SVA Archives

July 12, 2019

George Tscherny at 95

Designer extraordinaire and one-man-band George Tscherny is 95.

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.

October 09, 2014

Accidents will happen

The tension between the accidental and the controlled is almost always present in the work of George Tscherny.

August 31, 2014

Use your head

SVA’s early subway posters helped raise the school to a new plane of artistic and intellectual pursuits.

March 17, 2014

Tscherny’s flag motif

One of George Tscherny’s graphic hobbyhorses was the jumbled appearance of type on an undulating surface.

January 28, 2014

Barbizon

George Tscherny’s 1967 company profile for lingerie-maker Barbizon.

January 13, 2014

George Tscherny for Herman Miller

George Tscherny developed his style working for Herman Miller in the mid-50s.

January 09, 2014

Up in smoke, part 2

Liggett & Myers’ Designer Packs designed by George Tscherny.

October 18, 2013

Cigarette companies were always big into advertising (perhaps because their products were largely indistinguishable), but after their marketing practices became widely seen as particularly nefarious their presence in the field faded.

October 07, 2013

First Look, part 3: George Tscherny

We’re continuing to receive great stuff from George Tscherny, and here’s the latest.

September 03, 2013

George Tscherny’s brushwork

This detail for a 1956 poster for the Cartoonist & Illustrators School by George Tscherny. Rebranded as the School of Visual Arts later that year, the designer had a long and fruitful relationship with the institution.

June 04, 2013

Pan Am modular displays

George Tscherny designed this installation for Pan American Airways, to be sent to travel agencies promoting their vacation locations. Details about the modular system follow.

Woman putting together cardboard Pan Am display

May 14, 2013

107 graphic designers

The most recent addition to the Chermayeff & Geismar Collection is twelve boxes of old and rare art books, ranging from annuals to architecture; Switzerland to Japan. As always, there were plenty of surprises: one was the catalog for an AGI exhibition from 1976, which featured, alongside reproductions of their work, dramatic photos of the designers.

February 20, 2013

Cameo gallery

In 1995, the Cooper Union celebrated the 40th anniversary of Pushpin Studios with an exhibition and special sale of drawings and paintings by the three founders, pictured above: Seymour Chwast, Edward Sorel, and Milton Glaser; along with works by John Alcorn, Sam Antupit, Michael Aron, Vincent Ceci, Paul Davis, George Leavitt, Tim Lewis, Jim McMullan, Reynold Ruffins, Jerold Smokler, Richard Mantel, “and others.” This reminded me of another similar device that captured a group that is also heavily represented by the Archive.

January 16, 2013

First look: George Tscherny Collection

We’ve just received the first installment of our new George Tscherny Collection, which includes gorgeous modular displays for Pan Am terminals, corporate style manuals, and branded promo items and service uniforms.

August 17, 2011

Apply today

Another great example of SVA’s forms from the early George Tscherny identity system. Its almost stuffily balanced width is softened a tiny bit by the lowercase “application.” Love the setting of the serif type and the letter-spaced gothic below. We need to get a vitrine for this whole system (see also: 1 and 2).

April 29, 2011

A distant mirror

In the late-1950s Seventeen magazine was a clearing house for an incredible stable of graphic talent. Among the contributors were many artists and designers associated with the School of Visual Arts, including Sol LeWitt, Eva Hesse and others like Rudolf de Harak.

September 09, 2010

Turning point

More from George Tscherny: his design on the poster for the U.S. exhibition at the troubled Milan Triennale of 1968. In those days, the event served as a major convergence point for conversation and debate within the design community.

September 24, 2009

Chermayeff & Geismar for Pan Am

We have written on Tscherny’s artwork and modular displays for Pan Am. And now we’ve also uploaded more of C&G’s posters in the series (in our Flickr).

March 03, 2009

First look, part 2: George Tscherny

We’ve just received our next batch of materials from George Tscherny: a wonderful case study of his identity work for W.R. Grace. Video after the jump!

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