School of Visual Arts Masters Series: Tom Geismar
For the past 25 years, the School of Visual Arts presented a designer with an award and hosted an exhibition featuring their work. This year, SVA recognized Tom Geismar.
The exhibition featuring Geismar’s work is on display through October 18 at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, which is located at 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, New York City. Admission is free and open to the public. Geismar will speak at the SVA Theatre on October 7 between 7-9 p.m. The SVA Theatre is located at 333 West 23rd Street, New York City.
Tom Geismar, a founding partner of Chermayeff & Geismar (renamed Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv in 2013), is well known for his iconic logo designs. He has helped create memorable logos and identities for Mobil, Rockefeller Center, NBC, Chase Manhattan Bank, NPR, PBS, NYU, Xerox, Showtime, Univision, the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic, to name several. The Mobil, Rockefeller Center, NBC and Chase logos are featured above.
Geismar, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University, earned a master’s degree in graphic design from Yale University, School of Art and Architecture. In 1957, he co-founded Brownjohn, Chermayeff & Geismar with Ivan Chermayeff and Robert Brownjohn. In 1959, Brownjohn moved to England and the firm became Chermayeff & Geismar.
In 1985, Geismar received the Presidential Design Award for the standardized signs and symbols he developed as head of the U.S. Department of Transportation Advisory Committee. In 2014, Geismar and Chermayeff were awarded the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement by Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
In 1988, SVA founder Silas H. Rhodes launched the College’s Masters Series. Several legendary designers that SVA has recognized include: Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Steven Heller, Paul Rand,
George Lois, Tony Palladino, Paula Scher, Seymour Chwast, George Tscherny, Ed McCabe,
Massimo Vignelli and Ivan Chermayeff, Geismar’s partner at Chermayeff & Geismar.
For more information about the SVA’s Masters Series, click here.
