Yesterday I viewed
Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism (at the CJM SF through 10/6) a show about how European Jewish emigres networked together around a core of design institutions across the US, inspiring a new look for architecture, furniture, textiles, dinnerware & utensils, Judaica, and graphic design. The institutions singled out in the show were MoMA, Walker Art Center, Institute of Design (Chicago), Black Mountain College (NC), Case Study House/
Art + Architecture magazine (LA), and Pond Farm (Guerneville, CA). There were many artists included in this survey and about 200 works on display; in this post, I am sharing examples of graphic design I found interesting (all photos by me). There's a
detailed press release about the entire show on the CJM web site.
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| Entry to the exhibit. Focus is on the 1950's, 60's, & 70's |
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| A display of album covers by Alex Steinweiss, 1950's |
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| Book covers for Merdian and New Directions books by Elaine Lustig-Cohen, 1950's. |
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| Book Cover by Alan Lustig, 1940's |
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| Aviary, a wallpaper designed by Saul Steinberg |
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| Saul Bass poses with his best-known poster, Anatomy of a Murder |
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| Poster for No Way Out by Paul Rand, 1950 |
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A wall of corporate logos designed by Paul Rand, Saul Bass, and Louis Danziger
between 1938 & 1980. |
Also on view is
Project Mah Jongg, which explored the game's roots and how it came to be an important pastime in Jewish American life. The thing I really liked about this show was the series of drawings by local artists describing their memories of how Mah Jongg was part of their personal family life and culture (through 10/28).
