Herbert H. Stevens, Jr., was an established engineer. Born in Gardner, Maine, in 1913, he attended Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he received a bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1936; and later attended the New School for Social Research, where he received a master’s degree in liberal studies. As a young engineer at […]
Biography
Dynamics of Aesthetic Traditions
When it comes to philosophies, most persons accept the myriads of differentiating philosophies as natural in the evolutionary development of intellect. They recognize that intellectual expressions respond to the various root-sources, like individual cultures and societies from all continents, many religions, all epochs—Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industrialization, Modern and Contemporary—and some generated by specific schools […]
1959–1960’s, in the USA
Reasons for Visiting the US Working for Chemie Grünenthal GmbH, the design staff had to respond to the advertising campaigns for medications that were produced on the premises under licenses for American Cyanamid, Lederle, and others. These corporations asked us to use their promotional materials for the European market. A very distinct problem emerged: physicians […]
Work Life Evolution in the US
When Dietmar R. Winkler first arrived in the United States in 1959, he brought with him a postwar European pedigree: a modern design ethos, constructivist principles, and precision hand skills. American design was changing and ripe for these ideas. Winkler was in the right place at the right time, notably with one of the most […]
My Education & Work Life in Germany
Education My educational experience in Germany was an early concentration in graphic design at Kunstschule Alsterdamm in Hamburg, an accelerated specialist program that concentrated on professional visual exploration of objective and non-objective graphic imaging—namely, direct observation of natural phenomena, and hand-skill translation from drawing into graphic form; also the construction of classical serif and san-serif […]
1982-83: Brandeis University
After I resigned from the appointment of Dean of CVPA College of Visual and Performing Arts in 1981, I applied for a twelve-month (two semester) leave of absence for the following year from SMU to assist President Bernstein of Brandeis University to upgrade the design of their total program of official university publications. I looked […]
Ivan Massar
Real activists live their responsibilities. They don’t talk. They do. I met many important persons at MIT, but none was as significant as Ivan Massar, a Black Star photographer who collaborated on many of the MIT projects, not just with me, but also with Jackie Casey and Ralph Coburn. From 1945 on, I grew up […]
Ralph Coburn
Ralph Coburn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1923. His father taught romance languages at the University of Minnesota. In 1926, the family moved to Miami, Florida, where his parents founded a private school. The Coburn School was run by Ralph’s father, who spoke six languages, while his British-born mother, who had lived in Paris […]
Kenneth Hiebert
It is my belief that Kenn Hiebert was the true founder of the American design school for Swiss Design in the United States, even if he would fight me tooth and nail against this description. But it is my contention that he was a messenger of a distinct way of evolving visual languages and solutions […]
Childhood Reflections
At the beginning of every festival season, in winter, there is a lot of loneliness surging up in me, no matter how hard I try to cover it up. I felt always abandoned, from childhood on, especially by my parents – my mother died early and left me unprotected to life; my father always felt, […]