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Lorraine Fox offprints, transparencies, and tear sheets

 Collection
Identifier: KA-0015-01

Summary

Lorraine Fox (1922-1976) began her career in commercial illustration in the 1940s, becoming one of the most celebrated female illustrators of the mid-20th century. The collection, spanning the final decade of Fox's life, includes proofs, transparencies and tear sheets of album covers, book illustrations, greeting cards, and advertisements. Fox taught at Parsons School of Design from 1965 until shortly before her death in 1976.

Dates

  • 1964 - 1976

Creator

Extent

0.5 Cubic Feet (1 box, 2 oversize folders)

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Contents

The Lorraine Fox collection includes clippings, proofs, sample greeting cards, tear sheets, transparencies, and offprints of periodical illustrations, album and book covers, and publicity materials. The collection contains no original artwork, correspondence, or materials pertaining to Fox's teaching career, although materials in the collection correspond with her years teaching at Parsons School of Design.

Unidentified illustrations in the collection primarily consist of color transparencies of Fox's illustration work. The transparencies are divided into categories based on subjects depicted in the drawings. Common thematic elements are: animals, children, fantasy/futuristic scenes, heterosexual couples, medicine and health, relationships and sexuality, and women.

Non-commercial work consists of drawings featured in group shows. This series includes a clipping from a catalog featuring a self-portrait, along with a painting for an untitled anti-war show mounted by the Society of Illustrators. Printed materials include RCA album covers for classical recordings, book jackets, Christmas cards, pharmaceutical advertising packets for Haldol and Pharmascan (Geigy), and magazine illustrations. Periodicals represented include Boy's Life, Family Circle, New Times, Seventeen, and True. Notable is a proof for a print advertisement seeking sponsors for a Westinghouse-produced documentary about Lady Bird Johnson.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.

Use Restrictions

To publish images of material from this collection, permission must be obtained in writing from the New School Archives. Please contact: archivist@newschool.edu.

Biographical note

Lorraine Fox was born in Brooklyn in 1922. She graduated from Pratt Institute in 1944 and studied painting with Reuben Tam at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in the 1960s.

Fox began contributing illustrations to major periodicals in the late 1940s. In 1951, she joined the Charles E. Cooper Studio, considered one of the most influential studios for commercial art and photography. Her work appeared in Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's Day, Seventeen, and McCall's, in addition to many other national publications. She also illustrated book and album covers, children's books, and advertisements. Fox, who was later represented by Frank Lavaty and Jeff Lavaty, worked in a variety of media, including pencil, watercolors, and oils. In addition to commercial work, she exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, often alongside her husband, fellow illustrator Bernie D'Andrea. Her work is included in the collections of the Society of Illustrators Museum of American Illustration.

Fox began teaching illustration at Parsons School of Design in 1965, and remained at the school until shortly before her death in 1976. In 1977, she was the subject of an article in American Artist by illustrator and former Parsons instructor Murray Tinkelman, who identifies her as one of the first artists to successfully demonstrate the viability of illustration in an age of photography. Fox consistently stressed the importance of finding her "inner vision" as an artist and illustrator, a trait that allowed her to interpret commercial assignments in often arresting and unconvential ways. In 1979, Lorraine Fox was inducted into the Illustrators Hall of Fame, and remains one of the few female illustrators to receive this recognition.

Organization and Arrangement

Organized in 3 series: 1. Unidentified illustrations, undated; 2. Non-commerical work, 1972-1974; 3. Printed materials, 1964-1976

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated to Parsons School of Design by Bernard L. D'Andrea, Lorraine Fox's husband, in 1978, prior to the establishment of the New School Archives.

Title
Guide to the Lorraine Fox offprints, transparencies, and tear sheets
Status
Completed
Author
New School Archives and Special Collections Staff
Date
October 28, 2010
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin