?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
PAUL RAND (1914-1996) IBM. 1991. 36x24 inches, 91 1/2x61 cm. Condition B+: creases in image; minor abrasions at edges. Hand-signed by the artist in pencil. Paper. Rand was first employed by IBM in 1956 to redesign the company's logo. He continued consulting for the company for more than 30 years, redesigning their logo at least twice more. In 1981, to announce the in-house IBM Golden Circle award, he designed a rebus version of the logo which was initially shunned by management who "thought that it would be an invitation to in-house designers to engage in tomfoolery. They also claimed it was not IBM and failed to recognize that in one fell swoop Rand had humanized the corporation" (Rand, p. 156). It took a year for the company to actually use the design in promotion, at which point they printed it as a poster with small text at the bottom explaining the significance of each element of the rebus. It has become one of the most famous and recognizable corporate identity statements of the 20th century. In 1991 the famous poster was reissued by IBM, this time without the explanatory text at the bottom. MoMA 520.1983, Modern Poster 211, Encyclopedie de l'Affiche p. 106, Modern American Poster 100, Resnick 72 (var).
