Robert Brownjohn's Sex And Typography: Life And Work

Art is everywhere and is used in all sorts of ways. Robert Brownjohn is a world renowned graphic designer that broke boundaries of art. The son of an English immigrant bus driver, Brownjohn was born in 1925 in New Jersey. As a teenager in high school his art teacher pushed his creativity to the fullest. That led him to become bold in his art work and talent was in his veins. As for his home life, there was nothing for him there. That is why he put effort towards his academics and art. In 1944, he later attended László Moholy-Nagy’s Chicago-based institute of Design. Brownjohn became the youngest in his class. Also, was very popular towards his peers and professors. László Moholy-Nagy saw Brownjohn as a genius and took him as his protégé. Soon

his pieces matched his personal aspect of what art should be. Per the book, Robert Brownjohn, Sex and Typography, 1925-1970: Life and Work it describes Brownjohn’s ideas were known to be alive and a swift process (King, pg. 39). He was known to be open and free spirited, which could be the reason he is swift-like but direct. However, art can be frustrating at times and he needed to prove himself every time. He highly criticizes his work. In the book, Alan Fletcher quoted about Brownjohn’s work stating, “Brownjohn had a nice wall in his flat, crap he picked off the streets and arranged to make an alphabet. He was very pleased when he found an ‘H’ or whatever. That part of our generation, making do with what’s around, because you could find anything” (King, pg. 52). There are no specific ways to create art. everything around us, even trash can be used to make something

There are three iconic works. The first one is the 1969 Peace Poster, and a masterpiece that consist of minimum materials. Even though it is a straightforward message, it also but also hints at a host of alternative interpretations. The Peace Poster is made from 4 elements. The Ace of Spades; it’s handwritten in pencil; BJ’s more skillfully written monogram; and an extravagant quantity of white space. Brownjohn’s piece is so simple looking, but putting in the work seems to have a lot of meaning. The anonymous writer that pays tribute in the Robert Brownjohn websites states, “Each of these ingredients is arranged in perfect proportion with all the others. The generous border framing the playing card lends drama. The similarity of scale between the letters ‘PE’ and the decorative Spade at the center of the Ace promotes the instant apprehension of the word ‘peace’” (Robert Brownjohn’s iconic works). This unusual body type from handwritten to printed card has a contrast. This contrast is between his cursive signature ‘love-Bj’ and wobbly ‘PE’. Brownjohn questioned about Ace of Spades since it is known to be the ‘Death Card’. RobertBrownjohn.com talks about the card, “The Ace of Spades is universally recognized as the death card and by including it in his poster it was BJ’s intention to question if death is the ultimate peace?” (Robert Brownjohn’s Iconic works). “The Peace Poster was Brownjohn’s last piece that he