Friday Find: Avalanche Magazine

As an attempt to discover new books and ideas, I (along with my fellow design fellow, Vance) have been making a habit of visiting the Walker Art Center’s expansive library every Friday afternoon. Never before having such a rich resource available to us, we inevitably stumble upon many, blog-worthy, printed materials. Pending their level of worthiness as well as their state of ‘oh-snap-ness’, we will simply document our findings under the categorization of “Friday Finds.” Ideally, our “finds” will be posted shortly after the find has been made to preserve their freshness. (Please excuse this commencing “Friday Finds” post as it is already 4 days old.)

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During my most recent visit, I found a stack of Avalanche, a magazine that existed from 1970-1976.

Thanks to Emmet for borrowing me Conception. Conceptual Documents 1968 to 1972 (designed by Stuart Bailey), I was able to learn a little more about Avalanche magazine. Here are some quotes from the book describing the magazine:

“…Avalanche, first published in Fall 1970 in New York by Willoughby Sharp and edited by Eliza Béar, developed a characteristic style of a straightforward purportedly unmediated platform for conceptual art and documentation.” (pp. 157)

“The aim of publishing, as represented in…Avalanche and similar publications, was to present primary…information, as far as possible, to let people think about art for themselves.” (pp. 165)

Certainly Avalanche proved to be an important conceptual art publication in the 1970s. And from a design perspective, the cover of the magazine had the right moves with its bold logotype set in Helvetica in combination with the no-nonsense portraits.

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