Artist of the Day, October 26, 2021: Thomas H. Geismar, an American graphic designer (#1401)

Thomas H. Geismar (1931) was born  in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He studied concurrently at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. He received a master's degree in graphic design from Yale University, School of Art and Architecture. After school, he joined the army for two years.

Geismar met Ivan Chermayeff in Yale and in 1957, they founded the firm Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar (now Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv) along with Robert Brownjohn. Geismar has designed more than a hundred corporate identity programs and established abstract corporate symbols. The unifying element in his work is the repetition of symbols which gives new life to the form. In 1960, he proposed a radical mark for Chase Manhattan Bank which was the repetition of four shapes around a square to form an octagon. It was met with resistance but stood out from competition, leading other corporations to create abstracted corporate logos.

His designs for Xerox, Chase Manhattan Bank, Best Products, Gemini Consulting, PBS, Univision, Rockefeller Center and, most notably, Mobil (1964) have received worldwide acclaim. Geismar has also had major responsibility for many of the firm's exhibition designs and world's fair pavilions. His projects include such major tourist attractions as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Statue of Liberty Museum, the Truman Presidential Library, and the redesigned Star-Spangled Banner exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He has received major awards in the field, including one of the first Presidential Design Awards for helping to establish a national system of standardized transportation symbols.

Geismar was awarded the AIGA medal in 1979. In 1998, he was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. In 2014, he was awarded the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement along with Chermayeff and the School of Visual Arts’ 26th Masters Series Award recipient.

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Mr. Thomas Geismar

Thomas Geismar & Ivan Chermayeff, the beginning

1955, The Age of Reform book cover

Cover of Pepsi-Cola World, November 1957

 Brussels World Fair (View of the fair) 1958

Cover of Pepsi-Cola World, February 1958

Cover of Pepsi-Cola World, January 1958

Cover of Pepsi-Cola World, Summer 1958

1960, Chase mark

1963-64, Graphic Arts USA." Poster for USIA sponsored exhibit of
American graphics which toured the Soviet Union

1964, mobil Identity

1969, United States Pavilion, Expo 70' Osaka

1972, 9 West 57th Street Signage

1972, Torch symbol for New York University

1976, Bicentennial Stamps

1980, logo for the National Aquarium, baltimore
reflects the dual themes of fish and water

1984, PBS Public Broadcasting Service Identity

1984, PBS Public Broadcasting Service, Booklet introducing new logo

1985, Mobil Station

1985, Peace (My Daughter's Hand). Poster commemorating the 40th anniversary
of the Hiroshima bombing for the Shoshi Society in Japan

1986, A strong feeling for Statue of Liberty
because it became statue of all personal liberty

1997, Showtime Networks logo

1998, Lisbon Oceanarium mark

2001, National Geographic and its various media outlets Identity

Chocolate Yum. Typographical poster for exhibit

 Princeton University Press mark

AIGA NY 30th Anniversary poster

Barney's New York logo

Guggenheim Museum – Poster announcing free evening hours

Leonard Bernstein Banner

Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.

Pan American World Airways Identity

St Louis Children Zoo Signs

St Louis Children Zoo

War & Remembrance – Poster for a television series