2004 AIGA MEDAL
Joseph Binder was an Austrian-born designer whose influence
permeated Europe and the United States. He applied reductive compositional
principles derived from Cubism and De Stijl to his posters,
including the one he designed for the New York World's Fair in
1939. He emigrated to the United States. in 1934 and won many poster
competitions, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, for such
agencies as the National Defense, the United Nations, and the
American Red Cross. He also designed covers for Fortune
and Graphis magazine. In 1948 Binder became art director
for the U.S. Navy Department, and in the 1960's he returned to his
primary passion of painting.
Joseph Binder was born in late-19th century Vienna. He trained
as a lithographer and in 1922 entered the Vienna School of Arts and
Crafts. As a student, his work won many awards, including his
poster designs for the American Red Cross, for whom he was to work
during his years in the United States. In 1924 he founded his own studio,
Vienna Graphics, and acquired a reputation as an advertising artist
and poster designer.
In 1927 he acted as one of the founding fathers of the national
Austrian designers association, Design Austria, who continue to
remember him through an international design competition, the
Joseph Binder Award.
Between 1933 and 1935 he visited the United States as a guest lecturer at
the Chicago Art Institute and the Minneapolis School of Art. His
international status grew as he began to be represented in poster
exhibitions in New York and Tokyo, and his designs were given first
prizes in competitions organized by the Art Directors Club New York
and the Museum of Modern Art. In 1936 Joseph Binder settled in New
York for good and in 1944 became an American citizen.
In his design he focused on the reduction of geometric forms, on
color contrasts and the psychological impact of colors. His clients
included American Railroads, American Airlines, A&P Iced
Coffee, Fortune and Graphis. In 1948 the U.S.
Navy made him their art director and designer.
In the 1960s Binder turned away from commercial graphic work
and renewed his explorations in graphic works of art in the
abstract style. His non-objective art was shown in international
exhibitions such as in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the
Museum of Applied Art (MAK) in Vienna.
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