Son, The International Red Cross and others. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The Denver Art Museum and the Musee National d'Art Museum, Paris. Between 1941 and 1959 he received 163 gold medals and other awards.
If the word legend has any meaning in the graphic arts and if the term legendary can be applied with accuracy to the career of any designer, it can certainly be applied to Paul Rand (1914-1996). By 1947, the legend was already firmly in place. By then Paul had completed his first career as a designer of media promotion at Esquire-Coronetãand as an outstanding cover designer for Apparel Arts and Directions. He was well along on a second career as an advertising designer at the William Weintraub agency which he had joined as art director at its founding. Thoughts on Design (with reproductions of almost one hundred of his designs and some of the best words yet written on graphic design) had just published ãan event that cemented his international reputation and identified him as a designer of influence from Zurich to Tokyo.
A chronology of Rand's design experience has paralleled the development of the modern design movement. Paul Rand's first career in media promotion and cover design ran from 1937 to 1941, his second career in advertising design ran from 1941 to 1954, and his third career in corporate identification began in 1954. Paralleling these three careers there has been a consuming interest in design education and Paul Rand’s fourth career as an educator started at Cooper Union in 1942. He taught at Pratt Institute in 1946 and in 1956 he accepted a post at Yale University's graduate school of design where he held the title of Professor of Graphic Design.
In 1937 Rand launched his first career at Esquire. Although he was only occasionally involved in the editorial layout of that magazine, he designed material on its behalf and turned out a spectacular series of covers for Apparel Arts, a quarterly published in conjunction with Esquire. In spite of a schedule that paid no heed to regular working hours or minimum wage scales, he managed in these crucial years to find time to design an impressive array of covers for other magazines, particularly Directions. From 1938 on his work was a regular feature of the exhibitions of the Art Directors Club.
Most contemporary designers are aware of Paul Rand's successful and compelling contributions to advertising design. What is not well known is the significant role he played in setting the pattern for future approaches to the advertising concept. Rand was probably the first of a long and distinguished line of art directors to work with and appreciate the unique talent of William Bernbach. Rand described his first meeting with Bernbach as "akin to Columbus discovering America,≤ and went on to say, ≥This was my first encounter with a copywriter who understood visual ideas and who didn't come in with a yellow copy pad and a preconceived notion of what the layout should look like.≤
Rand spent fourteen years in advertising where he demonstrated the importance of the art director in advertising and helped break the isolation that once surrounded the art department. The final thought from Thoughts on Design is worth repeating: Even if it is true that commonplace advertising and exhibitions of bad taste are indicative of the mental capacity of the man in the street, the opposing argument is equally valid. Bromidic advertising catering to that bad taste merely perpetuates that mediocrity and denies him one of the most easily accessible means of aesthetic development.≤
In 1954 when Paul Rand decided Madison Avenue was no longer a two-way street and he resigned from the Weintraub agency, he was cited as one of the ten best art directors by the Museum of Modern Art. The rest is design history.
A-D magazine was the leading voice of the U. S. Graphic Arts Industry from its inception in 1934 (originally titled PM) to its end in 1942. As a publication produced by and for professionals, it spotlighted cutting-edge production technology, such as acetate inserts, 4-color letterpress printing, custom binding 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.