Artist

Joseph Binder

born Vienna, Austria 1898-died Austria 1972
Born
Vienna, Austria
Died
Austria
Active in
  • New York, New York, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

Born in Vienna and trained as a painter at the Kunstgewerbeschüle, Joseph Binder's early designs won numerous international competitions that placed his posters in public spaces throughout Europe. A leader in the emerging field of graphic design, Binder felt that posters were "an expression of contemporary civilization reduced to its simplest forms for instantaneous visual communication." In 1933 Binder was invited to serve as a graphic arts lecturer at the Art Institute of Chicago, and within the next few years moved to the United States permanently. He won numerous awards for his poster designs, including national competitions sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art, the United States Navy, the United Nations, the Red Cross, and the 1939 New York Worlds Fair.

Therese Thau Heyman Posters American Style (New York and Washington, D.C.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the National Museum of American Art, 1998)