Margins
Illustration book cover
Illustration
A Visual History
2008
First Published
3.82
Average Rating
272
Number of Pages

This unique visual history of the art of illustration, by the foremost historian of graphic design and a well-known illustrator and designer, joins the authors’ previous Graphic Style as an indispensable resource for anyone interested in art, design, and popular culture. Illustration has long been a significant popular art—and is often more visible, recognizable, and memorable than “higher” arts. Editorial and advertising illustration in all its many forms is so integral to our understanding of news, views, literature, and commerce that it is easily taken for granted. Nonetheless, it has an impressive history and remains a vital influence on visual culture. This book is a rich chronicle, celebration, and survey of well over a century of illustration. It deftly reveals the visual mannerisms, quirks, and tics that characterize drawn, painted, and digitized illustrations in different styles, and places leading illustrators in historical context.

Avg Rating
3.82
Number of Ratings
38
5 STARS
26%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
26%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
3%
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Author

Steven Heller
Steven Heller
Author · 81 books
Steven Heller writes a monthly column on graphic design books for The New York Times Book Review and is co-chair of MFA Design at the School of Visual Arts. He has written more than 100 books on graphic design, illustration and political art, including Paul Rand, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century, Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design Second Edition, Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age, Graphic Design History, Citizen Designer, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer, The Push Pin Graphic: Twenty Five Years of Design and Illustration, Stylepedia: A Guide to Graphic Design Mannerisms, Quirks, and Conceits, The Anatomy of Design: Uncovering the Influences and Inspirations in Modern Graphic Design. He edits VOICE: The AIGA Online Journal of Graphic Design, and writes for Baseline, Design Observer, Eye, Grafik, I.D., Metropolis, Print, and Step. Steven is the recipient of the Art Directors Club Special Educators Award, the AIGA Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and the School of Visual Arts' Masters Series Award.
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