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| Push Pin Studios | |
|---|---|
| Name | Push Pin Studios |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Founders | Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast |
| Country | United States |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Industry | Graphic design |
Push Pin Studios Push Pin Studios was an influential graphic design and illustration studio founded in New York City in 1954 that reshaped mid‑20th century visual culture through a revival of historical styles and eclectic illustration. The studio's work intersected with magazines such as Esquire (magazine), The New York Times, New York (magazine), and collaborations with corporations including CBS, IBM, and Columbia Records. Its members and alumni went on to influence institutions like the Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and events such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts exhibitions.
Push Pin Studios emerged in the postwar United States commercial arts scene when founders left positions at studios delivering work for publications like Esquire (magazine), Playboy (magazine), The New Yorker, and Life (magazine). Early commissions included posters for venues such as Carnegie Hall and editorial art for The New York Times Book Review, linking the studio to cultural institutions like Columbia University and Barnes & Noble. The studio’s rise paralleled movements in New York School (art) circles and dialogues with figures from Pop Art exhibitions alongside artists exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the studio produced work for record labels including Atlantic Records and Verve Records, and engaged with printing firms such as Hallmark Cards suppliers, navigating changing technologies like lithography and offset printing used by publishers including Random House and Simon & Schuster.
The studio was co‑founded by Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast, who both studied or taught at institutions including Cooper Union and engaged with professional groups such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Society of Illustrators. Other notable figures associated with the studio included Edward Sorel, Reid Miles, Giorgio Cavazzano, and designers who later taught at Pratt Institute and School of Visual Arts (New York City). Collaborators and staff contributed to projects alongside art directors from publications such as Esquire (magazine), The Atlantic (magazine), and Harper's Bazaar, and worked with photographers linked to agencies including Magnum Photos and art dealers in the Chelsea, Manhattan gallery scene.
Push Pin’s aesthetic synthesized references to Victorian era engraving, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Surrealism, and Dada while reacting against the International Typographic Style associated with Switzerland and designers like Josef Müller‑Brockmann. Its typographic and illustrative approach influenced practitioners at Pentagram, Wolff Olins, and studios led by figures like Paula Scher, Massimo Vignelli, and Stefan Sagmeister. The studio’s revivalist strategies resonated with curators at the Museum of Modern Art and critics writing for Artforum (magazine), Design Observer, and Print (magazine). Push Pin techniques informed teaching curricula at Rhode Island School of Design, Yale School of Art, and shaped dialogues in conferences hosted by organizations such as the Society of Typographic Aficionados.
Key projects included poster series, book jacket design for publishers like Penguin Books, album covers for labels such as Warner Bros. Records, and branding campaigns for corporations including CBS and IBM. The studio produced influential posters for cultural events at Carnegie Hall and theatrical posters linked to productions in Broadway houses and regional theaters like Lincoln Center. Editorial commissions appeared in Esquire (magazine), The New Yorker, and New York (magazine), while commercial work encompassed packaging design for companies such as PepsiCo and General Electric. Individual works by studio members were exhibited alongside pieces by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jasper Johns in group shows during the 1960s and 1970s.
Push Pin produced its own periodical, the Push Pin Graphic, which featured work alongside essays and contributions from figures associated with Design Observer and critics writing in Art in America and Print (magazine). Exhibitions of Push Pin work were mounted at institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the AIGA Gallery, and university galleries at Pratt Institute and Cooper Union. Monographs and retrospective catalogs documented the studio’s output alongside surveys of American graphic design published by houses like Abrams Books and university presses such as the University of Chicago Press.
Push Pin Studios’ legacy is evident in the careers of alumni who shaped studios like Pentagram and agencies such as Ogilvy and in the pedagogy at schools including School of Visual Arts (New York City), Rhode Island School of Design, and Yale School of Art. Its revivalist, eclectic approach influenced generations of designers visible in work curated by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and chronicled by historians at institutions like The New York Public Library and scholars publishing in Design Issues. Awards and recognition from bodies such as the American Institute of Graphic Arts attest to its impact on contemporary graphic practices and visual culture across publishing, advertising, and education.
Category:Graphic design studios