James Harvey (artist)

James Harvey (artist)

James Harvey (1929 — July 15, 1965) was an American commercial and fine artist who was best known as the designer of the Brillo Pad box made famous by pop artist Andy Warhol in 1964 at his "Stable Gallery Show". During a his successful career as a commercial artist, Harvey did work for major clients such as Pepsodent, Brillo, Philip Morris and others. Also known as an abstract expressionist painter, he died in 1965.

James Havey came from a blue-collar, immigrant family., Harvey was born in 1929 in Toronto Canada. His family moved to Detroit before he was a year old. Harvey studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. He later returned to Detroit, where he designed window displays for retail giant J. L. Hudson. Finally he moved to New York to break into the art world.

Harvey secured a position in the studio of Egmont Arens, an industrial and packaging designer who helped usher in the “streamlined” style before World War II. In 1963 he redesigned the cigarette packaging , including the familiar geometric designs for Marlboro giant Philip Morris. Harvey and his colleagues worked for two years on sketches, and did 200 final designs. The winner, selected by the executives of Phillip Morris was the most mediocre of the bunch, according to Harvey, who felt “It’s a committee-arrived-at thing,”

In 1959 Egmont Arens fired his creative team. Two of them, Whitney Stuart and William Gunn, took Harvey with them as a freelance designer when they started their own company, called Stuart and Gunn, where Harvey completed the work for Brillo.

In 1964, Andy Warhol launched the Stable Gallery exhibition (known as “the soap-box show”). This was widely regarded as putting Warhol on the map, and critics panned the work. When Harvey saw his design in the gallery, he laughed it off, according to a Print magazine article by called "Shadow Boxer"

The Graham Gallery, which represented Harvey’s abstract expressionist art issued a press release on behalf of Stuart and Gunn (and Harvey) that stated: “It is galling enough for Jim Harvey, an abstract expressionist, to see that a pop artist is running away with the ball, but when the ball happens to be a box designed by Jim Harvey, and Andy Warhol gets the credit for it, well, this makes Jim scream: ‘Andy is running away with my box.’” But the final line practically admitted defeat: “What’s one man’s box, may be another man’s art.”

James Harvey’s last show, at Graham in November 1964, presented paintings that were “dynamic, restless, and painted with rich skill,” according to the New York Times. But by July 15, 1965, Harvey was dead in New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital. He was reported to have died from cancer of the blood.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James Harvey — may refer to:*R. James Harvey (born 1922), politician and jurist from the U.S. state of Michigan *James M. Harvey (1833–1894), US senator from Kansas and Governor of Kansas *James G. Harvey (1869–1951), politician in Manitoba, Canada *James… …   Wikipedia

  • James Robinson — James Robinson, Jim Robinson or Jamie Robinson is a name shared by the following individuals:Elected officials*James W. Robinson (Texas and California) (1791 ndash;1857), American politician; Texas provisional governor (1836); San Diego (1850s)… …   Wikipedia

  • Harvey Awards — Harvey Award Pour les articles homonymes, voir Harvey. Les Harvey Awards sont des prix qui récompensent les meilleurs bandes dessinées américaines. Ils ont été créé en 1988 suite à l interruption des Kirby Awards. Les Harvey Awards sont décernés… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • James Earl Jones — in a 2010 photo. Born January 17, 1931 (1931 01 17) (age 80) Arkabutla, Mississippi, United States …   Wikipedia

  • James Kochalka — at home in August 2000 in Burlington, Vermont Born May 26, 1967 (1967 05 26) (age 44) Sprin …   Wikipedia

  • Harvey Konigsberg — (b.1940) is an artist and aikido teacher. He holds the rank of 7th dan and is one of about 20 non Japanese Aikido instructors worldwide to hold this rank within the aikikai [ [http://www.aikiweb.com/wiki/Nonjapanese#Aikikai High Ranking Non… …   Wikipedia

  • James Jean — (born 1979) is a Taiwanese American award winning artist and illustrator living in Los Angeles. He was born in Taiwan but and was raised in Parsippany Troy Hills, New Jersey. [Seman, Rob [http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/articles/news1 comics.htm… …   Wikipedia

  • Harvey Kurtzman — (3 octobre 1924 21 février 1993) est un dessinateur de bande dessinée américain. Il fut le tout premier rédacteur du magazine de bandes dessinées Mad (fondé par Bill Gaines en 1952 sous le label EC Comics), et en créera plus… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • James C. Christensen — (born 1942) is an American artist. His main body of work, mostly paintings, is heavily influenced by fantasy themes. Even his small body of religious work shows heavy fantasy influence. Christensen says his inspirations are myths, fables,… …   Wikipedia

  • James Houlik — (born 4 December 1942 in Bay Shore, New York) is an American tenor saxophonist and saxophone teacher.EducationHe first became a student of the tenor saxophone under the guidance of Harvey Egan during his early years at Islip High School. He… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”