Ss12 — DECA: Julian Montague’s Top 10 Books on Design
BUFFALO | DECA is our series inviting artists to curate top ten lists
WORDS BY JULIAN MONTAGUE
With a strong conceptual basis, the work of graphic designer and artist Julian Montague draws heavily on the history of late 20th century design, offering a dialogue between the past and present of graphic design work. Based in Buffalo, New York, Montague has exhibited in galleries including Art in General, Black and White Gallery, and Anna Kaplan Contemporary in addition to working on book and album covers. Montague’s ability to engage with the sometimes forgotten history of design while speaking to the contemporary moment earned his Instagram account high praise from The New York Times in 2020. His conceptual and photographic book, The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America, which offers a taxonomy of abandoned carts, was released in 2023.
Introduced to the history of art and design through his father, Montague pursued continual self-study of the arts rather than through academia. He joins Cannopy Magazine’s inaugural installation of DECA to discuss the design books that have inspired him the most. His insight into the ways that current design is shaped by the past makes his book recommendations of interest to both the seasoned connoisseur and those just beginning to explore.
In thinking about the best design books to recommend, much of what comes to my mind are books about graphic design history. This is partly because there is so much more of the past than there is of the present, and because I believe that graphic design of the last century can be an incredible source of inspiration for artists, designers, or anybody interested in visual thinking.
─ Julian Montague
The History of Graphic Design. Vol. 1. 1890–1959 and The History of Graphic Design. Vol. 2. 1960–Today by Jens Müller and Julius Wiedemann | TASCHEN
The two volumes of this set are huge in both the scope of what they cover and physical heft of the books! This (largely visual) survey of the most influential design and designers of the last 130 years demonstrates how alive and relevant the work of the past can be.
100 years of Swiss Graphic Design by Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Christian Brändle, et al. | Lars Müller Publishers
It’s hard to overstate the impact that Swiss designers had on the course of the history of graphic design. The modernist Swiss approach to graphic design began spreading around the world in the 1950s and 1960s and is still part of our common visual language. (Helvetica is the Latin name for Switzerland, ICYMI.)
VeryGraphic: Polish Designers of the 20th Century by Jacek Mrowczyk | Culture PL
The diverse and (often) expressionistic work of the Polish school of poster design became well-known in the 1960s and 1970s. This book profiles the most influential Polish designers and includes a lot of work that goes beyond the usual “greatest hits” of Polish poster design.
The Moderns: Midcentury American Graphic Design by Steven Heller and Greg D’Onofrio | Abrams Books
This book profiles influential American modernist graphic designers working in the mid-century era. I have spent years seeking out interesting examples of modernist design for book covers and, until this book came out, it was difficult to find out much about many of the designers.
The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature by Peter Mendelsund and David J. Alworth | Ten Speed Press
The Look of the Book explores the history of the book cover as well as how covers work and relate to the works they represent/interpret. The book is beautifully designed and authored by Peter Mendelsund, who is himself one of the most prominent contemporary cover designers.
From South Korea: Graphic Design from South Korea compiled and published by Counter-Print | Counter-Print
One of the recent books from Counter-Print’s book series that compiles interesting examples of design work from a specific region or country. The current trends in South Korea seem to favour the use of bright colors, geometric shapes, and hard lines. Just my kind of thing.
Jazz Covers by Joaquim Paulo and Julius Wiedemann | TASCHEN
I’m a fan of album cover art and, like many graphic designers, the idea of designing graphics for music was one of the main things that drew me to the field. The history of the cover art for jazz albus is fascinating, a lot of the visual conventions of the album cover were originally created for jazz. This book does a good job of putting together a far-reaching collection. I’ve returned to this book many times in the course of developing the look of the Jazz is Dead record label.
Reversing into the Future: New Wave Graphics 1977–1990 by Andrew Krivine | Pavilion Books
New Wave and post-punk music graphics from the late 1970s and early 1980s with a focus on the promotional ephemera. It is interesting to see the way that the artwork from well-known covers is played out across different formats.
Dot Line Shape: The Basic Elements of Design and Illustration by Victionary | Victionary
A survey of recent work that focuses on the most basic design elements. These elements have featured into my design and artwork of the last several years, so I often find inspiration in these kinds of contemporary collections.
Rudolph de Harak Graphic Designer: Rational Simplicity by Richard Poulin | Thames & Hudson
I’m a huge fan of the work of Rudolph de Harak (1924-2002) but, up until last year, information about him was hard to come by. Richard Poulin’s recent book provides a picture of the man and his work. I actively collect the ultra-modernist book covers he designed for McGraw-Hill in the 1960s. Some of my collection is featured in this book.
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