Milton Glaser - 1962 Push Pin Graphic Illustration - 12 Nudes

This Milton Glaser pen & ink illustration appeared in issue number 37 of the Push Pin Graphic, in 1962. The Push Pin Graphic was published by the Push Pin Studio, and was "...a freeform publication which was sent to friends and clients." (Push Pin Studio website). This particular issue was based topically on Edouard Manet's famous 1863 painting of a prostitute, titled "Olympia". The painting was considered quite risque at the time, and the Parisian gallery that exhibited it hired two policemen to guard the work from outraged visitors. Given the background of the Manet painting, this issue of the Push Pin Graphic was wrapped in plain brown paper, and contained works by Glaser, Paul Davis, Seymour Chwast and Isadore Seltzer.

Glaser's 12 panel image of a nude appeared in fairly muted colors when published (see additional images), and according to Seymour Chwast's book about the Push Pin Graphic, "Glaser's favorite page derives in part from Henri Matisse, but it also represents another direction in drawing for him that builds on complexity and reduction."

Interestingly, Glaser's early aspirations were to be a comic strip artist, so this sequential image, which has an Alex Toth-like sensibility to it, circles back to those aspirations.