“What is great about being an artist – painter, designer, sculptor, photographer or in other visual media – is that throughout your life you can keep opening doors that you never knew existed.”Elaine Lustig Cohen
Each holiday season, we select an image for our member holiday card that inspires and draws attention to the work of an architect, artist, or designer important to the Modern movement. This year, we highlight the work of Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927–2016), a pioneering New York-based artist, designer, archivist, and rare book dealer.
Photo of Elaine Lustig Cohen, Aspen, 1962. Collection of Elaine Lustig Cohen Estate.
Elaine became one of the leading female designers of her era after inheriting the design practice of her first husband Alvin Lustig, upon his death in 1955. She designed book covers, catalogs, graphic identities, logos, and signage for clients including Philip Johnson, Meridian books, the FAA, the Jewish Museum and the 1964 World’s Fair. By the late 1960s, she shifted to art, exploring abstraction, collage, and typography. She remarried and alongside her husband Arthur Cohen, founded Ex Libris, an antiquarian bookstore specializing in avant-garde 20th-century art and architecture. Cohen continually reinvented her practice, merging design and art with boundless curiosity. In 2011, she received the AIGA Medal for her contributions to graphic design.
Artwork: Invitation, New Year's Day Party, Elaine and Arthur Cohen, 103 East 86th Street, New York, NY, 1958
Designed by Elaine Lustig Cohen (American, 1927–2016)
Offset lithograph on tan paper
H x W: 34.6 × 30.5 cm (13 5/8 in. × 12 in.)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Gift of Tamar Cohen and Dave Slatoff, 1993-31-113
Image: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Visit to see more of Elaine's incredible work.