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Chermayeff & Geismar

Symbols, logotypes and graphic design from the last five decades

January 24 - March 25, 2007

In 2007, the galleries of Pera Museum hosted the works of outstanding artist  Ivan Chermayeff and his esteemed partner Tom Geismar, who were the distinguished guests of the Museum and of Turkey. Considered as one of the most brilliant graphic designers of the 20th century, Ivan Chermayeff has created a number of truly memorable designs with his partner Tom Geismar and has honored our country several times with his presence. Through his unique and exceptional work on the emblem, logo and corporate identity designs of Koç Holding and various other Koç companies, he has made it possible for the names of these institutions, and by extension that of Turkey, to be acknowledged by the world of design.

In 2006, Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar created the emblem, logo and corporate identity designs of the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, as well as the Pera Museum. The two designers' artistic creation of over fifty years was displayed at the Pera Museum.

Since its founding in 1957, Chermayeff & Geismar has pioneered a transformation in the practice of graphic design. Located in New York but working for clients in many countries, especially Turkey, they have pursued a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach across a broad range of projects and disciplines, from the development of scores of famous trademarks to the design of notable museum exhibitions, from hundreds of imaginative posters for cultural events to large-scale artworks for distinguished architectural projects.

Throughout all these tasks, Chermayeff & Geismar's work has remained consistent, not in style, but in its approach to design. Accepting the Modernist ideal that design is a problem-solving discipline, they have sought to humanize that ideal through humor, artistic invention and an entrepreneurial spirit.

"As duos go, in the design world at least, Chermayeff and Geismar are as familiar as Lennon and McCartney, with almost as many greatest hits to their names, including some appearing in this catalogue. After starting their partnership in 1960, they established themselves as undisputed masters of late-twentieth-century American modernism."

Steven Heller,
Art Director
The New York Times Book Review

Exhibition Catalogue

Chermayeff & Geismar

Chermayeff & Geismar

Considered as one of the most brilliant graphic designers of the 20thcentury, Ivan Chermayeff has created a number of truly memorable designs with his partner Tom Geismar. Through his...

Nudes With Mirrors

Nudes With Mirrors

Although mythological themes are not commonly encountered in Turkish painting, it is possible to see variations of widespread themes such as the Venus at her Toilet. 

Face to Face

Face to Face

A firm believer in the idea that a collection needs to be upheld at least by four generations and comparing this continuity to a relay race, Nahit Kabakcı began creating the Huma Kabakcı Collection from the 1980s onwards. 

The Golden Horn

The Golden Horn

When regarding the paintings of Istanbul by western painters, Golden Horn has a distinctive place and value. This body of water that separates the Topkapı Palace and the Historical Peninsula, in which monumental edifices are located, from Galata, where westerners and foreign embassies dwell, is as though an interpenetrating boundary.