Paul Rand Art
American, 1914-1996
Paul Rand (born Peretz Rosenbaum; August 15, 1914 – November 26, 1996) was an American art director and graphic designer. He was best known for his corporate logo designs, including the logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, ABC, and NeXT. He was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss Style of graphic design. Rand was a professor emeritus of graphic design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where he taught from 1956 to 1969, and from 1974 to 1985. He was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972.
Though Rand was a recluse in his creative process, doing the vast majority of the design load despite having a large staff at varying points in his career, he was very interested in producing books of theory to illuminate his philosophies. László Moholy-Nagy may have incited Rand's zeal for knowledge when he asked his colleague, at their first meeting, if he read art criticism. Rand said no, prompting Moholy-Nagy to reply "Pity."Steven Heller elaborates on this meeting's impact, noting; "from that moment on, Rand devoured books by the leading philosophers on art, including Roger Fry, Alfred North Whitehead, and John Dewey."These theoreticians would have a lasting impression on Rand's work; in a 1995 interview with Michael Kroeger discussing, among other topics, the importance of Dewey's Art as Experience, Rand elaborates on Dewey's appeal:
[... Art as Experience] deals with everything — there is no subject he does not deal with. That is why it will take you one hundred years to read this book. Even today's philosophers talk about it[.] [E]very time you open this book you find good things. I mean the philosophers say this, not just me. You read this, then when you open this up next year, that you read something new.
Dewey is an important source for Rand's underlying sentiment in graphic design; on page one of Rand's groundbreaking Thoughts on Design, the author begins drawing lines from Dewey's philosophy to the need for "functional-aesthetic perfection" in modern art. Among the ideas Rand pushed in Thoughts on Design was the practice of creating graphic works capable of retaining recognizable quality even after being blurred or mutilated, a test Rand routinely performed on his corporate identities. From: Wikipediato
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Paul Rand IBM Packaging Collection
By Paul Rand
Located in Cincinnati, OH
A collection of packaging from the IBM corporation by iconic graphic artist Paul Rand , colorful and direct containing materials for IBM office machines . The collection includes pap...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Paul Rand Art
Materials
Paper
$340 / set
Untitled, Cat and Rooster
By Paul Rand
Located in Miami, FL
The work represents a wide eye cat staring at a rooster. The work is as simple as it's complex. The negative space is as important as the positive space. It's as sophisticated as it'...
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1940s Abstract Expressionist Paul Rand Art
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Acrylic, Pencil
Paul Rand: A Designer's Eye (Limited Edition)
By Paul Rand
Located in New York, NY
Limited edition, #363/1000, of J.P. Williams’s ode to his Yale mentor Paul Rand, chronicling Rand’s lifetime of collecting “something in nothing”— ephemeral examples of the beautiful...
Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Paul Rand Art
Materials
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Untitled, Wine Bottle and Bird outside of a Bird Cage in Moody Brown
By Paul Rand
Located in Miami, FL
Signed and dated to lower edge 'Paul Rand 11.52'. Collection of the artist - Mounted along upper eduge to matboard, Unframed.
Category
1950s American Modern Paul Rand Art
Materials
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Child-like Art - Child with Bull Horns in Boat with a Fish
By Paul Rand
Located in Miami, FL
Paul Rand is remembered as one of history's greatest and most famous graphic designers. He was also a painter. The fact that Paul Rand used Naïve Art in much of his corporate identit...
Category
1950s Outsider Art Paul Rand Art
Materials
Paper, Gouache
Asian Calligraphic Shapes Over Biomorphic Forms
By Paul Rand
Located in Miami, FL
Legendary Graphic designer Paul Rand was also a Fine Artist/Painter. In the present work, " Untitled: Asian Calligraphic Shapes Over Biomorphic Forms," Paul explores the relationship...
Category
1950s Minimalist Paul Rand Art
Materials
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Untitled Owl in the Grass
By Paul Rand
Located in Miami, FL
Signed and dated to lower right 'Paul Rand 4.6.52.
Paul Rand said. “People who don’t have a sense of humor really have serious problems.”
Besides being a seminal force in modern desi...
Category
1950s Outsider Art Paul Rand Art
Materials
Pastel, Acrylic
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Paul Rand art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Paul Rand art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, red, orange and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Paul Rand in screen print, acrylic paint, crayon and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Paul Rand art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Ed Baynard, Rockwell Kent, and Margaret Keane. Paul Rand art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $550 and tops out at $22,000, while the average work can sell for $1,450.
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Questions About Paul Rand Art
- 1stDibs ExpertJanuary 19, 2025Opinions may vary on what Paul Rand's most famous work is. However, the American artist is best known for his corporate logos. Over the course of his career, he designed iconic graphics for IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, ABC and NeXT, among others. Explore a variety of Paul Rand art on 1stDibs.