Seymour Chwast is a design legend. As co-founder with Milton Glaser of Push Pin Studios, he led a revolution in graphic design in the 1960s and ’70s, producing bold, vibrant work that pushed the limits of nearly every visual medium—from posters, advertisements, book jackets, and magazine covers to album covers, product packaging, typography, and children’s books. His pioneering role as a designer, author, and activist continues to influence and inspire 21st-century designers.
Now, he turns his pen and sketchpad toward creating a new book on a subject that has been a personal obsession for nearly six decades: the fight against war, humankind’s never-ending scourge.
Designers & Books has launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish Seymour Chwast’s new book of antiwar illustrations: Seymour Chwast at War with War: An Illustrated Timeline of 5000 Years of Conquests, Invasions, and Terrorist Attacks.
For more than six decades, Chwast, who celebrates his 85th birthday this year, has used his signature blend of design, illustration, and social commentary to wage a campaign against war.
To support the Kickstarter, Chwast has opened the doors to his archive, offering both new and vintage items to backers. Included among the special items are three of Chwast’s personal copies of his first antiwar publication, A Book of Battles, which he self published in 1957; his Vietnam War era poster “War is Good Business, Invest Your Son”; and a one-of-a kind four-color mechanical for a book he wrote with Steven Heller.
Seymour’s desire was to present his reaction to war in its purest form. To put his gut on the page. To set aside his interest in color and mixed media and use what would allow him to focus on the ideas alone: marker on paper; just black on white. His technique serves the content and the intention — to viscerally connect with the audience and bring front and center the horror and waste that is war. — Steven Heller, graphic design writer and editor of At War with War.
READ MORE AND SUPPORT THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN HERE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1204158310/new-seymour-chwast-book-protests-5000-years-of-war
At War with War Specifications
Size: 6.6 x 9.5 inches, 88 pages, 35 original illustrations, hardcover
At War with War will involve a master letterpress printer and a process utilized for fine and limited editions. The book will feature an introduction by Victor Navasky, former editor and publisher of The Nation, and will be edited by renowned graphic design writer Steven Heller.
