COLORS
Complete 13-issue run of the Benetton Group's groundbreaking and influential quarterly magazine under the original editorship of legendary graphic designer Tibor Kalman, from its beginnings in 1991 through his departure in 1995.
Very good plus to near fine overall.
Price: $5,000.00
COLORS
"What happens when corporations use imagery to make statements about social and political issues? Well, you can't trust those statements any more than you can trust the statements of politicians." — Vol. 1, No.1
From its earliest beginnings, COLORS was intended to cover global issues for a global, multilingual audience. Funded with Benetton money, the magazine promoted the humanist values and socially responsible ethos that characterized the public face of the Benetton brand. The format and theme changed with each early issue, building on the confrontational and often controversial imagery pioneered by Benetton creative director Toscani and guided by the passion and ambition of editor-in-chief Kalman, who "saw himself as a social activist for whom graphic design was a means" to a greater end (Heller). Early issues engaged directly with racism, politics, poverty, and the AIDS crisis, while promoting corporate accountability, sexual freedom, animal rights, and Italian knitwear.
When pressed by an interviewer on the fact of corporate patronage and the inevitable association of COLORS with the Benetton product line, Kalman answered, "That's bullshit. Just look at the magazine. [...] We did articles about poverty, multiple cultures, things that mattered." Racial and ethnic diversity was itself an essential part of Benetton's branding, an attention-grabbing advertising signature established by Toscani's United Colors campaign well before Kalman arrived. But COLORS tried to do more than present diverse models on provocative billboards: Kalman wanted graphic design to influence thought and action in ways beyond the scope of commerce; to make people think, not only to buy. Having heaped contempt on the very suggestion of advertiser influence, Kalman breezily added that in any case, his values and politics were sufficiently aligned with Benetton's for it to make no difference, and if the magazine functioned as a successful ad, that was fine with him: "I think lots of people should go to Benetton shops and say they're buying sweaters because they love COLORS."
The magazine continued after Kalman's departure in 1995 and his death in 1999, and kept going even after Toscani's own departure in 2000, to respectable but much less revolutionary effect. "People are wasting their lives" in front of screens, Kalman said back in 1996; but the printed page, "ink on paper," was still breathing. "Everyone complains that it has all been done before, but we haven't even begun."
Read more: Kalman, Hall & Bierut, Tibor Kalman: Perverse Optimist; Cullen, "Reputations: Tibor Kalman," Eye Magazine; Alam, "Profile: Maira Kalman," The Cut.
The Object
First editions. (New York / Rome): (United Colors of Benetton), (1991-1995). Original color photographic wrappers all. All issues illustrated with color photography throughout. Various paginations. Light edgewear to some issues. Housed in an archival box.
The Fine Print
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