“The Entire Visual World”: Art, Design, and 1960s New York DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Amanda Gluibizzi Graduate Program in History of Art The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Professor Aron Vinegar, Advisor Professor Lisa Florman Professor Kris Paulsen Professor Ron Green Copyright by Amanda Gluibizzi 2012 Abstract My dissertation explores the relationship between graphic design and art by investigating their intersection at a pivotal time in their history: the long decade between the 1959 “creative revolution” in advertising and the release of the Massimo Vignelli- designed New York City subway map of 1972. During the course of my examination, I reveal that, far from remaining mutually exclusive, or from engaging in a one-way connection through which high art drew on mass culture, as is often assumed, art and graphic design regularly informed each other’s methods of production. Although it is well known that artists such as Andy Warhol appropriated advertising imagery, there are also instances in which artists and designers employed street signage to navigate through city streets and artistic compositions, or moments during which both designers and artists undertook to follow unwitting pedestrians, that signal a deeper understanding of the sympathies between design and art strategies than simple visual borrowing. With these aspects in mind, my dissertation involves the work of artists who have not often been discussed in terms of design, such as Robert Rauschenberg, Vito Acconci, Yoko Ono, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Hans Haacke, as well as designers such as Milton Glaser and Peter Chermayeff who debated the efficacy of designed objects in a city of such overwhelming visual stimulation. My research reveals a city in crisis, but one that provided opportunities for artists and designers to develop new ii means of improving and disrupting its ways of living. In surveying this time and art and design’s mutual influence, I hope to pose new questions of designed objects as well as of the art world that developed alongside them. iii Dedication For my parents. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank Aron Vinegar, my dissertation advisor, for all of the time and energy he has put into my project, as well as my committee members, Lisa Florman, Kris Paulsen, and Ron Green for their input and advice. Kristi Nelson, Jonathan Riess, and Lloyd Engelbrecht at the University of Cincinnati were my first readers, and Paul Glassman at the Pratt Institute has proved both an important teacher and collaborator. My research at Ohio State has been supported by an employee tuition fellowship, as well as Special Research Assignments granted by the University Libraries. My colleagues Dracine Hodges, Anne Fields, and Deidra Herring have been wonderful cheerleaders. I would also like to acknowledge Raye Yankauskas, Chris Ford, Stuart Steck, Christopher James, and Susan Ashbrook at the Art Institute of Boston, as well as my students at AIB, who were the initial inspiration for my investigations into art and design. Karl Whittington, James Hansen, Alyssa Mandel, and Joe Paganucci read, commented on, and listened to me talk about my work throughout my time in school. I could not have even begun this project without Christian Kleinbub who, more than anyone, has experienced this with me. I am so grateful to him for his help, interest, and belief in the topic. My family are some of my most important sounding boards. Thanks to my siblings for understanding my single-mindedness while I was writing and for being v willing to hear what was being done, and to my grandparents for being curiosity role models. This dissertation is for my parents, Steve and Lynne Halasz. vi Vita June 1992 .......................................................St. Joseph Academy 1996................................................................B.A. English, Ohio University 1998................................................................M.A. Art History, University of Cincinnati 2001 ………………………………………...M.S.I.L.S Library Science, Pratt Institute 2011 to present ..............................................Lecturer, Department of Art, The Ohio State University Publications “Navigation by the Vernacular Glance: Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Maps’.” In Meta- and Inter-Images in Contemporary Visual Art and Culture. Edited by Carla Taban. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2013. Accepted. “Saville Row: Style is the Man Himself.” Visual Culture in Britain. (November 2012). Forthcoming. “Tracking Star Guitar.” The Quarterly Review of Film and Video 30 no.2 (2013). Forthcoming. Fields of Study vii Major Field: History of Art viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ......................................................................................................................... ivi Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita ...................................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vx Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Designs on 1960s New York: The Image of Pop and North by Northwest .... 31 Chapter 2: Breaking the Rules with the Beetle: Volkswagen’s Revolutionary Advertising and the Visual Wit of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art ............................................. 67 Chapter 3: Navigating by the Vernacular Glance: Billboards, Signs, and the Urban Combine .................................................................................................. 102 Chapter 4: Way-words: Way-finding by Following Pieces ............................................ 146 Chapter 5: What’s the Matter with the Megalopolis? ..................................................... 183 Figures ............................................................................................................................ 240 References ....................................................................................................................... 304 ix List of Figures Figure 1 Saul Bass, Opening titles for North by Northwest, 1959 ............................... 2400 Figure 2 Alfred Hitchcock, Still from North by Northwest, 1959 .............................. 24141 Figure 3 Alfred Hitchcock, still from North by Northwest, 1959 .............................. 24242 Figure 4 David Ogilvy, The Man in the Hathaway Shirt, 1951-1960s ....................... 24343 Figure 5 Saul Bass, poster for Vertigo, 1958 .............................................................. 24444 Figure 6 Saul Bass, poster for North by Northwest, 1959 .......................................... 24545 Figure 7 Alfred Hitchcock, still from North by Northwest, 1959 .............................. 24646 Figure 8 Alfred Hitchcock, still from North by Northwest, 1959 .............................. 24747 Figure 9 Saul Bass, title sequence for North by Northwest, 1959 .............................. 24848 Figure 10 Saul Bass, title sequence from North by Northwest, 1959 ......................... 24949 Figure 11 Are They Making Turnpikes Shorter This Year? 1961 .............................. 25050 Figure 12 Doyle Dane Bernbach, Lemon. 1959 ......................................................... 25151 Figure 13 Doyle Dane Bernbach, Think Small. 1959 ................................................. 25252 Figure 14 Doyle Dane Bernbach, How to Do a Volkswagen Ad. 1962 ..................... 25353 Figure 15 Doyle Dane Bernbach, Two Shapes Known the World Over. 1962 .......... 25454 Figure 16 Robert Rauschenberg, Coca Cola Plan, 1958 ............................................. 25555 x Figure 17 Andy Warhol, Coca Cola, 1962 ................................................................. 25656 Figure 18 Andy Warhol, 210 Coke Bottles, 1962 ...................................................... 25757 Figure 19 Doyle Dane Bernbach, No Point Showing the ’62 Volkswagen. 1962 ........ 2588 Figure 20 Andy Warhol, Double Elvis. 1963/1976 .................................................... 25959 Figure 21 Chris Burden, Trans-fixed. 1974 .................................................................. 2600 Figure 22 Illustration from Robert Moses, “A Broadside against Billboards.” 1950 . 26161 Figure 23 Robert Rauschenberg, Satellite. 1955 ........................................................ 26262 Figure 24 Robert Rauschenberg, Stripper. 1962 ......................................................... 26363 Figure 25 Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Man in the White Shoes). Recto. 1954 ... 26464 Figure 26 Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Man in the White Shoes). Verso. 1954... 26565 Figure 27 Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Man with the White Shoes). Detail. 1954 ..................................................................................................................................... 26666 Figure 28 Robert Rauschenberg, Trophy V (for Jasper Johns). 1962 ........................ 26767 Figure 29 Robert Rauschenberg, Trophy I (for Merce Cunningham). 1959 .............