When asked about my influences in my creative work I have to do a mental sorting of a long list of people who's work has played a roll in my development as a visual artist. I last wrote about influences from the graphic design field and told you about design legend, Paul Rand. Another of my design influences is also a legendary designer, Milton Glaser.

To understand Glaser's work you have to realize that it has a very deep rooting in the history of visual communication. One has to look at the influences of Glaser himself to see the depth and insight his work has on so many different levels. Identifying the historical influences in the artworks of Milton Glaser is a very intriguing study. Glaser has had an effect on my personal history as an artist as well as thousands of other designers and illustrators.

I first encountered Glaser in the late ‘70s when Push-pin Studios was all the rage among design students and working designers in general. Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast were both founding members in this legendary design studio they called, Push-pin. As a design student I spent many hours studying their ever changing styles, as these guys pulled in artistic references from many varied sources across the historical timeline of visual arts. And to be noticed they had to. Staying fresh was the only way to survive and scores of imitators were always on their heals doing similar work based on whatever style they were currently using.

The imitators didn’t seem to realize that Glaser and fellow studio partners were mining the deep bins of art history and looking at things with a different eye. Every since those early years as a budding designer I’ve looked at Glaser’s work as something to aspire to and like him I’ve utilized elements from art history.
Things that influenced both of us would include several pieces listed on his site, http://ping.fm/c47sW
The piece used on the cover of his book, Milton Glaser The First 25 Years”, came from a poster included in copies of a classic Bob Dylan album. Here you see Glaser using a black silhouette figure of Dylan with brightly colored flowing hair. The black art style relates to early Phoenician and Greek imagery where figures were in profile and seen more as shadows. While the hair appears to be a direct influence of the works of Peter Max a very popular illustrator at that point in time who was setting the tone for the psychadelic hippie look that was evolving with the culture. In his work we see Glaser manageing to use both the old and the new in visual influences. We can tell this is someone who looked at the world around them and was able to look at things in a non-traditional fashion. Giving him insight into producing work that allowed others to see things in a new way.

Similarly we see the same black profiled shape in the piece called, “Sony Full Color Sound”. This time we see the ancient style presentation mixed with the then popular style of a 'boler style' hat wearing fellow with the bright colors indicating that the quality of sound can be found inside the ear of the listener. The modern style this was influenced by reminds me of the popular artwork that emerged from Beatles imagery. This piece harkens back to the movie, “Yellow Submarine” and some of the pieces Terry Gilliam produced for Monty Python.

Finally in “Pan” we see Glaser touching on the Art Nouveau movement and influences of artist like Alphonse Mucha, one of my favorites along with fellow Art Nouveau artist, Aubrey Beardsley. The colorful notes/shapes we see coming from the flute are very much influenced by the symbolic shapes we see in cuneiform and early communication styles. Like those early styles of communication they are not literal notes, or letters in the case of early writing but more indicative of a aural sensation allowing the viewer to perceive the sounds that Pan is producing.

Glasser's work continues this way throughout his career. You see that the designer has had a rich education in visual imagery. And his intelligent creations filter this historical influence to contemporary viewers in a way that allows them to enjoy some of the finest elements of antiquity in a new setting.

I could continue to site examples from his extinsive portfolio of work and share my thoughts about said works. I could go on and on about Glaser's influence on myself and my work; but looking at his web site, I find that I have a wealth of great Glaser art to pursue still with many pieces needing to be revisited. If you have any interest in design and seeing how important art history is to a designers work, I highly recommend you spend some time with the artist, Milton Glaser.

© 2009 R. David Price All Rights Reserved.