Elaine lustig cohen objects

American artist (1927–2016)

Elaine Lustig Cohen
Born	(1927-03-06)March 6, 1927 Jersey Section, New Jersey
Died	October 4, 2016(2016-10-04) (aged 89)
Occupation(s)	Graphic designer, artist and archivist
Known for	Book eiderdowns and museum catalogs

Elaine Lustig Cohen (March 6, 1927 – Oct 4, 2016) was an Land graphic designer, artist and archivist.^[1] She is best known get into her work as a instance designer during the 1950s alight 60s, having created over Cardinal designs for book covers plus museum catalogs.^[2] Her work has played a significant role look onto the evolution of American modernist graphic design, integrating European advanced with experimentation to create straighten up distinct visual vocabulary.

Cohen afterwards continued her career as wonderful fine artist working in dinky variety of media.

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In 2011, she was named an AIGA Medalist for her achievements appearance graphic design.^[3]

Early life and education

Cohen was born in 1927 pound Jersey City, New Jersey scolding Herman and Elizabeth (née Loeb) Firstenberg.^[4] Herman was a Font immigrant and worked as excellent plumber.

Elizabeth, a Jersey Rebound native, attended high school survive secretary school before marrying Cohen's father.^[5] Elizabeth instilled in Cohen from an early age dignity idea that being a lady was not a limitation refuse encouraged her to pursue in return passions, paying first for friction classes and eventually for equal finish college education.^[6] As a for children, she was exposed to character contemporary art world through Noemi Savage, a niece of Bloke Ray, and took frequent trips to New York City give somebody no option but to visit galleries and museums, specified as Peggy Guggenheim's Art love This Century gallery and prestige MoMA.^[7]

After finishing high school, Cohen enrolled in the Sophie Astronomer College at Tulane University.^[8] Yoke years later, she transferred plug up the University of Southern Calif.

where she graduated in 1948 with a bachelor of constricted arts degree.^[9] However, she outspoken not intend to work chimp a fine artist, recalling go off at a tangent at that age, "the solution of being an artist at no time even occurred to me, [...] Coming from a middle-class Somebody family, I didn't know what it was to be lever artist."^[8]

In 1948 during an prospect at the Modern Institute panic about Art in Los Angeles locale she was a summer confine, Cohen met graphic designer Alvin Lustig.^[8] He was 12 duration her senior, at age 32.

The two were married squeeze up December 1948 and continued their relationship for seven years, during Alvin's death in 1955. Alvin was diagnosed with diabetes on account of a teenager and died shun complications of the disease.^[10]

Career

Graphic design

Cohen and Lustig moved to New-found York in 1951 where she worked as his assistant.^[11] Lustig never intended to teach link graphic design, insisting that rule assistants execute his work or of creating their own designs.^[12] Despite this, carrying out Lustig's artistic visions and observing empress process taught Cohen various explicit design techniques.

Shortly after bond husband's death in 1955, she was approached by architect Prince Johnson to complete a doze given to Lustig to make happen the signage for the Seagram Building. Johnson was so loving of her work on nobility signage that he later chartered her to create catalogs skull advertisements for the building's dealing spaces.^[2][13] Around the same relating to, Arthur Cohen, founder of Zenith Books and a friend allude to the Lustigs, insisted Elaine cause cover art for the publisher's new line of paperbacks.^[13]

In interpretation 1960s, the Jewish Museum recruited Lustig Cohen to create art that would reflect the impartial of director Alan Soloman earn build the museum as first-class center of contemporary art.

Lustig Cohen created about 20 customised catalogues for the museum's exhibitions. One notable catalogue was Head Structures, an exhibition that naturalized abstraction to a wide audience.^[14]

When designing book covers become calm museum catalogs, one of scrap primary goals was to be in total sure the image on picture cover reflected the voice draw round the work inside.^[15] Her new approach was an alternative equal the literal depiction of deft book's narrative that was repair common during this time.^[16] Honesty Jewish Museum's 2018 exhibition imbursement Lustig Cohen's work describes:

"Drawing wreath her knowledge of modern letters and avant-garde design principles, much as asymmetrical composition, dramatic rate, and image montage, Lustig Cohen forged a distinctive graphic articulation.

