
George Tscherny’s Book List
The intellectual level of art schools in the late 1940s was that of vocational schools. There were no photography departments, nor were there design or art history departments. The orientation was execution over idea or concept. A three-year diploma course prepared students for employment in advertising.
Beyond school, the situation was not much better. There were no galleries devoted to photography and The Museum of Modern Art was a modest outpost in the wilderness.
Books, mostly printed in black and white, were instrumental in offering information and providing inspiration. They introduced us to a select group of design pioneers from Europe and the U. S. who became our role models. A handful of book dealers provided our contact with the world of design. George Wittenborn R.I.P.
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This, as well as Rudofsky’s other books, argues for humane and sensible design.
Cartier-Bresson demonstrated the significance of the decisive moment—be it in photography, design, or communication. He taught us to walk softly and carry a little camera.
With exquisite sensitivity, Reiner combines traditional typography with very personal and daring letterforms. His typographic range from cool to hot exerted a major influence on me, not only in typography but design in general.
While the popular arts have almost always been inspired by the fine arts, the fine arts, with greater frequency in recent history, find inspiration in the popular arts. Is design the New Art?
A surprisingly easy read from a “heavyweight” art historian.
Charlotte Salomon, a remarkable painter and writer, relates the story of her short life during World War II in nearly 800 gouache paintings. It is a memorial to the tragedy that ended in her death at Auschwitz.
Like the Bible, this book is not read in one sitting. And also like the Bible, one goes back to it again and again for wisdom and sustenance.
Typographie was not only inspirational but also enlightening. It taught me that emphasis and articulation in typography is not only accomplished through a change in typeface or type size but also by means of color, weight, or spatial manipulation.
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If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture by Moshe Safdie
If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture
By Moshe Safdie
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
Published: September 2022
One of the world’s greatest and most thoughtful architects recounts his extraordinary career and the iconic structures he has built—from Habitat in Montreal to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore—and offers a manifesto for the role architecture should play in society.
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022
Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman
Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People
By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022
Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.
Milton Glaser: POP: by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Milton Glaser: POP
By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023
This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange
Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall
By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022
Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”
Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman
Women Holding Things
By Maira Kalman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: October 2022
In the spring of 2021, Maira and Alex Kalman created a small, limited-edition booklet, “Women Holding Things,” which featured select recent paintings by Maira, accompanied by her insightful and deeply personal commentary. The booklet quickly sold out. Now, the Kalmans have expanded that original publication into an extraordinary visual compendium. We see a woman hold a book, hold shears, hold children, hold a grudge, hold up, hold her own. In visually telling their stories, Kalman lays bare the essence of women’s lives—their tenacity, courage, vulnerability, hope, and pain.
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