Elaine Lustig Cohen

Elaine Lustig Cohen (born March 6, 1927) is an American graphic designer, artist, art dealer, and archivist. A pioneer in the field of graphic design, she continues her career today as a Fine Artist.

Background

She was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on March 6, 1927, to Herman and Elizabeth Firstenberg. At a young age, her parents, who were very supportive of Elaine's creativity, enrolled her into art lessons. Her interest grew and she eventually enrolled into Newcomb College at Tulane University in 1945. She ended up earning her BFA at the University of Southern California in 1948. During her time at the University of Southern California, she also took courses in art education to prepare for a teaching career.^[1]

In 1948, at an opening of a Los Angeles art museum, Elaine met Alvin Lustig. He was 12 years her senior, at age 32. The two were married in December 1948 and continued their relationship for seven years, until Alvin's death in 1955. Alvin was diagnosed with diabetes as a teenager and died from complications of the disease.^[2]

In 1956, Elaine married longtime friend Arthur A. Cohen. They lived in Upper Manhattan and remained married until his death in 1986.

Career

Graphic designer

After she married Alvin Lustig, she became his secretary and assistant, first in his Los Angeles office, and then his New York office when they moved in 1950.^[3] Elaine refers to her job during that period as Alvin's “office slave”. Alvin did the design work; however, she did pick up many of his design principles, including what he was well known for, American modernism. When Alvin went blind in 1954, Elaine along with his assistants began executing designs as Alvin would art-direct them.^[4] After his death, Elaine took over Alvin's office, clientele, and design work. She soon moved from the office space to her studio in New York and began her own practice.

One of her first major projects was the signage on the Seagram Building as well as the New York Times ads for the building.^[1] From there she went on to design more than 100 book covers for various publishers.^[5] For the covers she designed she often incorporated “abstract structural elements, expressive typography, and conceptual photographs.”^[3]

Other prominent clients of Elaine during that time were General Motors, The Jewish Museum, the Museum of Primitive Art, and Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Modern Art. She designed catalogs, signage, and other printed materials. She often collaborated with architects to ensure that her designs reflected and enhanced the architecture. She continued her career as a graphic designer until 1967.^[6]

In 2011, Cohen was recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was awarded their medal. The AIGA medal is awarded to “individuals who have set standards of excellence over a lifetime of work or have made individual contributions to innovation within the practice of design.”^[7]

Her design work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions. In 1995, The Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum had an exhibition celebrating Elaine's career as a graphic designer, which featured over eighty examples of her work.^[8] In 2012, the AIGA had an exhibition in the AIGA National Design Center in New York City called, “The Lustigs: A Cover Story”. This was the first retrospective that featured the design work of both Alvin and Elaine together.^[9]

Cohen donated a sample archive of her work to the Cary Graphic Arts Collection at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008.

Art dealer

After marrying long-time friend Arthur Cohen in 1956, Elaine's path began to shift. Doing her design work from home limited her clients as well as project size; by 1969 all of her focus turned to painting. Then in 1973, Elaine and Arthur founded an antiquarian book store in Manhattan. Ex Libris dealt in rare 20th Century Avant-Garde Art and Architecture books and periodicals.^[10] Along with books and documents, they also featured posters, collages, and decorative arts. The bookstore was closed in 1989.

Artist

Art has always been prevalent in Elaine's life. In the beginning she generally focused on painting, but later she incorporated photography, collage, and giclée prints. Collage allowed her to use typography in a new way, always continuing to embrace the modernist style.The photographs she used in her collages were found objects and paper ephemera from her extensive collection. Elaine continues to be active in her art career. She has had multiple exhibitions, including three at the Julie Saul Gallery.^[11]

External Links

Elaine Lustig Cohen Website

References