Milton Glaser illustrates the stark contrast between two film stars of 1969 — Dustin Hoffman and John Wayne.

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A preview of James McMullan’s upcoming Masters Series show at the Visual Arts Gallery.

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James McMullan’s illustrations for Dutton’s paperback box set of The Alexandria Quartet, an ambitious mid-century novel tetralogy by Lawrence Durrell.

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James McMullan’s layered comic strip illustration.

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Seymour Chwast’s intricate composition of his illustrations.

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Seymour Chwast Collection, from the Pushpin Slide Directory. n.d.

Another obscure, undated bit of imagery from the Pushpin slide library. Seymour Chwast’s contribution to the legacy of Roth-Händle cigarettes, probably for Frankfurter Allgemein Zeitung. He’s in good company: Robert Motherwell did a collage of the same, and, more pertinent certainly, many famous posters for the brand were designed by the great early twentieth-century designer Herbert Leupin. Note: despite the preponderance of smoking-related imagery we’ve been posting lately, Container List does not condone the practice, which doesn’t make you look cool unless you’re already Humphrey Bogart. Kids, it’s just NOT archival.

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In the early 1990s, Urban Outfitters fully embraced a retro, anti-consumerist consumerism, snarky and winking – alternative style gone mainstream.

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James McMullan colors outside the lines of a self-imposed grid.

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Mid-century editorial illustration from the pages of Seventeen magazine.

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An assortment of Seventeen magazine advertisements from the ’50s and ’60s.

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James McMullan did stunning work for the short-lived West magazine.

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Seymour Chwast Collection. Series 1: Original Art. Box 1, Item O4. (Marked “Neisser rand darf beschnitfen werdfin.”) Marker on paper (mounted), 20 × 24 in.

Here in New York we’re struggling through a heatwave. Perhaps a good course of action for those lucky enough to reside in air-conditioned high-rise Soho lofts is to keep it cool by lounging about with bright furniture, like the sporty cat in this illustration by Seymour Chwast (undated, but probably for the Frankfurter Allgemein Zeitung).

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James McMullan Collection Box 5 Folder 2: original art for Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1996).

James McMullan is best known for his gorgeous posters for Lincoln Center theatrical productions, but he applies the same care to his spot illustrations for The New Yorker theater reviews.

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Heinz Edelmann’s book covers for Klett-Cotta.

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The Nom Wah Tea Parlor, the venerable Chinatown dim sum purveyor that uses Milton Glaser’s illustrations on its menu, reopened in time for the Chinese New Year.

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James McMullan Collection Box 4 Folder 7: Ramon Novarro and the Ferguson brothers original art for The White Album, New West, June 4, 1979.

James McMullan’s expressive illustrations add layers to Joan Didion’s novelistic essays.

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Milton Glaser Collection: Box 108. Poppy Records. The Mandrake Memorial, Medium. 1968.

Glaser’s fascination with exploded diagrams (this poster for Olivetti, among other things) is applied here to a matter very dear to me: the hamburger. Actually this brings me back to the Sack ‘n’ Save in the suburbs of Dallas, which was the preferred purveyor of hamburger ingredients when I was a child, perhaps because a similar idea was rendered in giant ’70s-oversaturated photographs printed ten feet tall along the hot magenta wall above the butcher section. The illustration above appeared on the second long-player by Philly psych rockers Mandrake Memorial, titled Medium — now a rare find in the bins. Glaser’s influence on the graphic legacy of the hamburger can also be seen on this cover for Time magazine.

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For Time magazine, 1970: several versions of Elliott Gould, by Milton Glaser

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Another chapter in our series of posts on George Tscherny’s work for Pan Am.

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James McMullan Collection: Box 5 Folder 4. Detail from original art for Stone Cold Steve Austin portrait, Rolling Stone, 1998.

We recently finished organizing and describing the James McMullan Collection, which was donated by the acclaimed illustrator and designer last year.

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School of Visual Arts Collection: Poster for Robert Weaver: Retrospective 1956-1977.

Pioneering illustrator Robert Weaver was a major figure at SVA beginning in 1950s.

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James McMullan Collection: The New York Times advertising supplement for Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, March 5, 1967 / Fort Wayne by James McMullan.

From the James McMullan Collection, a look at some of the best illustrators who got their start the 1950s and 60s.

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Steven Heller Collection: All the King’s Men cover by Jerome Martin (Time Reading Program), 1963.

Steven Heller recently gave us 82 books from the Time Reading Program; check out his recent article in Design Observer about their wonderfully eclectic covers.

While going through the books myself, I was particularly taken with the three covers done by an illustrator I’d never heard of, Jerome Martin.

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James McMullan Collection: Borges book covers for E.P. Dutton, 1960s-1970s.

This summer we received a great donation from illustrator, poster designer and long-time SVA faculty member James McMullan.

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Tony Palladino Collection: Box 10, Folder 20

About a decade before Tony devised his ‘guerilla marketing’ self-promotion campaign, the designer took a similarly witty but somewhat more traditional approach. Four versions of this card were printed, each in three colors on heavy stock, and sent to publishers without any additional pitch. Set simply with his address and isolating a single area of specialization, they relied on a single strong image to convey their point.

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Seymour Chwast Collection: P 192

In 1971, Phyllis La Farge and Seymour Chwast collaborated on the children’s book The Pancake King, which described the rapid ascent of a young master of the griddle pan. It spoke of the joy of breakfast, the perils of fame, the importance of family and of maple syrup. More spreads from The Pancake King are viewable on Flickr (thanks to Norman Hathaway), and show Chwast’s dexterous use of scale and bleed between spreads, and tidily-set Bodoni. The book was included in AIGA’s Fifty Books of the Year.

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Seymour Chwast Collection: Box 4, Item 28 (burger not included)

In 1979, McDonald’s hired Seymour Chwast to contribute one version of the packaging for the introduction of their new product, the Happy Meal. The promotion cost one dollar, and comprised a hamburger or cheeseburger, twelve-ounce soft drink, a small order of french fries, and a McDonaldland Cookie Sampler (not pictured). Along with their comestibles, the first customers could look forward to discovering either a McDoodler stencil, puzzle book, a McWrist wallet, an ID bracelet or McDonaldland character erasers.

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A birth announcement illustrated by Jack Roberts (for his daughter), archived in Henry Wolf’s correspondence.

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