Here are two rich resources for Eastern European Communist era graphic design.
SOCMUS is a virtual museum of socialist era graphic design in Bulgaria, organized by photographer Nikola Mihov and architects Martin Angelov and Valeri Gyurov. “The project is fully focused on the artistic value of the works and not on their historic or political context,” they say on their website. “The collection of SOCMUS is periodically updated, [and] the blog of the museum presents significant socialist era artists and other thematically related projects.” SOCMUS is not related to any political, private or governmental organizations or cultural institutions.
GRAPHIC FRONT is a project dedicated to the beauty of graphic intervention.Launched in 2010, a project of Atelierul de Grafica with Ciprian Isac and Carla Duscka as founders. Its goal, says member Don Tudoriou, is to “rediscover Romanian utilitarian graphics created between 1940 and 1989. What stands out is the high quality of the visual materials produced before the advent of computers, as opposed to the graphic output of recent years.” Its VISUAL ARCHIVE contains 5 categories: printed matter, signage, logos, illustration and photography. GF’s aim is to build an archive of graphic images and objects primarily from the period 1950-70, though not exclusively, but without the intention of performing a comprehensive study. GF also publishes books of imagery and ephemera seen here.
One Hundred: Honoring AIGA’s History and MilestonesIn this single from Print’s August 2014 issue, we honor AIGA as it turns 100. Join us as we take a look at AIGA’s history and milestones that have helped shape the past and future of designers everywhere.