About the Collection
Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927-2016) was a graphic design pioneer whose work seamlessly integrated modernism with European avant-garde influences. Her clients included Philip Johnson, for the signage of the Seagram Building, the Girl Scouts of America, Meridian Books, The Jewish Museum, Kootz Gallery, and General Motors. In 1969, she left commercial design to focus on her painting and collage work. She did sporadic design work for the rare book shop and gallery, Ex Libris, that she and her husband Arthur Cohen ran together until Arthur's death in 1986. (Ex Libris ran for another twelve years after that.) Cohen continued creating artworks, many of which display the same geometric abstraction of her early commercial design and typographic work. In 2011, she was awarded the AIGA medal. She died in 2016. The collection comprises mostly printed materials from Cohen's work as a graphic designer. Works include book jackets, exhibition catalogs, letterhead and other stationery, event invitations and announcements, and brochures.
Sample images Current page
Collection guide
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Kootz Gallery. Picasso, Five Master Works announcement, 1958.
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New Directions. In the Winter of Cities by Tennessee Williams, 1957.
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Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, Inc. advertisement, 1965.
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XXXII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte exhibition catalog, 1964.
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The Jewish Museum, Circulating Exhibitions brochure.
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Dutton. Poems from Deal by David Shapiro book jacket, 1969
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Meridian Books. God and the Ways of Knowing book jacket, 1957.
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A Selection of Works from the Art Collections at the University of Nebraska, exhibition catalog, 1963.
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Elaine and Arthur Cohen New Year's Day Party invitation, 1957.
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The Jewish Museum, Hanukkah card, 1963.
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Identity for Mondawmin Shopping Center, Baltimore, c. 1963.
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Albany Report brochure, 1961.