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Item Specifics:
• Title: Portfolio: The Annual of the Graphic Arts, Volume 1, Number 3 (Spring 1951)
• Editors: George S. Rosenthal & Frank Zachary
• Art Editor: Alexey Brodovitch
• Publisher: Zebra Press (Cincinnati) / Duell, Sloan and Pearce (New York)
• Publication Year: 1951
• Format: Original softcover wrappers, quarto
• LOC Catalog Card No.: 51-10415
• Subject: Graphic Design, Photography, Typography, Fine Press
• Condition: Used, Very Good
Description:
Offered here is Portfolio: The Annual of the Graphic Arts, Volume 1, Number 3 — the third and final issue of one of the most celebrated and influential publications in the history of American graphic design.
Only three issues of Portfolio were ever produced (1950–51) before the magazine folded due to production costs — a casualty of its own ambition. Art-directed by Alexey Brodovitch, the legendary Harper's Bazaar designer who trained a generation of American photographers and art directors, Portfolio is regarded by design historians as the high-water mark of mid-century editorial design, mixing bold typography, unconventional formats, and museum-caliber photography and fine art in a single publication.
This issue features Henri Cartier-Bresson's photo essay "Cartier-Bresson in the Orient" — his documentary photography of the India/Pakistan Partition, including refugee camp imagery — alongside contributions and features tied to Alexander Calder, Isamu Noguchi, Jackson Pollock, and Ben Shahn, plus experimental production elements typical of this run (bound-in French marbled paper samples among them).
Condition: Spine intact (this title is notorious for spine failure due to its original assembly method — most surviving copies show significant spine damage, so an intact example like this one is notable). The original 3-D stereoscope viewing glasses that some complete copies include are not present in this copy. There is a small pencil price/stock notation on the front flyleaf from a prior owner. Please review all photos closely, as this is a vintage publication sold as-is. We do not restore, repair, or authenticate beyond what is visibly represented.
A genuine piece of American design history for collectors of Brodovitch, mid-century graphic design, or Cartier-Bresson.
