Calendar

Exhibition

Presented by Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives

Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff

September 11 - October 1, 2024
A mixed-media collage made of multiple colors of paper, in rectilinear and arched shapes, with many postal marks along the top right corner.

Ukak, 1992, mixed media collage, 36 x 28 ½ inches

SVA Gramercy Gallery

209 East 23rd Street, 1st floor, New York, NY 10010

Reception

Thu, Sep 12; 5:30 - 8:00pm

In the SVA Gramercy Gallery, several colorful collages of various sizes hang on a wall left of the doorway. To the right of the doorway there is a single, large, framed collage which resembles a person’s head.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

aStraight ahead, three similar collages depicting character-like designs hang in a row on one wall. On both the left and right perpendicular walls, more collages hang beside each other and wall-mounted vitrines hold more work.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Many colorful collages of various sizes are displayed in a wall-mounted vitrine, on pedestals, and hung on the wall. Most of the works appear to be characters, like a koala wearing a hat and a funky-looking face with the word “WELL” above it.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Two children’s books are present on a pedestal. To their right, a series of small collages sit on a shelf beneath two large framed works.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

The right side of one corner in the gallery holds three whimsical collaged faces. Balancing them, some slightly more serious-looking pieces hang on the connecting wall.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

A shelf holds paper works which differ in content, but have overlapping similarities in style.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Inside of a glass vitrine, two prints sit side by side. On the left is a yellow paper with two red asterisk shapes, and on the right is a brown paper using punctuation symbols.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

On a large wall beside a staircase, wall vinyl reads “Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff.” More text provides details and insight into the exhibition.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

In the back gallery, more collages hang on the walls in rows. Some depict people or faces while others are more abstract designs.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

A view of the back gallery shows the many works in the exhibition hung in a row across the walls.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Chermayeff’s commercial works hang to the left of a wall-mounted vitrine and the landscapes made of dots.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Posters from some of Chermayeff’s commercial projects hang next to each other on one wall, separate from the rest of the work. These designs have visible aesthetic connections to his collages.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Stacked vertically on one wall, two paintings consisting of colorful dots resemble landscapes. The one on top looks like a building with a red roof in front of a mountain, and the one below looks like a blue sky beyond land.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Inside of a glass vitrine, paper works show the connection between Chermayeff’s commercial and personal artwork.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Several of Chermayeff’s collages involving text are presented in a row. Some use handwritten script or personal documents like letters. Others use receipts or kraft paper with bold text.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

A view of the back gallery shows one wall full of collages.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Images created by collaging 2 dimensional and three dimensional objects together are shown on another wall. Sea shells form surprised faces and a squished glove looks like the body of a person.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Collages of varying sizes, using different materials and colors, hang in a row on a wall.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Another set of collages use large geometric shapes of multiple colors to form abstract compositions.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

Facing one corner of the back gallery, the large geometric collages and Chermayeff’s commercial works are displayed across from each other.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

The glass window outside of the SVA Gramercy Gallery displays one of Chermayeff’s collages, a blue dove, beside the title of the exhibition.

“Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” SVA Gramercy Gallery, September 11 – October 1, 2024

SVA presents “Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff,” a collection of rarely seen collage works by the late design legend. A partnership with SVA Archives and curated by Head of Archives Beth Kleber and Assistant Archivist Lawrence Giffin, the exhibition is the result of a significant donation of hundreds of Chermayeff’s works by his family to the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives in 2020, covered in Architectural Digest and The Art Newspaper. In addition to nearly 50 of his collages, the Ivan Chermayeff Collection includes a number of early works, works in progress and professional works, many of which will also be on view.

 

While Chermayeff is best known for revolutionizing the field of visual communication and designing hundreds of recognizable corporate and institutional logos as one-half of Chermayeff & Geismar—the design firm he co-founded with Tom Geismar in the late 1950s—the pieces on view are largely personal works. His collages were his own form of drawing, by which he could both exploit the meaning held by the items and create new, unexpected associations.

 

Among the many distinctions of his career, including teaching at the College beginning in 1959, he was the subject of SVA’s long-running Masters Series Award and Exhibition in 1995, which included some of his most beloved work for brands like Pepsi, Chase, Showtime, and Mobil, and institutions and corporations like the Smithsonian, MoCA, HarperCollins and PanAm.


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SVA Subway Series Hall of Fame: Ivan Chermayeff

Renowned designer and SVA faculty member Ivan Chermayeff is remembered in this new SVA Subway Series Hall of Fame video. More on his life and relationship to SVA can be found here: http://www.sva.edu/in-the-press/design-observer-tribute-to-design-legend-ivan-chermayeff

Free and open to the public