Paul Rand Retrospective

Paul Rand: A Retrospective: Open through August 31, 2002

Called the “Picasso of Graphic Design” by his admirers, Paul Rand convinced the business world that design was an effective tool. The transformation of commercial art from craft to profession is credited to him alone. Rand is acknowledged to be the first art director in today’s sense, blending the visual with the verbal to convey the advertising message.

From the beginning to the end of his prolific sixty-year career, Paul Rand contributed major chapters of design history and advertising milestones. His work in the 1950s altered the ways major corporations used graphic identity, and in the 1960s he created some of the world’s most enduring corporate logos — including IBM, UPS, ABC Television and Westinghouse.

With full access to the Rand archive at Yale University and the endorsement of Marion Rand, the designer’s widow, the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design created the most complete retrospective exhibition of Paul Rand’s work to date. Curated by Steve Horvath, a designer and member of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design faculty, this exhibit will survey Rand’s revolutionary work and explore his creative process. Two years in development and featuring more than 125 pieces, Paul Rand will be the largest exhibition presented by the Eisner Museum since it opened its doors in October 2000, and the first exhibition of Rand’s work in the Midwest.