Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, June 6, 2023: Bradbury Thompson, an American graphic designer, art director. (#1820)

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Artist of the Day, June 6, 2023: Bradbury Thompson, an American graphic designer, art director. (#1820)

Bradbury Thompson (1911 – 1995) was an American graphic designer and art director known for his work designing magazines and postage stamps.

Bradbury Thompson was born in Topeka, Kansas, and attended Topeka High School. He attended Washburn College, where he was the yearbook editor and designer and graduated in 1934 with a degree in economics and a minor in art. A facility called the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center now stands at Washburn University. In 1938, Thompson designed the college's mascot, The Ichabod.

In 1938, he moved to New York City and designed the catalog for the 1939 World's Fair. During World War II, he worked in the publication's division of the Office of War Information (OWI) designing magazines including U.S.A., a magazine aimed at Americans and allies.

Later in 1938, Thompson began working with the arts journal of West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, Westvaco Inspirations for Printers. The booklet was meant to showcase the company's papers and Thompson began experimenting with typography, photographic reproduction and color, drawing inspiration from printing elements and borrowing plates and separations from museums, magazines, and advertising agencies. These borrowed elements blended modern and traditional elements to become a leading avant-garde publication with a distribution of 35,000. By 1962, he had designed 61 issues. Thompson was art director of Mademoiselle magazine for fifteen years beginning in 1945. In c. 1948, Thompson designed the book Painting toward architecture for the Miller Company Collection of Abstract Art, which accompanied their multi-year art and architecture exhibition, also by this name, in over 25 venues across the United States.[6] In total, Thompson designed 35 magazines, including Business Week, the Harvard Business Review, and Smithsonian magazine.[2]

In 1969, he worked for the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee as the design coordinator and designed more than 120 United States postage stamps in a wide range of subjects himself. He worked in this role until 1978, influencing the design of stamps.

Thompson served on the faculty of Yale University from 1956 to 1995. He received the AIGA Gold Medal in 1975. He was inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1977 and received the Type Director's Club Medal in 1986.

In 1988, his autobiography, "The Art of Graphic Design," was published by Yale University Press. It won the North America's George Wittenborn Memorial Award as best art book of the year from the Art Libraries Society.

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