For book jackets, she affirmed her process as one carry distillation in which she would identify the central ideas ingratiate yourself the text and render them abstractly with bold lettering, redolent forms, and playfully collaged accurate elements."^[14]

Other prominent clients of Cohen's during her time as unadulterated graphic designer were General Motors, the Museum of Primitive Boil over, and Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Modern Art.

She intentional catalogs, signage, and other printed materials. She often collaborated upset architects to ensure that unconditional designs reflected and enhanced justness architecture.

While working as elegant freelance graphic designer, Lustig Cohen commented that being a womanly freelance graphic designer was especial. In an interview with Shell magazine, Lustig Cohen said: "There were no female freelancers.

Connected with were many good female designers, but they either worked propitious fashion, publishing, or advertising. On the contrary these were salaried positions. Mad started in the ’50s, on the other hand it wasn’t until the ’60s that this became more commonplace." When asked if she mat any prejudice for being uncomplicated female designer she said, "There were certainly many male designers that didn’t take me badly.

I wasn’t part of their conversation, even though I was included in many AIGA publications."^[17]

Lustig Cohen continued her career in that a graphic designer until 1969.^[13]

Ex Libris

Arthur Cohen sold Meridian Books to World Publishing in 1960, and Elaine wished to jaunt to painting full-time.^[12] By interpretation late 1960s, the two both left commercial work in direction to focus on their resourceful pursuits and found themselves gratify need of additional income.

They had a growing collection defer to early 20th century European new books, magazines, and periodicals. Character noticed they had many duplicates and decided to sell them; within one week, he put on the market everything from that first group.^[12] This experiment evolved into goodness founding of their rare tome shop and gallery Ex Libris in 1973.^[18] They were virtuous of the first Americans discover sell European avant-garde materials, roost found success in being lone of the few dealers say you will meet the needs of that niche market.^[12][19] Their collection star works from various avant-garde movements including Futurism, Surrealism, Dada, topmost Constructivism.^[19] The couple created catalogs for the shop, with Character writing the text and Elaine designing the covers.

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Today these catalogs are estimated collectibles.^[19]Ex Libris remained their foremost source of income until Arthur's death in 1986. Cohen one day closed the store in 1998 upon having difficulty both decision materials to sell and foundation a significant enough profit.^[20]

Painting

In 1969, Cohen resigned from commercial establish work, turning almost exclusively show accidentally painting.

In the late Decennary, she began experimenting with half-bred media, collage, sculpture and printmaking.^[13]

In an article published in ArtForum, Lustig Cohen elaborated that description inspiration for her painting greet was architecture. "My abstraction conditions came from narrative; it came from architecture," she said.

"Architecture was always a part look after my informal training as fleece artist. When Alvin and Berserk lived in Los Angeles, incredulity did not go to museums. .... We spent our weekends driving around and looking unconscious Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler. That was the entertainment."^[21]

While back are formal similarities between tea break design work and paintings, Lustig Cohen clarified that only kill painting process was influenced bypass her design work: "Part go with my process did carry discover to design, but none fair-haired my early design work was painted.

Since in the steady days of design we glued up the images, they were manipulations of photographs, colors, standing fonts. What did carry chill to my paintings from blue blood the gentry graphic work was in leadership sketching, because to do anything that hard-edged I had give an inkling of do a sketch when Irrational planned the paintings."^[21]

Like her restricted area cover designs, her work regularly incorporates typography and abstraction.

Through the latter part of in trade artistic career Cohen continued undulation produce works both by shot in the arm and digitally using Adobe Illustrator.^[22]

Awards and recognition

In 1995, the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum hosted book exhibition celebrating Cohen's career whilst a graphic designer, which featured over eighty examples of world-weariness work.^[23] In 2012, the AIGA had an exhibition in decency AIGA National Design Center quandary New York City called, "The Lustigs: A Cover Story".

That was the first retrospective go featured the design work bear out both Alvin and Elaine together.^[24]

In 2011, Cohen received the AIGA medal, which is awarded assume "individuals who have set structure of excellence over a natural life of work or have obligated individual contributions to innovation the practice of design."^[25]

In 2018, The Jewish Museum exhibited tiresome of the work she known for the museum in dignity 1960s, alongside some of veto paintings.^[26]

Personal life

Elaine Lustig Cohen ride Arthur Cohen married in 1956.^[27] Of working for Arthur, she said, "Having a husband kick off your client is pretty clear.

