The History of Graphic Design: The Conceptual Image

Polish Poster Art emerged in the late 1950s, when, after years of Social Realism being all-pervasive in art, Polish artistic life suddenly became much more exciting. Although success is usually dependent on many factors, we can safely say that the Polish poster school has one person to thank - the painter, drawer and graphic artist, Henryk Tomaszewski. He quickly gained the support of young and extremely talented artists who for years dedicated themselves to poster art. Some important artists of the Polish poster school were Jozef Mroszczak, Wojciech Zamecznik, Jan Mlodozeniec, Waldemar Swierzy, Jan Lenica and Franciszek Starowieyski.

The school's success can be attributed to social, as well as artistic, conditions. The genial political climate in the country at the time was an important factor. Moreover, every possible organization, especially those in the cultural arena, were vying for posters painted by one of the famous artists.

Psychedelic art is any kind of visual artwork inspired by psychedelic experiences induced by drugs such as LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin. The word psychedelic means mind manifesting. By that definition all artistic efforts to depict the inner world of the psyche may be considered "psychedelic". In common parlance "Psychedelic Art" refers above all to the art movement of the 1960s counterculture. Psychedelic visual arts were a counterpart to psychedelic rock music. Concert posters, album covers, light shows, murals, comic books, underground newspapers and more reflected not only the kaleidoscopically swirling patterns of LSD hallucinations, but also revolutionary political, social and spiritual sentiments inspired by insights derived from these psychedelic states of consciousness.

Moscoso

Wes Wilson

Waldemar Swierzy

Paul Davis

Robert Crumb

Paul Davis

Push Pin Studios is a graphic design and illustration studio formed in New York City in 1954. Cooper Union graduates Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins, and Edward Sorel founded the studio.

After graduating from Cooper Union, Sorel and Chwast worked for a short time at Esquire magazine, both being fired on the same day. Joining forces to form an art studio, they called it "Push Pin" after a mailing piece, The Push Pin Almanack, which they self-published during their time at Esquire. Sorel and Chwast used their unemployment checks to rent a cold-water flat on East 17th Street in Manhattan. A few months later, Glaser returned from a Fulbright Fellowship year in Italy and joined the studio.

The bi-monthly publication The Push Pin Graphic was a product of their collaboration. A distinctive quality of Push Pin's early illustration work was a "bulgy" three-dimensional line.

Sorel left Push Pin in 1956, the same day the studio moved into a much nicer space on East 57th Street. For twenty years Glaser and Chwast directed Push Pin, while it became a guiding reference in the world of graphic design. Today, Chwast is principal of The Pushpin Group, Inc.

The exhibition "The Push Pin Style" traveled to the Museum of Decorative Arts of the Louvre, as well as numerous cities in Europe, Brazil, and Japan in 1970–72.

Push Pin has influenced generations of graphic designers and illustrators. John Alcorn (in the late 1950s), Barry Zaid (1969–1975), and Paul Degen (1970s) spent time at Push Pin early in their careers.