Milton Glaser Milton Glaser
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MILTON GLASER MILTON GLASER Publisher: Buybook Sarajevo For publisher: Damir Uzunović Editor: Asim Đelilović Translation: Senada Kreso Illustration on Cover side: Milton Glaser Repro-photo: Dragana Antonić and Enis Logo DTP: Boriša Gavrilović Print: Grafotisak Grude / 2020 / 500 copies © 2020 Milton Glaser All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the autor. MILTON GLASER National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-29. February 2020 Sarajevo, Zelenih beretki 8 www.ugbih.ba CIP zapis je dostupan u elektronskom katalogu Nacionalne i univerzitetske biblioteke BiH pod brojem 28696070. ISBN 978-9958-30-479-8 www.museuminexile.com E-mail: [email protected] MILTON GLASER Edited by Asim Đelilović Foreword by Mirko Ilić SARAJEVO 2020 4 MUSEUM IN EXILE TABLE OF CONTENTS 06 FOREWORD MIRKO ILIĆ 8 MODERN RENAISSANCE MAN 11 MILTON GLASER BIOGRAPHY 16 THE MOST SUCCESSFUL CITY BRANDING OF ALL TIME 19 TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED (PART OF AN AIGA TALK IN LONDON) 26 MILTON GLASER AND SARAJEVO 32 DRAWING IS THE ONLY WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD 44 YOUR OBLIGATION IS TO THE CLIENT, AND NOT NECESSARILY THE PUBLIC 60 I LIKE SHAKESPEARE 66 POSTERS IN THE COLLECTION 94 POSTERS IN THE COLLECTION by page order MILTON GLASER 5 FOREWORD MIRKO ILIĆ In the years 1975-1976, I was an aspiring comic artist and illustrator, in communist Yugoslavia. At that time, I published my work in student pa- pers. Mostly in my hometown Zagreb, but also Belgrade. Sometimes I traveled in Belgrade and drew my illustrations on the spot. Student papers were paid illustrations next to nothing, but publishing my work was what was most important to me. Making so little money, I was not able to stay in hotels when I was in Belgrade. I would just smuggle myself into student dorm, and stay in the room of my colleague illustrator and designer, and at that time still student, Nikola Konstantinovic. I was not only staying with him to save money but that it was also my chance to talk with him about design and art and to browse through his collection of foreign books about illustration and design. At that time, foreign books were very expensive in Yugoslavia. On average, one half of my monthly earnings. In one of my visits he proudly showed me his new trophy, the book Milton Glaser – Graphic Design. At that time I knew very little of Milton’s work, mostly his illustrations of the time of Push Pin Graphic. This book was a revelation to me. Most of the monograph books, which I had seen so far, were about fine artists. Never before had I seen a book dedicated to a sin- gle designer/illustrator. I spent most of the night flipping through the book, trying to remember every image. Partly because I was not sure when I would ever get the chance to hold that book in my hands again. And partly because the book was extremely fascinating to me, he was able to do anything, design of posters, magazines, LP covers, shops, illustra- tions, fonts etc. His work was perfect, except a little bit too sweet for me. Let’s not forget, I was a young artist from a communist country. Sweet was not an option for me. 6 MUSEUM IN EXILE Another little minus for me was that he didn’t draw comics. Despite that, I had a feeling of the influence of comics on his work. Or I was adjusting re- ality to fit my needs, haha. Exactly ten years later, I moved to New York. Because of Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, Taxi Driver and all other design and art this city was able to offer, including Milton. Upon my arrival in New York, one of the first peo- ple I visited was Milton. I wanted to meet him, and I wanted to show him my work. At that time, I didn’t know how to prepare a portfolio; I had never done that before. I brought with me a big bag full of printed copies, xeroxes, and originals. All mixed together. And I literally dumped the content of the bag on his conference table. And by the way, I barely spoke English at that time –not that I’m that much better now. Milton very gracefully and slowly went through the pile, sometimes asking me questions. After almost one hour he finished examining the pile, and he asked me who did I know in the city. I answered him pretty much nobody. He told me to come back the next day, and his assistant would prepare a list of art directors for me to contact. He also asked when I got an assignment, where was I going to work? I was young and obnoxious (now I’m old and obnoxious), I told him wherever, on a bench in a park, in the rain. I’m Eastern European. He laughed and told me when I get an assignment, and if I need a place to work, I could come to his studio and use one of his desks. Ten years later, I reminded him of his offer and asked him to let me rent a floor in his building. That is where I’m now writing this introduction. In the last 30 years, how long we have known each other; we became friends and collaborated on quite a few projects. We wrote the book Design of Dis- sent together, we taught classes at Cooper Union together and many other things. In the meantime, I didn’t forget the book. As a matter of fact, I bought myself the first edition of exactly the same book like the one I was holding in Nikola’s room. But not only that, today I have quite a few of the posters and LP records published in that book. Some of them I bought and some of them were gifted to me by Milton. But the most important thing I got from Milton, besides his friendship, is the attitude towards the young artist. After all these experiences with Milton, I cannot sit on this floor, in his building and refuse to see or help young artists knocking on my door. Except for today, young artists very rarely dump their work on my desk. Usually, they neatly put their iPads on it. MILTON GLASER 7 MODERN RENAISSANCE MAN To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of the last century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man — one of the rare breed of intellectual designer- illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work. * * www.miltonglaser.com Milton Glaser, photo by Michael Somoroff, 2015 8 MUSEUM IN EXILE MILTON GLASER 9 10 MUSEUM IN EXILE MILTON GLASER BIOGRAPHY Milton Glaser (b.1929) is among the most celebrated graphic designers in the United States. He has had the distinction of one-man-shows at the Mu- seum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. He was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (2004) and the Fulbright Association (2011), and in 2009 he was the first graphic designer to receive the National Medal of the Arts award. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and is an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design. He opened Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and continues to produce a prolific amount of work in many fields of design to this day. Milton Glaser was educated at the High School of Music and Art and the Cooper Union Art School in New York and, via a Fulbright Scholarship, the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy. He co-founded the revolutionary Pushpin Studios in 1954, founded New York Magazine with Clay Felker in 1968, established Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and teamed with Walter Bernard in 1983 to form the publication design firm WBMG. Throughout his career, Glaser has been a prolific creator of posters and prints. His artwork has been featured in exhibits worldwide, including one-man shows at both the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work is in the permanent collections of many museums. Glaser also is a renowned graphic and architectural de- signer with a body of work ranging from the iconic logo to complete graphic and decorative programs for the restaurants in the World Trade Center in New York. Glaser is an influential figure in both the design and education commu- nities, contributed essays and extensively granted interviews on design. Among many awards throughout the years, he received the 2004 Lifetime MILTON GLASER 11 Achievement Award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National De- sign Museum, for his profound and meaningful long-term contribution to the contemporary practice of design. PUSHPIN STUDIOS In 1954, Milton Glaser, along with Reynold Ruffins, Seymour Chwast, and Edward Sorel, founded Pushpin Studios. For twenty years Glaser, together with Seymour Chwast, directed the organization, which exerted a powerful influence on the direction of world graphic design, culminating in a mem- orable exhibition at the Louvres Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. NEW YORK MAGAZINE In 1968, Glaser and Clay Felker founded New York magazine, where Glaser was president and design director until 1977.