The civil rights movement in the United States arose at the same time that the field of graphic design was placing new emphasis on branding and corporate identity. Powerful political images from this era — such as the iconic “I am a Man” poster — can best be understood in the context of the overall visual culture of the 1960s, not as separate, compartmentalized works. Through a comparison of images from the civil rights struggle and the nascent international style of corporate communication, Eskilson will attempt to interpret these works in a new light.
Stephen Eskilson received a Ph.D. in art history from Brown University in 1995. Author of Graphic Design: A New History (Yale University Press, 2012), he is currently completing a book on the cultural aspects of glass in modern architecture.
