Seymour Chwast, A’51
Seymour Chwast, Art 1951, was born in 1931. He is a co-founder of Push Pin Studios and is a noted designer, illustrator and innovator whose work has appeared on the covers and pages of many American publications. Seymour Chwast grew up on Coney Island, where he spent a great deal of time drawing. He studied printmaking, woodcut techniques, and typography while at Cooper Union.
After graduation from The Cooper Union, Seymour Chwast joined fellow Cooper Union graduates Milton Glaser and Edward Sorel to publish The Push Pin Almanac. They formed the Push Pin Studios in 1954, which has produced innovative graphic design that has challenged traditional illustration and graphic design for decades. He was the originator and director of Push Pin Studio publication, Push Pin Graphic, 1956-80,
He taught at The Cooper Union and was a visiting lecture at Parsons School of Design, 1975 – 1981. His works are included in permanent collections, at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Library of Congress, Smithsonian, and Whitney Museum of American Art.
Seymore Chwast has illustrated several children’s books. He created books with Martin Stephen Moskof in the late 1960s. Their first collaboration was the 1969 work Still Another Alphabet Book, which includes colorful pictures with hidden words, and gaiety.
He has provided multiple illustrations for the NY Times Op Ed column.
Among other distinctions Chwast, who has a Ph.D in Fine Art from the Parsons School of Design, is in the Art Directors Hall of Fame and been awarded the AIGA Medal. His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum, among other institutions.
Seymour Chwast received the 1969 Cooper Union President’s Citation and the 1972 CUAA Augustus Saint Gaudens Award. He was inducted into the Cooper Union Hall of Fame in 2009.
Seymour Chast spoke at the Cooper Union at The Cooper Union on May 24th, 2016 in an event hosted by Steve Hiller. Learn More
In 2017, he released a book titled, At War with War which is an illustrated guide to 5000 years of conquests and attacks.
In 2019, he released a a children’s book that he both wrote and illustrated, titled Arno and the Mini Machine.
WRITINGS:
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS; Not for Children
- At War with War, Penguin Books, Random House 2017
- A Book of Battles, 1957
CHILDREN’S BOOKS; SELF-ILLUSTRATED
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- (With Martin Stephen Moskof) Still Another Alphabet Book, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1969.
- (With Martin Stephen Moskof) Still Another Number Book, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1971.
- Flip Flap Mother Goooooose, Random House (New York, NY), 1972.
- Flip-Flap Limerickricks, Random House (New York, NY), 1972.
- (With Martin Stephen Moskof) Still Another Children’s Book, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY), 1972.
- Bushy Bride: Norwegian Fairy Tale, Creative Education (Mankato, MN), 1983.
- Tall City, Wide Country: A Book to Read Forward and Backward, Viking Press (New York, NY), 1983.
- The Alphabet Parade, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1991.
- Paper Pets: Make Your Own Three Dogs, Two Cats, One Parrot, One Rabbit, One Monkey, Harry N. Abrams (New York, NY), 1993.
- The Twelve Circus Rings, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1993.
- Mr. Merlin and the Turtle, Greenwillow Books (New York, NY), 1996.
- Traffic Jam, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1999.
- Harry, I Need You!, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2002.
- Had gadya: One Little Goat: A Passover Song, Roaring Brook Press (Brookfield, CT), 2004.
CHILDREN’S BOOKS; ILLUSTRATOR
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- Joan Gill, Sara’s Granny and the Groodle, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1969.
- Eve Merriam, Finding a Poem, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1970.
- Phyllis La Farge, The Pancake King, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1971.
- (With Milton Glaser and Barry Zaid) Rimes de la Mere Oie: Mother Goose Rendered into French, translated by Ormande deKay, Jr., Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1971.
- The House That Jack Built, Random House (New York, NY), 1973.
- Steven Kroll, Sleepy Ida and Other Nonsense Poems, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 1977.
- Dan Weaver, adaptor, The Little Theater Presents “A Christmas Carol”: A Play in Three Acts Adapted from the Story by Charles Dickens, Viking Kestrel (New York, NY), 1986.
- Harriet Ziefert, Keeping Daddy Awake on the Way Home from the Beach, Harper & Row (New York, NY),
1986. - Harriet Ziefert, My Sister Says Nothing Ever Happens when We Go Sailing, Harper & Row (New York, NY),
1986. - Barbara Diamond Goldin, Just Enough Is Plenty: A Hanukkah Tale, Viking Kestrel (New York, NY), 1988.
- Harriet Ziefert, Harry’s Bath, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1990.
- Deborah Johnston, Mathew Michael’s Beastly Day, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (San Diego, CA), 1992.
- Out of the Bag: The Paper Bag Players (plays), Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 1996.
- Gloria Nagy, The Wizard Who Wanted to Be Santa, Sheer Bliss Communications (Newport, RI), 2000.
- Harriet Ziefert, Moonride, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2000.
- Harriet Ziefert, Ode to Humpty Dumpty, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.
- Jerry Spinelli, Daddy and Me, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.
- Linn, Margot, Harry’s Bath, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2005.
- Arno and the Mini Machine, penguin Random House 2019.
References:
Biography Resource Center
Glaser Archives Container List