Milton Glaser

Graphic Designer

• Born: June 26, 1929
• Birthplace: Bronx, New York
• Died: June 26, 2020
• Place of death: Manhattan, New York

Graphic designer, artist, and illustrator

Glaser contributed to the areas of graphic, environmental, interior, and poster design. His famous creation is the “I Heart NY” logo that he created for the city of New York in 1976.

Areas of achievement: Architecture and design; art

Early Life

Milton Glaser was born in the Bronx in New York City on June 26, 1929, to Eugene and Eleanor Bergman Glaser. At the age of five, Glaser decided that he wanted to become an artist. His father resisted the idea, but Glaser’s mother supported her son’s artistic ambitions. At the age of eight, he was confined to bed with rheumatic fever and spent a year sculpting clay cities and figures.

Glaser’s first attempt at line art was comic strips. At the age of twelve, he took a portfolio of his comic strips to a studio for review. After the comics were rejected, Glaser turned to other forms of art. From 1943 to 1946, Glaser attended the High School of Music and Art. This school offered intense instruction in both music and art, and Glaser took courses in painting, poster design, and typography.

Glaser applied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn but failed the admissions test. Instead, he went to work for a packaging company, and within a year, Glaser was promoted to art director. He attended the Cooper Union School of Art and graduated in 1951. Glaser won a Fulbright Scholarship, and in 1952 he went to Italy to study etching under the tutelage of Giorgio Morandi at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.

Life’s Work

In 1954, Glaser returned to New York and cofounded Pushpin Studios in New York City with Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins, and Edward Sorel. Glaser and Chwast directed the studio for twenty years. Glaser married Shirley Girton in 1957. In 1968, he and Clay Felker established New York Magazine. Glaser served as president and design director for the magazine until 1977. Glaser established his own studio, Milton Glaser Incorporated, in 1974. The Manhattan studio produced print graphics and environmental and interior design work. In 1976, Glaser created what is perhaps the most-copied logo in the world, the “I (Heart) NY” logo, designed in 1976 pro bono for the city of New York as part of an advertising campaign to promote tourism in the city.

In 1983, he joined with Walter Bernard and formed WBMG, a design firm that specialized in publications. At WBMG, Glaser worked on redesigning high-profile newspapers and magazines from around the world, including the Washington Post newspaper, Family Circle magazine, and the French publication Paris Match.

Some of Glaser’s work included graphic and decorative programs for restaurants in New York’s World Trade Center; architectural design of the Observation Deck and Permanent Exhibition for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center; the redesign of Grand Union supermarkets, including store interiors and store-brand packaging; interior design for the 1987–88 Triennale di Milano International Exhibition; and the design of more than three hundred posters for various purposes, including theater, film, and advertising. Glaser’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including in a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1975, an exhibit at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and several exhibitions in Italy and Japan.

Glaser has been heavily involved with design and education during his career. He was an instructor and board member for the School of Visual Arts in New York and served on the board of directors of the Cooper Union, his alma mater. His membership in professional design associations included a stint as president for the International Design Conference in Aspen in 1972, and he served as vice president of the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1989.

Glaser has won numerous awards during his career. In 1979, he received a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators and the St. Gaudens Medal from Cooper Union, and he was inducted into the Art Directors Club of New York Hall of Fame. In 1992, he won a gold medal from the American Institute of Architects, and in 1996 he was awarded the Prix Savignac for the world’s most memorable poster of 1996. In 2004, he received a lifetime achievement award from Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Glaser earned honorary doctorate degrees from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Moore College, Philadelphia Museum School, School of the Visual Arts, Queens College, the City University of New York (CUNY), New York University at Buffalo, and the Royal College of Art in London.

Significance

Glaser’s contributions to graphic design and illustration include a wide range of projects, from posters and book illustrations to architectural and interior design work. His work is described as direct, simple, and elegant. Glaser has had a profound influence on graphic design and illustration during his long career and continues to contribute his energies to the profession. In 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him the National Medal of Arts for his outstanding contributions to art.

Bibliography

Glaser, Milton. Art Is Work. New York: Overlook, 2008. Print.

Glaser, Milton. Drawing Is Thinking. Woodstock: Overlook, 2008. Print.

Monllos, Kristina. "Milton Glaser Is Famous for the 'I Love New York' Logo. How Did He Do with Rhode Island?" Adweek. Adweek, 29 Mar. 2016. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Sooke, Alastair. "Milton Glaser: His Heart Was in the Right Place." Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Wack, Arianne. "Getting to Know Milton Glaser, the Godfather of Modern Design." Hyperallergic. Hyperallergic Media, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.