Remembering George Delmerico, Longtime Art Director of The Village Voice
Appreciation 09.18.13
Longtime Village Voice art director George Delmerico passed away in early August in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 67.
Delmerico was a talented and eclectic art director who designed LP covers (most notably Donald Fagen's The Nightfly), posters, books, alternative newspapers, and much more, but it was his work as art director of The Village Voice from 1976-85 where he produced the most memorable and influential imagery. Delmerico took over from previous art director Milton Glaser, and created a design that was notable for its studied elegance, spare use of color and typography, and bold imagery. Delmerico worked with and introduced a generation of Voice photographers and illustrators, including Sylvia Plachy, James Hamilton, Walter Gurbo, Philip Burke, Stephen Kroninger, Mark Alan Stamaty, and many more, while becoming perhaps the most influential alternative weekly newspaper art director of all time.
On the turn page we've collected some of Delmerico's most memorable Voice covers, as well as a remarkable set of remembrances from some of his Village Voice co-workers and collaborators.
(Above): The Village Voice, November 20, 1984. Art director: George Delmerico. Art: Komar and Melamid.