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Yale
Years
An expanded and revised version
of the keynote address presented at
the Graphic Design Education Association Conference
Chicago, Illinois, June 23rd, 1989
Yale
University was the first in this country to establish a degree
program in Graphic Design.1
The term Graphic Design had been used earlier by professionals
such as William Dwiggins, Alvin Lustig, Herbet Bayer, Ladislav
Sutnar, Lester Beale and William Golden among others. During
the 1930s, there was a high school program in Graphic Design
at Brooklyn taught by Leon Friend who also co-authored a book
titled Graphic Design.2
Alvin Lustig taught a summer course at Black Mountain college
called Graphic Design prior to coming to Yale. Institutions
such as Cooper Union, Cranbrook and the Institute of Design
offered courses in Graphic Design, but not a degree. The Yale
program was unique at the time, and its graduates were instrumental
to establishing the profession of Graphic Design in the United
States during the 1960s. The origins and early years of Graphic
Design at Yale University are therefore of historic importance.
The defining years were between 1950 and 1955 when the program
was established, took shape and set a course. Between 1955
and 1965, it matured and the majority of graduates moved into
professional practice while others were recruited to teach
in design programs around the country.
On July 15, 1950, the New York Times reported an announcement
by Dr. Charles Sawyer, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and
Director of the Division of the Arts, regarding a new Department
of Design at Yale University with Josef Albers as chairman.
Instruction in the new program was to begin during the 1950-51
academic year.
The
explanation given today by Dr. Sawyer for a “Department
of Design” was to disassociate the new program from the
existing one in fine art, and to better identify it with architecture.
Of no small consequence was the fact that it also permitted
Albers to develop curriculum and hire new faculty without
interference from tenured faculty members.
The
program was described as a four year course with a revised
professional curriculum in painting, sculpture and the Graphic
Arts. The design program would culminate in a Bachelor of
Fine Arts degree. In a letter from Josef Albers to Alvin Lustig,
dated February 23rd, 1951, Albers explains, “so far,
all students are working together in only two rooms of which
one is the printing shop. This may indicate again that we
are very much at the beginning, though there are even a few
who do graduate work.”
3
Following
its inception as a four year program, Graphic Arts soon changed
from an undergraduate to a graduate program. For a short period
of time, graduates from art schools with certificates were
accepted into the program and required to complete one year
for a BFA and an additional two years to receive the MFA degree.
Those with an undergraduate degree completed the program in
two.
The
Graphic Arts program at Yale was introduced to the profession
during 1951 at the initial Aspen Design Conference. Dean Sawyer
and Egbert Jacobson were cochairmen of the Conference, which
was sponsored by Walter Paepke of Container Corporation of
America. It was a landmark occasion for design as major professionals,
industrialists and educators came together for the first time
in the United States. The conference served as an outstanding
opportunity to introduce the new program in design at Yale
University. Dean Sawyer and Alvin Eisenman spent two weeks
in Aspen planning the introduction. Josef Albers and the architect
Lou Kahn from Yale were also participants. Eero Saarinen,
Charles Eames, Herbert Bayer, Leo Lionni and Dino Olivetti
were in attendance. Harley Earle of General Motors and Walter
B. Ford of Ford Motors along with Frank Stanton, President
of CBS, Hank Brennan of Life Magazine, Stanley Marcus of Nieman
Marcus and Walter Howe of R.R. Donnelly were among the many
prominent business leaders attending the conference. It is
unfortunate that the proceedings did not have wider distribution
or publication because it was a lost opportunity for establishing
Yale’s role in the United States as a leader within the
design field.4
By
the late 1940s, most teachers in the Division of the Arts
at Yale University were older, tenured and had not practiced
in years. The Yale administration brought in Charles H. Sawyer
as Dean for the express purpose of effecting change. In the
words of Dean Sawyer, “The faculty and administration
knew pretty well what our objectives were; a rather moribund
school needed a good shaking up and we invited new students
to participate in the process. We met stout resistance from
several of the senior faculty and some from students. We newcomers
were united in our belief as to the importance of breaking
down the walls which had grown up between departments and
giving students an opportunity to learn from each other.”
5
Dean
Sawyer was influenced in his views to a great extent through
his interaction with Bauhaus principals who had emigrated
to the United States. First at Andover during the late 1930s,
and later at Worcester, Massachusetts, he was in contact with
Walter Gropius and Josef Albers among others. He was well
acquainted with Bauhaus pedagogy and was greatly impressed
by the integration of several disciplines within design.
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