Collection of publications & senior art portfolio by Al Kiefer (1926-2013) Carnegie Tech Warhol contemporary, including a painting!
Pittsburgh: 1940s-70s. 1950 senior art & design portfolio, plus various publications featuring work & design by Al Kiefer (1926-2013). Kiefer graduated from Carnegie Tech (now CMU) in 1950 with a degree in art & design; he knew Warhol, who graduated the year before; Kiefer was responsible for the cover design and layout of the Thistle of 1949, the Carnegie Tech yearbook which contains the only published photo of Warhol as a student there. After a number of graphic design jobs, Kiefer became an art director at Cleveland-based ad agency, Fuller, Smith and Ross, and then the executive art director of their Pittsburgh office from 1957 to his retirement in 1988, handling accounts including designing ads and publications for Alcoa, Mellon Bank, Westinghouse, Herbick & Held, Union National Bank and other large Pittsburgh-based corporations. Some of his work won awards and appeared in Graphis advertising annuals, and he also collaborated with well known Pittsburgh photographers Clyde Hare and Harold Corsini on commercial art projects. The Mid-Century Modern influence is readily evident in his art and graphic design, as can be seen in his art portfolio as a 24-year-old senior at Carnegie Tech, and also in his later work for Alcoa and others. In roughly chronological order, we have: 1) Senior art portfolio, 1950. 23 x 15" rose cloth folding chemise containing 19 thick gray placards measuring 22 x 14", each of which has affixed to it representations of Kiefer's work as an artist, graphic designer, advertising, work for student publications, sculptures (photographs of them), drawings and other examples of his skills as a designer and commercial artist. This includes the cover for the 1949 Thistle and correspondence with the company that was responsible for publishing the yearbook. It includes a number of loose works: clippings from a newspaper for ads Kiefer designed for a local florist, a signed print, a small Cubist-inspired gouache, photo of a drawing, etc. 2) Sticks & Stones. Pittsburgh: Hebrick and Held Printing Company, 1953. Tall 8vo, very good, light wear. We believe Kiefer did some of the illustrations for this history of the firm. 3) Graphis Annual '55/56. Quarto, cloth, very good, no jacket, inscribed to Kiefer by George Plataz, an art director at Hebrick & Held, where Kiefer also worked. Kiefer's ad for Eli Lilly (no. 198) appears in this book. 4) The Land in the Fork. (Pittsburgh): Duodecimo, 1959. One of 250 copies. Tall 8vo, spiral-bound softcover featuring various Pittsburgh artists and designers doing letterpress work for significant years in Pittsburgh's 200 year history: Kiefer is assigned "1947," the explosion of the Island Queen ship. 5) Aluminum Afloat. Pittsburgh: Alcoa, Marine Sales Division, 1964. Tall 8vo, pictorial boards. Three copies: the first with Kiefer's name stamped in silver on front cover. He was the art director responsible for its design, including the cover illustration. The second is a mockup of the book with blank pages (different cover). The third is a copy with Kiefer's signature on flyleaf, lacking top inch of spine material. 73 pp. illustrated book on Alcoa's aluminum products for ship construction. 6) Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, by Van Trump & Ziegler. Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1967. Kiefer's own copy with his signature; he is listed as the designer of the book. Tall 8vo, cloth in dust jacket, book very good, jacket fair with wear and loss. 7) Historic Buildings of Washington, D. C., by Diane Maddex. Pittsburgh: Ober Park Associates, c. 1973. Small quarto, softcover, moderate wear and toning. With Kiefer's ownership signature, inside front cover. A note on the inside rear cover: "This book designed 1972-73 working with Maddex by phone and letter..." 8) Group of 6 booklets for Pittsburgh History & Landmarks, etc. Includes "Dynamic Pittsburgh," Charette for Oct. 1963, Five Year Report 1964-1969, "1300-1335 Liverpool Street, Manchester..." "Legend in Modern Gothic," and "Birmingham, Pittsburgh's South Side." 9) 1949 signed abstract oil on board, framed. Frame (gray-painted wood) measures 24 x 21" and visible area of painting is 19 x 15.5" Very good. Item #H41023
Price: $750.00