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Modern Design: 11 Stylish Mid-Century Book Jackets By Alvin Lustig (PHOTOS)

First Posted: 11/08/10 06:59 AM ET   Updated: 05/25/11 07:10 PM ET

Alvin Lustig was a pioneer of the American mid-Century design revolution, reaching the peak of his incredible career in the early 1950s just as the rise of California modernism way underway, and the "good design is good business" motto took hold in New York.

Although Lustig died at age 40, he nevertheless had a lasting influence on American graphic, interior and furniture design. He also designed countless book covers, which captured the spirit of the modernist aesthetic. In October, Chronicle Books published the first in-depth monograph of Lustig's work, "Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig," which highlights his ground-breaking book jacket designs for New Directions Publishing, alongside his advertising and other design work. Many of the book and magazine covers Lustig produced have now become collectors items and this slide show highlights a select few of the artist's best work from the new book, "Born Modern."

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Alvin Lustig was a pioneer of the American mid-Century design revolution, reaching the peak of his incredible career in the early 1950s just as the rise of California modernism way underway, and the "...
Alvin Lustig was a pioneer of the American mid-Century design revolution, reaching the peak of his incredible career in the early 1950s just as the rise of California modernism way underway, and the "...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ljilja
http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/
04:11 PM on 11/08/2010
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

Exquisite, thoughtful design. I need to own these books (more for the covers than anything else!)

http://graciouslivingdaybyday.com/
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Victor Saymong
Canuck up Toronto way
11:13 AM on 11/08/2010
Sorry. These covers are crap and do not make me want to reach for one any more than the crappy covers on which they are based.
11:48 AM on 11/08/2010
Huh? "on which they are based"? Are you alleging design plagiarism? based on what? can you show the so-called "crappy covers on which they are based"? Alvin Lustig is internationally known and respected as a design innovator: What are you internationally recognized for - shooting your uninformed mouth off?
02:55 PM on 11/08/2010
crap, crap, crappy! acting stoopid makes me happy!
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Jack Davies
orange rabblerousing radical moderate!
10:49 AM on 11/08/2010
Someone had a deadline to meet and some columnspace to fill. That is all I am seeing. These aren't even good representations of the thinly stretched alleged subject material.
10:59 AM on 11/08/2010
Oh, you know of better examples of Lustig's work that were collected in a new publication? I'm intrigued. Please elaborate.
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naschkatze
A free man creates himself.
12:50 PM on 11/08/2010
Sorry. I was alive then, and listening to a Dave Brubeck CD while typing this, I can tell you that these jackets epitomize the cool and cerebral jazz feel of that period.