Michael Schwab (artist)

Michael Schwab (1952)^[1] is an American graphic artist and illustrator. He operates the Michael Schwab Studio outside of San Francisco, California and is best known for his work with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, American corporations, and arts institutions. His work is included in the collections of Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the San Francisco MoMa, and the National Portrait Gallery. He is also the subject of the 2001 book The Graphic Art of Michael Schwab.

Early life and education

Schwab was born and raised in Ardmore, Oklahoma. During his childhood, Schwab developed an affinity for artwork, specifically designing posters and other public art pieces for his schoolmates. He has stated that he was “excited about lettering design and wild illustration,” such as those found on posters and in magazines during the 1950s and 60s.^[2] He has also stated that he found inspiration in the early 20th century poster artists of Western Europe.^[3] Schwab moved to Texas in 1970 to attend the design and illustration program at East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University, Commerce for two years. He later attended the New York City’s School of Visual Arts where he lived in the Chelsea Hotel for a year while studying graphic design. Finally, Schwab headed to the Art Center College of Design California where he graduated with a degree in graphic design.^[4][2] While in Los Angeles, Schwab produced work for music executives including Roland Young at A&M Records and Mike Salisbury at Rolling Stone.^[5]

Studios and exhibitions

Schwab’s first client after graduation was Levi Strauss & Co in San Francisco, where he designed several posters during the mid-1970s, working with the company’s agency creative director Chris Blum. Schwab also founded a studio on Telegraph Hill in 1976 with a view overlooking the San Francisco skyline.^[2] He currently runs the Michael Schwab Studio in San Anselmo, California.^[6] He has been a part of exhibitions at locations including the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the World’s Most Memorable Poster Exhibit in Paris, the Moscow International Poster Triennale, and the Lahti VIII Poster Biennale.^[7] In 2009 his work was a part of the Museum of Craft and Design’s exhibition San Francisco Graphic Design.^[8] In 2013 his work was the subject of a retrospective at the Santa Barbara AIGA.^[5] His work has been included in art publications such as Communication Arts,^[9] and art book publisher Graphis^[10] published a twenty year retrospective of his work in 2001 entitled The Graphic Art of Michael Schwab.^[11][12]

Art institutions and festivals work

Schwab has designed logos and artwork for public festivals^[11] including Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival,^[13] and Farm Aid.^[3] He also produced the anniversary art work for Wells Fargo.^[14] A large part of his work has been done for San Francisco-based institutions. For the San Francisco Opera, he has been producing posters for their performances since 1992, starting with their production of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.^[15] He has also produced work for the Fillmore Jazz Festival.^[16]

Sports championships work

Schwab produced a stamp for the US Postal Service that entered circulation in 1998, as well as other artwork, each in advance of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.^[17][18] He has also produced work for the Pebble Beach Golf Course and Muhammad Ali.^[4] Schwab’s poster for the 2007 Major League Baseball All Star Game in San Francisco is a part of the collection at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.^[19] In 2015 he was commissioned to produce the logo for Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, to be held in San Francisco’s Levi Stadium^[20]—named for the first company he worked for back in 1976.

Work in museums

The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco holds 121 works by Schwab held in the museum’s collection including his posters for the 7th Annual Polo Cup of the Denver Symphony, seven city posters created for Amtrak (such as Chicago, New York, and New Orleans), poster work for Ralph Lauren, Nike, California Wine Country, the Calgary Stampede, and so forth.^[19][2] Some of his posters are also part of the collections of the San Francisco MoMa,^[1] the Museum of Art Boulder,^[21] the permanent collection of the Library of Congress,^[7] and the Denver Art Museum.^[22] Schwab’s portrait of Lance Armstrong is included in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC,^[2] a work that was created to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation.^[23]

National Park Service campaign

Schwab’s most popular works were designed for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. As an example, one poster included imagery from Fort Point and read “One of 21 parks, 116 square miles, and not a single video arcade. Yet. To keep it that way, call ---.” Other posters for the association produced during the 1990s included imagery of Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and the Marin Headlands,^[24] totaling 18 overall.^[6]

This work became the national prototype for the rest of the poster campaigns for the National Park Service. The National Park Service wrote of Schwab’s process that, “To create the park-identity posters, Michael Schwab often begins by studying each site from different locations and different angles, at different times of day and in different kinds of light. He then works from photographs to sketch his initial black and white designs, each representing an indelible memory of the location. He develops the final image by distilling the idea to its simplest, most essential form.” They added that the images were designed to be easily transferable to tourist products like mugs or keychains.^[6] According to Tom Kelly in his book The Art of Innovation, “The icons were so hot that when they premiered in bus shelters people actually stole them.”^[25]

The campaign was developed in 1996 and officially launched in 1997. Schwab developed the work pro-bono. Several California corporations commissioned large-scale versions of the posters for their offices as public art pieces.^[6] The work was also published in book form in the work Golden Gate National Parks Postcard Book: 24 Postcards.^[7] Schwab was awarded the Environmental Leadership Award from the San Francisco AIGA for his work.^[2] In 2014 Schwab created a new campaign for the Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks entitled the Adobe Series.^[26]

Style

Schwab’s work often uses figurative drawing and an interplay between positive and negative spaces. Catherine Fishel wrote in her book Inside the Business of Graphic Design that, “He has a highly recognizable style—dramatic, heroic, and very American.”^[27] Ryan Hembree mentioned that his work conveyed a message with very little wording, using “bold yet simple designs”.^[28] Tom Kelly has stated that his posters produce a “brand look” for organizations sometimes not associated with this kind of appearance.^[25]

References

External links

• http://www.michaelschwab.com/