Joan Miró's Influence on Graphic Design

Reflecting upon the recent exhibition Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927–1937, this lecture explores the profound influence that Miró's unconventional painting, collage, and assemblage techniques have had on graphic design in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Celebrated American graphic designer Paul Rand, for example, consistently utilized Miró's oeuvre as a point of departure for creative design assignments for students. Through a comparison of Miró's works with those of Rand and other designers, this lecture considers how Miró's revolutionary approach effectively altered the formal language of communication design. Lecturer Marianne Eggler, (MPhil, The Graduate Center, City University of New York) is a historian of art, architecture, and design. She is completing her doctorate at The Graduate Center and is currently a lecturer at Parsons The New School of Design, CUNY John Jay College, and The Museum of Modern Art.