1911-1995

Education: Washburn College, Kansas

Selected honors: Medal of the AIGA; 1950 Art Director of the Year, National Society of Art Directors; Art Directors Club Hall of Fame

Teaching: Yale School of Art

One of the most important and innovative graphic designers of the twentieth century, Bradbury Thompson expanded the boundaries of the printed page and influenced a generation of art directors by adapting classic typography to the modern world.

Sometimes called the father of modern magazine design for his sophisticated use of photography, type, and color, Mr. Thompson was the art director of Mademoiselle; design director for Art News and Art News Annual; and a designer of alphabets, postage stamps, corporate identification programs, trademarks, limited-edition books, and sacred works, most notably the Washburn College Bible. He may have been best known as the designer of more than sixty issues of Westvaco Inspirations, a magazine published by the Westvaco Corporation.

Print magazine called his book, The Art of Graphic Design (Yale, 1988), “A masterpiece of the bookmaking art... a monumental work, documenting the original vision and uncompromising commitment of one of America’s finest graphic designers.”