Saul Bass

Remember Saul Bass? Some of you in the design field may be too young to remember, but he was a giant in his time. Years ago I was working with Bird Design in Los Angeles, and they had just moved into a new facility. They didn't know this when they signed the lease, but Saul Bass had worked there for rmany years, long before they occupied it.

That in itself isn't all that amazing, but the work he left in the basement was a remarkable testament to his impact.

Just today I read about a new book about him: Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design will be published in November 2011. The book was compiled by Bass’s daughter Jennifer Bass and design historian Pat Kirkham, and even comes with a forward by Martin Scorsese. The 440 page hardcover book has a hefty cover price of $75, but Amazon is offering a preorder discount of 39% off.

This is the first book to be published on one of the greatest American designers of the 20th century, who was as famous for his work in film as for his corporate identity and graphic work. Saul Bass (1920-1996) created some of the most compelling images of American postwar visual culture. Having extended the remit of graphic design to include film titles, he went on to transform the genre. His best-known works include a series of unforgettable posters and title sequences for films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. He also created some of the most famous logos and corporate identity campaigns of the century, including those for major companies such as AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines and Minolta.

His wife and collaborator, Elaine, joined the Bass office in the late 1950s. Together they created an impressive series of award-winning short films, including the Oscar-winning Why Man Creates, as well as an equally impressive series of film titles, ranging from Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus in the early 1960s to Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear and Casino in the 1990s.

Designed by Saul Bass’s daughter Jennifer and written by distinguished design historian Pat Kirkham, who knew Saul Bass, this book contains more than 1,400 illustrations, many from the Bass archive and never published before, providing an in-depth account of one of the leading graphic artists of the 20th century.

This definitive study is eagerly anticipated by design and film enthusiasts.