Saul Bass

Acclaimed graphic designer Saul Bass created some of the most memorable images of American film and advertising. Bass, the son of East European immigrants, grew up in the Bronx and studied at New York’s Art Students League and at Brooklyn College. In addition to designing several iconic corporate logos, including those of AT&T, Continental Airlines, Kleenex, and Minolta, Bass made the opening credits sequence of film into an art of its own. In 1955, Bass designed the opening sequence of Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm, an innovation that transformed the production of title sequences and launched his career as a sought-after visual consultant in the film industry. The designer’s talent extended to filmmaking; he collaborated on several short films with his second wife, Elaine Makatura, winning an Oscar in 1968 for the documentary short Why Man Creates.