1950 Portfolio Magazine with Charles Eames cover

Portfolio #2. A Magazine For The Graphic Arts. Vol. 1, No. 2. Summer 1950. Cover design by Charles Eames. This stunning mid-century issue, with commentary on illustration, advertising, architecture, and culture, is a veritable time capsule, yet its graphic design still feels innovative and avant-garde. The magazine is in fair shape; the cover is detached, and there's a chip to the front cover, a few chips to the spine and a previous tape repair. Because Portfolio has staple construction, there is no looseness to any of the pages.

This issue contains stories on: typography; Charles Coiner, art director; the Vari-Typer; advertising art in 1900; the influence of Matisse, Miro, and Calder on the wallpaper design of Ilonka Karasz; the illustrations of printmaker Joseph Low; Charles Eames; cartoonist William Steig; cattlebrands—"a fascinating form of graphic Americana which have rarely, if ever, been considered from the standpoint of design"; and a photo-essay on the Mummers' Parade.

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