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For Love And Money

Posted on June 27, 2016March 5, 2021 By Ann Thompson

Our previous collec­tion presented posters that were done with ​“Love”, for no pay. Now I show this collec­tion done for various reasons — and, for money. Assign­ments had chal­lenges, some­times very diffi­cult, but I don’t remember any illus­trator or graphic designer who didn’t love creative work. There were always many commer­cial needs for posters — as large as outdoor boards and some even small in size, which had messages worthy to be tacked up on a wall.

The creative talents in the San Fran­cisco Bay Area were well known. The ​“Rock Posters” iden­ti­fied a new culture in the area. The culture was shown in the ​“costume” of the day. Levi’s men’s wear changed dramat­i­cally. Chris Blum, at Honig-Cooper & Harrington created over 75 Levi’s posters for Levi Strauss & Co from 1967 to 1984, hiring a number of local artists.

1970s, “3 Legged Levi’s.” Artist: Tony Naganuma. Lettering: Tony Naganuma
1970s, ​“3 Legged Levi’s.” Artist: Tony Naganuma. Lettering: Tony Naganuma 
1971, “Cowboy,” Artist: Charles White III, Lettering: Tony Naganuma
1971, ​“Cowboy,” Artist: Charles White III, Lettering: Tony Naganuma 
1971, “18 Wheeler Truck”, Artist: Michael Schwab
1971, ​“18 Wheeler Truck”, Artist: Michael Schwab 
1974, “Levi’s Shadow”, Artist: Bruce Wolfe
1974, ​“Levi’s Shadow”, Artist: Bruce Wolfe 
1980, “1980 Olympics-Cycling”, Artist: Nicolas Sidjakov
1980, ​“1980 Olympics-Cycling”, Artist: Nicolas Sidjakov 

1970s, ​“3 Legged Levi’s,” Artist: Tony Naganuma, Lettering: Tony Naganuma
1971, ​“Cowboy,” Artist: Charles White III, Lettering: Tony Naganuma
1971, ​“18 Wheeler Truck,” Artist: Michael Schwab
1974, ​“Levi’s Shadow,” Artist: Bruce Wolfe
1980, ​“1980 Olympics-Cycling,” Artist: Nicolas Sidjakov

— — — — — — — — -

My intro­duc­tion to poster design:

1‑In 1967, as I was still in the Belli Building, this Cali­fornia Univer­sity Class Reunion poster was assigned to me through ADS Adver­tising. Appar­ently someone from the ​“Class of ​‘42” knew someone in the agency and the assign­ment came to my free-lance studio. The most diffi­cult part of the job was spacing and cementing the indi­vidual alumni names framing the artwork.

2 – 1969-This, small and inex­pen­sive flyer/poster was for the night classes that were offered at the deYoung Museum. I was then free-lancing at 680 Beach Street and I would drive to the museum at night and ​“throw pots on the wheel”!

3‑In 1970, A.Carlisle & Co. asked me to create two layouts for Levi’s. This tied into fashion change at that time. One design was to be chosen for a poster and sales folder. I was hired often to create layouts when several printing houses and art studios were competing with each other.

4- From September 1975 to September 1978, I worked for the San Fran­cisco Ballet.
I learned a lot about this ballet company in those years because I was involved with posters, brochures, direct mail pieces and news­paper ads. By just changing the colors and the type, this Winter/Spring Season poster adapted well for the addi­tional poster for the special guest perfor­mances of Valery & Galina Panov.

5- In May of 1979, Ayer / Pritikin & Gibbons asked me to create a simple B&W line illus­tra­tion of Maiden Lane (their loca­tion) to be used on the cover of folders for internal use in that agency. On each of the printed folders, I was instructed to hand-paint only the area of their sign — as I show here (I don’t remember, now, the actual colors). Weeks after I was paid, I stopped by the agency and found that the art had been enlarged — larger than a poster— to the height of their wall in their recep­tions area!

6- Again I was hired only for a layout, its purpose was to get approval for the elements of a proposed design. For the 1979 poster for the San Fran­cisco Opera, La Gioconda (previ­ously assigned to Bruce Wolfe) I was instructed by Catherine Flan­ders, at D’Arcy-MacManus & Masius, to create a layout of a carved, stone (marble?) lion with the scene of a ​“ship on fire” in its mouth. The type was already styled. The SF Opera approved this layout and then Bruce Wolfe created the finished art.

7- Since the early ​‘70s, I worked often with ​“medical agen­cies” such as Vicom Asso­ciates. In 1982 at 901 Battery Street, I was asked to imitate George Mont­gomery Flagg’s image for their client, IVAC.

8- In 1985, again with Vicom & Asso­ciates, I had the chance to create the layout and the finished art for a poster for Cutter Biomed­ical. Previous to the accepted layout, I presented 30 ​“thumb­nail” sketches at 4”x 5”, as possibilities.

9- Skate America Inter­na­tional ​’91 The full color art for this poster and B&W version for news­paper ads were for art director, Gail Perry Johnson,

1 UC Reunion
1 UC Reunion 
2 de Young
2 de Young 
3 LOs for Carlisle
3 LOs for Carlisle 
4 San Francisco Ballet
4 San Fran­cisco Ballet 
5 Ayer-Pritikin-Gibbons
5 Ayer-Pritikin-Gibbons 
6 San Francisco Opera
6 San Fran­cisco Opera 
7 IVAC
7 IVAC 
8 1985 Cutter-Biomedical
8 1985 Cutter-Biomedical 
9 Skate America '91
9 Skate America ​’91 

— — — — — — — — — — —

The following is a collec­tion of posters by various artists working in the San Fran­cisco Bay Area.

A- Pacific North­west, United Airlines, Artist: Stan Galli, Art Director: Eugene Raven, 1958

B- Ship­stad & Johnson Ice Follies, Artist: Larry Green. I remember this poster in color, but I could only find this, as shown in the 1964 ADASF Annual Show publi­ca­tion. This poster was a big depar­ture from the usual ​“ice follies” tradi­tional style. This was art directed by Jack Keeler at Campbell-Ewald, 1964

C- Moby Grape / Jack the Ripper / Big Brother & The Holding Co., Artist: John Licht­en­walner, 1967

D- ​“The Silent Majority”, Artist: Primo Angeli, 1969

E- Cliff House, Artist: Stephen Haines Hall

F- SF Jazz Festival, Presented by Amer­ican Airlines, Artist: Ward Schu­macher, 1994

A Stan Galli 1958
A Stan Galli 1958 
B L. Green 1964
B L. Green 1964 
C John Lichtenwainer 1967
C John Licht­en­wainer 1967 
D Primo Angeli 1969
D Primo Angeli 1969 
E Stephen Haines-Hall
E Stephen Haines-Hall 
F Ward Shumaker 1994
F Ward Shumaker 1994 

Ann

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