The Alcorn Archive is preserved at the Centro Apice (Words, Image and Publishing Communication Archives) of the University of Milan. Thousands of documents show the prolific career of the artist and illustrator John Alcorn, from the early works of the late ‘50s to the projects interrupted by his premature death in 1992. Partly classified by the artist himself, the archive includes both original drawings, such as preparatory studies that trace the different steps of the graphic and typographic design, and published material, such as illustrations, billboards, posters, book covers, brochures, leaflets, pictures.
From 1971 to 1976 Italy was Alcorn’s favorite adoptive home, so it is appropriate that it is in Italy that his Archive was established in October 2010 at the Centro Apice. Milan, as the capital of Italian publishing, has established an Archive dedicated to different aspects of the modern publishing culture in its public university. It’s the ideal place to preserve and promote the work of an artist who, despite having worked in a great variety of fields, is particularly remembered for his original contributions to the world of editorial graphics.
The study and appraisal of the work of John Alcorn are being conducted in collaboration with the Alcorn family, in particular his son Stephen, artist and Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, who has an intimate knowledge of his father’s creative processes, and who for twenty years has been the curator and principal archivist of his father’s artistic works. From this collaboration, two publications were made in the last few years: Books! and Evolution by Design.
BOOKS!
A second edition of the book written by Murray Mc Cain and illustrated by John Alcorn, originally published by Simon & Schuster in 1962. Thanks to a complex digitization, the book was translated and republished by Topipittori in 2012. It’s a small publication aimed at children: a hymn of love for reading and for pagination. The success of the edition were testified by the translations in seven languages.
EVOLUTION BY DESIGN
A monograph on the artist curated by Marta Sironi and Stephen Alcorn was published by Moleskine in 2013. Divided in sections that follow the artist’s life and career, the book shows a considerable part of the archive’s material with large images in a modern and clean design. Alcorn’s life, passion for handcraft comes through on every page and prominence is given to original drawings and preparatory studies.