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Georg Olden - Alvin Jeong

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Georg Olden, born in Birmingham, Alabama on November 13, 1920 lived as an expert in both graphic design and the advertising industry. From young, he showed talent in art and as he dropped out of Virginia State College, he started working at the Office of Strategic Services as a graphic designer. He also was known for his cartoons published in National CIO News, The new Yorker, and Esquire. Later, he worked as a graphic designer at CBS, art director at an advertising agency BBDO (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn) and many marketing corporations.

2007 AIGA Medalist: Georg Olden
Georg Olden

As aforementioned, Olden worked as a cartoon artist, a graphic designer, and an art director throughout his career, especially in relation to marketing and advertising on news. The positions that Olden worked in often handle information and news that carried nationwide impact and messages. Regardless, his works were good, recognized, and often praised. These are some of his works:

CBS news title: Search For Tomorrow and Brotherhood Week. 

CBS news title: Years Of Crisis and Capitol Hill To New York.

some fun images from the Famous Artists Course design lessons
Television title: I've Got A Secret.

ArtforTV18
Television title: The Conventions.

My praises for Olden goes for the epitaphs that people recall of him. An article from Ebony from 1963 quotes Olden, "In my work I’ve never felt like a Negro. Maybe I’ve been lucky.” This got me thinking. When we look back, maybe around this time it was "normal" for one's work to be discussed along with what color their skin was. Talking about the color less doesn't mean the works and the artists are being valued, the artists themselves may be stressing their identity in their works. However, when one wants their works to be simply that of a creative human being but has to feel that it is that of a colored person, there is something to think about, especially if it's "luck" when they don't feel so. 

Olden also said, “As the first black American to achieve an executive position with a major corporation, my goal was the same as that of Jackie Robinson in baseball: to achieve maximum respect and recognition by my peers, the industry and the public, thereby hopefully expanding acceptance of, and opportunities for, future black Americans in business.” The positions that Olden achieved was just as important as his works because they spoke and still speak to people of color as encouragements and hope for what they can do, and where they can reach.

Written on June 06, 2020 by Alvin Jeong

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