Elaine Lustig Cohen was an artist and graphic designer, known for combining European modernism and innovative typography. Lustig Cohen studied painting and art education, working as a teacher for a short period before taking over her late husband’s graphic design studio in 1955. Her passion for modern art and Bauhaus principles guided her aesthetic as she designed signs for New York’s Seagram building, catalogs and exhibition installations for the Jewish Museum, and more than one hundred book jackets for Meridian Books. A prolific artist, Lustig Cohen continued her practice beyond graphic design, working in paint and collage toward the end of her career. In 2011, she was awarded the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Medal for her contributions to American design.
The title of this etching comes from the inscription that appears on the lower left. The picture depicts a Hasidic Jew in Jerusalem praying at the Western Wall, the remnant of the Second Temple that…
“Before and After the Reform.” Cartoon from Der schlemiel: Illustriertes jüdisches Blatt für Humor und Satire lampooning the transformation of a Hasidic Jew into a Reformed Jew.
Camille Pissarro was notable among his fellow impressionist painters in that he often put trees at the center of his compositions instead of using them primarily as a framing device. He also…