John Alcorn (artist)

A native New Yorker, John Alcorn was born in Corona, Queens, in 1935. His maternal grandparents were born in Settimo Rottaro, a village in northern Piedmont, Italy.[1] When he was five years old, his family moved to Great Neck, Long Island. He was educated in the local schools. He studied graphic arts at The Cooper Union. During his first two years at Cooper Union, he studied drawing, calligraphy, architecture, the mechanics of typography, and dimensional design. In his last year, his studies consisted of illustration, graphics and advertising design.

Alcorn's early career included work in the art department of Esquire magazine, a brief stint with a pharmaceutical advertising agency, and sound training at the Push Pin Studios, the celebrated design studio founded by Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Reynold Ruffins, and Edward Sorel.

In 1958, Alcorn joined CBS Radio and subsequently the CBS-TV art department, where he worked with Lou Dorfsman.[2] In 1961, Alcorn left CBS to work as a freelancer.

In 1962, Alcorn designed and illustrated Books! by Murray McCain, which was selected as one of the best fifty books of the year by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. His other illustrations for children's books include The Abecedarian Book, Where in the World Do You Live?, Money Round the World, A Letter to Anywhere, as well as books for language teaching (La Petite Famille, La Festa). In 1969, Alcorn's book Pocahontas in London won the "Critici in Erba" Prize at the 6th Bologna Children's Book Fair.[3]

Besides book illustrations, Alcorn designed numerous paperback covers, jackets, editorials, posters and advertisements. He worked with leading publishers such as Simon& Schuster, Little, Brown and Company, Pantheon Books, Random House, and others. In 1969, Alcorn was invited to join a group of international artists who were selected to create illustrations for Alan Aldridge's The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics.[4] Alcorn was assigned to interpret the song Eight Days a Week.

Alcorn created a series of works for Morgan Press: covers for its catalogues and yearly calendars (from 1963 through 1971).

In 1970, Alcorn received the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award.

In 1971, the Japanese magazine IDEA dedicated an issue to John Alcorn's work and described him as one of the principal protagonists of the contemporary American graphic design.[5]

In 1969, John Alcorn visited the village where his maternal grandparents were born, and was fascinated by the country and its culture. He spent two subsequent summers in Italy traveling across the country. In 1971, Alcorn and his family moved to Florence.[5] He started collaborating with the Rizzoli publishing house and played an important role in redesigning the brand, its book covers and catalogues. Alcorn created the title designs for Federico Fellini's film Amarcord as well as Ginger and Fred and And the Ship Sails On.[6]

In 1977, Alcorn moved back to the United States, and worked on designing book covers and illustrations for various publishing houses (e.g., Knopf, Simon& Schuster, Atheneum, Random House, etc) as well as designing advertising materials.[7]

Following graduation from Cooper Union, Alcorn married and in 1962 settled in Ossining, New York, where he lived with his wife Phyllis, and their four sons. In 1971 he moved with his family to Florence, Italy. In 1977 he returned with his family to the United States, settling in Cold Spring, New York. In 1983 Alcorn and his wife moved to Hamburg Cove in Lyme, Connecticut.