Title:

Irv Koons papers, 1947-2017 (bulk 1947-1955)

Creator/Contributor:

Koons, Irvin L., 1922-2017, creator, creator.

Creator/Contributor:

Dodge, David, 1910-1974, correspondent.

This collection documents the personal and professional relationship between artist Irv Koons and author David Dodge. Includes correspondence from Dodge to Koons and sketches, drawings (pencil and pen-and-ink), and proofs of illustrations made primarily for Dodge's travel books. The bulk of the illustrations are for Dodge's The Poor Man's Guide to Europe, published in 1953, including several iterations of the cover featuring an earlier title, "Europe on the Half Shell." Also includes documents from Koons' memorial service held September 12, 2017 and a selection of his artwork, most produced as holiday greeting cards for his friends and clients.

Date:

1947 (issued)

Subject:

n-us---

Koons, Irvin L -- 1922-2017 -- Archives

Koons, Irvin L -- 1922-2017 -- Correspondence

Dodge, David -- 1910-1974 -- Correspondence

Dodge, David -- 1910-1974 -- Illustrations

Dodge, David -- 1910-1974 -- Illustrations

Illustration of books -- United States -- 20th century

Illustrators -- United States

Designers -- United States

Irv Koons papers, BANC MSS 2012/221, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Gift of Irvin L. Koons; 20121003.

Additions: Gift of Jon Koons; 20171012.

In English.

Related collection: David Dodge papers (BANC MSS 2012/220).

Associated collection: Papers of Irv Koons. Also located at: Yeshiva University Museum Archives, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA.

Associated collection: Irv Koons papers. Also located at: Hagley Museum and Library, 200 Hagley Road, Wilmington, DE, 19807, USA.

Irvin Louis Koons, known professionally as Irv Koons, was born on March 14, 1922 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where his father owned a printing shop. The family moved to Reading, Pennsylvania when Koons was 11 years old. After graduating from high school early at the age of 16, Koons went to New York City, where he attended Pratt Institute. In 1942, he enlisted in the army and trained in the infantry and the amphibious engineers. Just before his unit was deployed for combat, he was reassigned to a Special Services unit at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he designed stage sets for Broadway shows traveling to army posts. He was then assigned to New York to work as a designer/illustrator for the Army Information and Education Program before being sent to New Delhi, India to work as art director for the China-Burma-India Theatre of Operations. After his army discharge in 1946, he returned to New York where he received his first major assignment, a series of 40 illustrations for Simon and Schuster for a book by David Dodge titled "How Green Was My Father." The assignment had been held for him until his arrival in New York by an editor who had seen some of the drawings he had sent from India to friends in lieu of letters. He later illustrated four more of Dodge's books and provided the dust jacket art for a fifth. Koons' focus shifted from illustration to packaging and industrial design, and from 1949 to 1988 he was CEO and Creative Head of Irv Koons Associates, which was honored with numerous design awards. In 1988, he was appointed Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. Koons died September 10, 2017 in Englewood, New Jersey.

David Dodge (August 18, 1910-August 8, 1974), the author of mystery novels and humorous travel books, was born in Berkeley, California. His best-known novel, To Catch a Thief (1952), was adapted as a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1955, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. His travel book, The Poor Man's Guide to Europe, with illustrations by Irv Koons, was a best-seller and was revised and reissued annually from 1953 to 1959.

Type:

Correspondence.

Drawings.

Sketches.

Cut-paper work.

Greeting cards.

print

1.0 (1 2

English

BANC MSS 2012/221 box 1

BANC MSS 2012/221 oversize box 1

BANC MSS 2012/221 oversize box 2

BANC MSS 2012/221

Origin:

California