Skip to Main Content
Chwast’s irrational fears
Seymour Chwast Collection Box 7 P241. Promotional piece for Strathmore Paper, c. 1970.
June 05, 2014

Chwast’s irrational fears

Seymour Chwast illustrated this series of promotions for Strathmore Paper aimed at encouraging potential customers to overcome the dreaded fears of high paper costs and unusual printing processes like blind embossing, debossing, and overprinting. Chwast takes the joke to its natural extreme, employing the full arsenal of printing techniques at his disposal (unfortunately difficult to see in digital form).


The drawings are pure Push Pin: elaborately textured background papers, detailed and playful art, each a bit different stylistically but unified by colors that pop.


Illustrated poster of a man with a smoke-pipe, riding a bicycle on top of a large white mushroom. Varieties of mushrooms are spread across green flooring, and dark navy and green floral embroidery border the image.


 
Seymour Chwast Collection Box 6 P140. Promotional piece for Strathmore Paper, c. 1970.


 
Seymour Chwast Collection Box 6 P142. Promotional piece for Strathmore Paper, c. 1970.