Untitled, Cat and Rooster

The work represents a wide eye cat staring at a rooster. The work is as simple as it's complex. The negative space is as important as the positive space. It's as sophisticated as it's childlike. The work is a charming little gem. Acrylic and pencil on paper, matted not framed. Signed and dated to lower right 'Paul Rand 3/29/44'. provenance: Collection of the artist


Graphic designer Paul Rand once wrote, “Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold.” Rand produced good design for six decades, creating magazine layouts, posters, children’s books, book covers, and the branding for many of America’s most recognizable corporate identities, all of which embody the visual clarity and dynamic compositions for which he is known. Rand’s best-known designs are celebrated for their visual wit. For the UPS logo he designed in 1961, Rand set a neatly tied package atop a shield bearing the company’s name, juxtaposing the whimsy of the parcel against the pomposity of the coat of arms. Rand also famously developed a graphic program for IBM in 1956, supplementing it in 1981 with the brilliant Eye-Bee-M poster, which reimagined the company’s logo as a rebus. “I steered towards humorous things,” Rand said. “People who don’t have a sense of humor really have serious problems.”