Mel Byars Explained

Mel Byars (born in Columbia, South Carolina), is an American design historian.

Byars studied journalism in the 1950s at the University of South Carolina.^{[1] [2]} He subsequently settled in New York City^[3] and eventually became active as an art director or creative director for a number of publishers, such as Prentice-Hall and McGraw-Hill, and for advertising agencies, including Leber Katz Partners (subsumed into Foote, Cone & Belding, the world's second oldest advertising agency, founded 1873). In the early 1980s, he studied anthropology under Stanley Diamond (1921–1991) in the master's-degree program of The New School for Social Research. And, previously there, he was enrolled in the School of Media Studies.

A decade later, he turned to the history of applied art/industrial design and served as the archivist of the Thérèse Bonney Photography Collection (images of 1925-35 French decorative arts and other subjects) in New York's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and has been a major donor of 20th-century objects to the museum's permanent collection.^[4] He has made other donations to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague (Uměleckoprůmyslová museum v Praze),^[2] Israel Museum,^[5] Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and Columbia Museum of Art.^[2]

Byars has taught at Pratt Institute and Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and Holon Institute of Technology in Israel^[6] and at others as well as lectured widely^[7] while remaining active in the advertising sector. From 2017 to 2019, he wrote a column for Elephant art and culture magazine.^{[8] [9]}

Awards/works

Byars's most significant work is the second edition (2004) of The Design Encyclopedia, which won the Besterman/McColvin Gold Medal for the best reference book of 2004 from the British Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.^{[10] [11]} When active in graphic design earlier in his career, he won a number of awards, including from the Art Directors Club of New York and had works published in various books such as 100 Years of Dance Posters^[12] and Dance Posters.^[13]

In addition to The Design Encyclopedia, other literary works include more than a dozen books, essays for various design-exhibition catalogs, book introductions and articles for I.D., Beaux Arts, Clear, Echoes, Graphis,^[14] form, and other periodicals. A number of the books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Hebrew.^[15]

Bibliography

• "What Makes American Design American?", introduction in reprint, R.L. Leonard and C.A. Glassgold, eds., Mocern American Design by the American Union of Decorative Artists & Craftsmen, New York: Ives Washburn, 1930 (reprint New York: Acanthus, 1992) |
• Introduction in Bořek Šípek: blízkost dálky, architektura a design = the nearness of far, architecture and design, exhibition cat., Amsterdam: Steltman, 1993, in English, Czech, and Japanese |
• The Design Encyclopedia, New York: John Wiley, 1994 |
• 50 Chairs: Innovations in Design Materials (Introduction by Alexander von Vegesack), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 1996 |
• 50 Lights: Innovations in Design and Materials (Introduction by Paola Antonelli), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 1997 |
• Tropical Modern: The Designs of Fernando and Humberto Campana, Mel Byars, ed., et al., New York: Acanthus Press, 1998 |
• 50 Tables: Innovations in Design and Materials (Introduction by Sylvain Dubuisson), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 1998 |
• 50 Products: Innovation in Design and Materials (Introduction by David Revere McFadden), New York: Watson-Guptill, 1998 |
• 100 Designs/100 Years: A Celebration of the 20th Century (with Arlette Barré-Despond), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 1999 |
• 50 Sport Wares. Innovations in Design and Materials (Introduction by Aaron Betsky), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 1999 |
• On/Off: New Electronic Products, New York: Universe Books, and Kempen: teNeues, 2001 |
• 50 Beds: Innovations in Design and Materials (Introduction by Brice d'Antras), Hove, UK: RotoVision, 2001 |
• Design in Steel, London: Laurence King, 2003 |
• The Design Encyclopedia (Foreword by Terence Riley), New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2004 |
• New Chairs: Innovations in Design, Technology, and Materials, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, and London: Laurence King, 2006 |
• Improvisation: New Israeli Design (אימפרוביזציה - עיצוב חדש בישראל), Tel Aviv: The Haim Rubin Tel Aviv University Press, 2007 (in Hebrew) |

External links

• CILIP 2005 Besterman McColvin award list
• Wilson Laminate The Statement
• Yuval Saar Masters of improvisation Haaretz

Notes and References

1. [List of University of South Carolina people]
2. Web site: 'Psychedelic Design' exhibit at CMA explores rock poster revolution of '60s. 'Psychedelic Design' exhibit at CMA explores rock poster revolution of '60s - The Daily Gamecock at University of South Carolina. 18 September 2023.
3. News: Burnishing the Furnishings. Haaretz.
4. Web site: Mel Byars | People | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
5. Web site: Collections | the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
6. Web site: 创造力在边缘：传统工艺、地方资源与可持续设计之路.
7. Web site: ARrango Design Foundation, INC.. Miami, FL. bisprofiles.com. 18 September 2023.
8. Web site: Exhausted. 5 June 2017.
9. Web site: Read, Tear and Wipe. 13 August 2017.
10. Web site: Archived copy . www.cilip.org.uk . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120715091600/http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/special-interest-groups/information-services/awards/pages/archive.aspx . 15 July 2012 . dead.
11. Kathryn Beecroft, compiler. CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Yearbook 2004-2005, London, 2005.
12. Walter Terry and Jack Rennert, 100 Years of Dance Posters, New York: Darien House, 1975
13. https://archive.org/details/danceposters0000luge Dance Posters
14. Web site: Graphis Issue 318. graphis.com.
15. Web site: Pentagon Patches book: secret, scary military guys with sick senses of humor. Core77. 18 September 2023.