Lester Beall: Space, Time, & Content by R. Roger Remington

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The Graphic Design Archives Chapbook Series celebrates the achievements of key design pioneers whose work is collected in the Special Collections department of RIT Library. From the inaugural acquisition of the Lester Beall Archive in 1986, RIT's holdings have grown to include the work of seventeen designers. Extensive collections of personal papers, business records and artwork by Lester Beall, Will Burtin, George Giusti, and Cipe Pineles form the cornerstones of the Archives. Lester Beall: show more Space, Time & Content explores the work of Lester Beall through reproductions of RIT's comprehensive holdings. Beall (1903-1969) gained prominence through his ads, posters and identity projects commissioned from such high-profile clients as the Chicago Tribune, Collier's and Time magazines, the Rural Electrification Administration and International Paper Company. Throughout his career, Beall's award-winning design and high principles made him a favored lecturer in professional and educational circles. He is now considered as one of the chief proponents of the American Modernist Design movement. R. Roger Remington, Professor of Graphic Design at RIT, has been seriously engaged in the research, interpretation and preservation of the history of graphic design for over 20 years. He has written extensively on the subject and is presently working on a book on Modernism in American Graphic Design. show less

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DarthDeverell 1,798 reviews

R. Roger Remington’s Lester Beall: Space, Time & Content examines the manner in which Beall used photomontage to shake off what he perceived as “the gimmicky nature of designs stimulated by the free-market capitalism of the time” (pg. 11). Photomontage drew upon the work of Dadaists, cubists, and, in film, Sergei Eisenstein (pg. 14). In designing posters for the Rural Electrification Administration in the 1930s, Beall further eschewed capitalist advertising trends and evoked the style of the Russian Constructivists (pg. 17). Beall further developed his style while revolutionizing the advertising industry in works for Scope magazine, that dramatically promoted pharmaceutical products (pgs. 25-26). This publication, the first of show more RIT’s Graphic Design Archives Chapbook Series, uses the unique format to offer a close-reading of Beall’s work for scholars of graphic design. In its focus, it builds upon the work Roland Marchand began in his 1986 work, Advertising the American Dream. show less

Dec 10, 2019

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