Alvin Lustig
American graphic designer (1915–1955)
Alvin Lustig (February 8, 1915 – December 5, 1955) was an American book designer, graphic designer and typeface designer. Lustig has been honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to American design.
Biography
He was born on February 8, 1915, to Harry Lustig and Jeanette Schamus in Denver, Colorado.
Lustig studied design at Los Angeles City College, Art Center College of Design, but did not obtain a degree. In 1935, he spent three months studying independently with architect Frank Lloyd Wright at his Taliesin studio. The next year, he worked with French painter Jean Charlot. He began his career designing book jackets in 1937 in Los Angeles, California. In 1944 he became Director of Visual Research for Look magazine. He also designed for Fortune, and Girl Scouts of the United States.
He appeared in filmmaker Maya Deren's At Land (1944), a 15-minute silent experimental film.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Alvin Lustig” as american graphic designer (1915–1955). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american graphic designer (1915–1955). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4738169. VIAF identifies the subject as 13378107. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001037618. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915, 1955, 1935 and 1937.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alvin Lustig”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alvin Lustig primary sources, Alvin Lustig archive and Alvin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alvin Lustig”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alvin Lustig” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.