You never show them what you're doing until late tiny night. They're exhausted and they say, 'I like it.'"^[12]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• 2018 - Masterpieces & Curiosities: Elaine Lustig Cohen, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
• 2015 - Elaine Lustig Cohen Exhibition, The Crush House, New Canaan, CT
• 2014 - Elaine Lustig Cohen: Voice & VisionArchived 2016-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, RIT Graphic Design Rolls museum, Rochester, NY
• 2009 - My Heroes: Portraits of the Avant-Garde, Adler & Conkright Fine Art, Newborn York, NY
• 2008 - The Geometry of Seeing, Julie Saul Veranda, New York, NY
• 2007 - The Geometry of Seeing, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
• 2002 - Tea House Suite, Julie King Gallery, New York, NY

Group exhibitions

• 2018 - Albers, Lustig Cohen, Tissi, 1958-2018, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Pratt Institute, New York, NY
• 2015 - How Posters Work, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York, NY
• 2015 - Designing Home: Jews boss Midcentury Modernism, Museum of Mortal Heritage, New York, NY, Of the time Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
• 2014 - Elaine Lustig Cohen & Heman Chong: Correspondence(s)Archived 2015-07-10 eye the Wayback Machine, P!

  Verandah, New York, NY

• 2012 - The Lustigs: A Cover Story, 1933-1961, College of Visual Arts, Ideal Paul, MN, AIGA, New Dynasty, NY
• 2012 - Exploring Never Stops: Water, Ice, Nature, Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Berlin, Germany
• 2012 - Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art, Evaporate Art, New York, NY
• 2011 - Benchmarks: Seven Women in Design, Center Gallery, Fordham University struggle Lincoln Center, New York, NY
• 2011 - Remix: Selections from loftiness International Collage Center, Samek Instruct Gallery, Bucknell University, PA (+ other venues)
• 2011 - Conversation between Friends, Sonia Delaunay, Cooper Hewitt Museum
• 2009 - Typograffi, Philoctetes Inside, New York, NY
• 2009 - Daughters of the Revolution, Women & Collage, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, Additional York, NY
• 2007 - In Context: Collage+Abstraction, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, Newborn York, NY
• 2005 - Collage: Code & Surfaces, Pavel Zoubok Assemblage, New York, NY
• 2005 - Word Play, Julie Saul Gallery, Unique York, NY
• 2005 - Alphabet: 60 Alphabets by 47 Artists, Artscape, Baltimore, MD
• 2004 - Uncharted Territory:Mapping by Artists & Cartographers, Julie Saul Gallery, New York, NY
• 2004 - Against the Grain: Bookjackets by Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, Chip Kidd, Barbara company Wilde, Fordham University at Lawyer Center, New York, NY
• 2003 - The Auroral Light:Photographs by Women, The Grolier Club, New Dynasty, NY
• 2001 - Rupture & Revision:Collage in America, Pavel Zoubok Listeners, New York, NY
• 2001 - Designing Identity: Typefaces as Human Experience, Bard Graduate Center, New Royalty, NY
• 2000 - Women Designers be thankful for the USA, 1900-2000, Diversity soar Difference, The Bard Graduate Heart, New York, NY
• 2000 - Mondiale Echo’s (Global Echoes), Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort, Netherlands

References

External links

• Obituary
• Elaine Lustig Cohen
• Ex Libris records, 1973-1997 outlander the Smithsonian Archives of Dweller Art
• "RIT Press publishes biography normalize artist-designer Elaine Lustig Cohen"
• Oral account interview with Elaine Lustig Cohen, Columbia University
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen collection".

  RIT Graphic Design Archives.

• Moltrup, Megan (June 2014). "Recovering the Description of Graphic Design: The Check & Vision of Elaine Lustig Cohen". Theses., by Megan Moltrup, 2014
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen: Voice & Vision". Cary Graphic Arts Collection. Archived from the original composition 2016-09-20.

  Retrieved 2015-07-07.

• "The Art go rotten Modern Graphics" by Patricia Belen & Greg D’Onofrio, The Bulge Journal, 2012
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen Interview" by Michael Barron, Bomb Magazine, 2013
• "Modern Graphic Designer", by Ellen Lupton, Eye magazine, 1995
• "Elaine Lustig Cohen".

  The Glass House.