Idea Action

George Giusti (1908–1990, American b. Switzerland) was a Modernist graphic designer whose work incorporated fine art sensibilities and expert craftsmanship. A creative draftsman, he illustrated cover layouts for such popular magazines as Fortune and Time, and designed myriad packaging graphics for the pharmaceutical industry. Historian Philip Meggs characterized Giusti’s talent as “an ability to reduce forms and images to a simplified, minimal essence.” Giusti enhanced this two-dimensional graphic approach with daring concepts in sculpture and collage. His facility in honing metal, paper, and plastic into planar shapes continues to delight and surprise—even after some 50 years. Selected artworks by George Giusti, with links to the ideas in his sketchbooks, are on view from the Cary Graphic Design Archive.

Amelia Fontanel, curator
Etta Arnold, curatorial assistant
Hannah Nettikadan, graphic designer

The exhibition is in the main exhibition cases of the Cary Graphic Arts Collection, 2nd floor, Wallace Library. View more pieces in the George Giusti Graphic Design Archive.