Not written by me, written by you as part of the Summer Of Design Books series. You can write and post a review too, go here and follow the simple instructions.
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I found this pair of jewels in the window of an antique books store.
I had never seen this collection before, anyone here did?
It seems there's been 4 volumes devoted to each side of the Atlantic, and I guess it's a japanese project.
Printed in Tokyo, photocomposition in Neuchâtel, lay-out designed by gan hosoya in the early '70s.
The inside of each book is divided in 4 parts, each one containg a quick presentation of the designer (sometimes written by the guy himself)
followed by a series of works.
The text is in french, english and german, so if you spot any of these anywhere, just jump on'em.
I tried to sum up each portrait in one sentence and one spread, and it goes a little some like this:
Graphic Designers Europe vol.2
Giovanni Pintori built his own house, and could build a boat as easily.
Edward Bawden travels, paints, and teaches a lot.
Herbert Leupin is from the old school, but so Swiss…
Louis danzinger prefers to do less work and continue to remain more directly involved in its production.
Herb Lubalin talks about the future of the design business (i.e. the '70s): focus on the 25-yeras old people if you want to sell.
Peter Max closed his commercial studio to build a new art form: Cosmic Art (it is supposed to have a calming effect on the nervous system).
Henry Wolf is glad that big business is now looking for the odd-ball thinker to show him off.
Graphic Designers
USA Vol.1
1971
Europe Vol.2
1972
Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, Tokyo
& Office du Livre, Fribourg
No ISBN
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Wow Loïc, those are real gems. Nice.
Posted by: Richard | Aug 13, 2008 at 09:19
ahh, i know what that Pintori on the left reminds me of...
Posted by: nick | Aug 13, 2008 at 15:59
Thanks Richard, I was wondering if a vintage design book could fit into this series, but I guess it does.
Nick, congratulations, I didn't notice myself.
I was rather expecting some readers to react to a 1949 ad from of the Typography book, compared to the D&AD logo (1963). But it may not be that obvious…
Posted by: Loïc | Aug 14, 2008 at 08:04
I have all four of these since '83 or '84 and even then I felt that it had been a great find. Thanks for reminding me to take them off my shelf and look through them again!
Posted by: Debbie | Aug 21, 2008 at 13:48
I have numbers 2 to 4 of the european series. I first spotted them in a public library in Paris (at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs), then just recently actually found them in a private bookshop in Brussels (seems like few people around here are looking for them, they had been laying on those shelves for 10+ years).
I guess the Müller-Brockman issue (#1) has the most success, hence it's harder to find.
Hadn't seen any one of the USA issues. So thanks for that :)
Posted by: Guillaume Bokiau | Sep 16, 2009 at 15:20