RIP: August 2013 Archives

J.C. Suares (1942-2013)

J.C. Suares (1942-2013)

Long-time designer and illustrator J.C. Suares has passed away at the age of 71.

During his lengthy career, he designed or redesigned publications including New York magazine, Variety, the New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable, Connoisseur, Buzz, Inc. and Fast Company. Suares was the founding creative director of Poz and 7 Days magazines.

Steven Heller, in the New York Times, writes:
For decades The Times refused to hire an editorial cartoonist or have art on the editorial page. But when the Op-Ed page was introduced in 1970, Mr. Suares -- with the blessings of the page's editor, Harrison Salisbury, and The Times's design director, Louis Silverstein -- adopted a daring idea: Rather than restrict artists to illustrating only specific passages of text, give them license to interpret an entire article.

The approach helped guide the paper into a new visual era and influenced other newspapers and magazines.

"It was time for a big change," he said in a video history commemorating the Op-Ed page's 40th anniversary. "I wanted the art to be well drawn, and I wanted to create some kind of emotional reaction."

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