SVA Archives

August 04, 2015

65 Self-Portraits

65 Self-Portraits is one of the best documented of the remarkable series of exhibitions organized by Shirley Glaser while she was director of SVA’s Visual Arts Gallery, 1964-1969.

July 21, 2015

Milton Glaser’s cover for Aaron Lightman’s self-titled LP

This amazing LP from 1969 is one of the most beautiful hidden gems in the field of pop arranged singer-songwriters. Originally issued on Poppy Records, home of psych heads The Mandrake Memorial among others, Lightman’s LP deserves to be discovered by all the fans of the soft rock, orchestra arranged sounds. Think of an American reply to the early works of Duncan Browne, Bill Fay, Nick Garrie or even Donovan at his most popsike recordings. Fans of the early Bee Gees will also enjoy this LP! Credit for the arrangements and production goes to the great Ron Frangipane and David Christopher, who is also credited as a co-writer of the albums songs. The album came housed in a beautiful Milton Glaser sleeve (Glaser was the main designer at Poppy at that time) which the Wah Wah reissue respects, and featured an insert with the lyrics which is also reproduced on our reissue. Housed in quality sleeves and pressed in 180 gram thick black vinyl for the delight of the most discriminating audiophiles. Limited to 500 copies!

July 09, 2015

George Tscherny for MoMA and the Family Service Association

MoMA’s 1956 exhibition of posters for the Family Service Association featured the work of George Tscherny, among other artists and designers.

June 09, 2015

Western Union’s ‘Computer Letter’

Ed McCabe’s characteristically direct copy for Western Union’s spammy-sounding “Computer Letter,” 1983. Click through for more and the full page.

June 08, 2015

Henry Wolf for Karastan carpets

An excellently memorable and surreal campaign photographed by Henry Wolf for Karastan carpets.

May 21, 2015

Milton Glaser’s Boris Vian

Milton Glaser’s watercolors for a French edition of Boris Vian’s I Spit On Your Graves.

April 14, 2015

Baader-Meinhof Library Escape

James McMullan’s process is detailed step-by-step, showing exactly how he composed and executed the complicated tableau of the Baader-Meinhof Group’s escape from a Berlin library.

March 30, 2015

Paula Scher’s identity for SVA

In 1988, the School of Visual Arts commissioned Paula Scher—a longtime faculty member but not yet a principal at Pentagram—to redesign its corporate identity.

February 24, 2015

I’ve seen you on the beach and I’ve seen you on TV

Malcolm Garrett was the subject of “Ulterior Motifs: An Exhibition of Graphic Devices 1977-1993,” an exhibition held at SVA in 1993 that featured Garrett’s logotypes for clients in the music, publishing, and retail industries.

February 05, 2015

More packaging by Seymour Chwast

More packaging designs from the Pushpin Studios/Seymour Chwast slide collection.

January 20, 2015

Prints from Galleria del Deposito

Italian screenprints from the collective gallery in Genoa, Italy.

January 06, 2015

Welcome back—and to 2015

Students will return to SVA next Monday but we’re back and the archives are reopened already. Here’s Seymour Chwast’s cover design for Time‘s promotional calendar for the academic year 1982–1983.

December 20, 2014

Saks Fifth Avenue’s Folio

Henry Wolf’s work for Saks hearkened back to his days at Harper’s Bazaar and Show.

December 16, 2014

Have one

A great one from Tony Palladino, a cleaned-up and stripped-down version of the tear-off fliers that used to proliferate to such an extent that they almost became invisible. This Christmas card both grabs your attention and evokes nostalgia.

December 16, 2014

Lost and found

Newly unearthed SVA exhibition posters (1969-1970) from Cris Gianakos.

December 11, 2014

Christmas mail bag

Steven Heller collected more than 250 Christmas cards from artists for a 1980s book project. Many of the cards are hand-drawn or painted, but even the reproductions are playful and highly personal.