The model of a contemporary designer, whose work has always struck me as unusually direct and unsentimental, Chermayeff is the quintessential businessman’s designer. The many famous logos designed by his firm, Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. - most notably the symbols for Mobil and Chase Manhattan Bank – are household images in contemporary America. But as an illustrator and an artist there is something else at play. Here we find a deep understanding and respect for the tradition in which he works, coupled with the unselfconscious ability to pay that tradition homage. In so doing, Chermayeff has no fear of losing his own very personal voice, nor does he do so.

Ivan Chermayeff’s art is profound, witty and captivating. His collages, which have commanded much of his artistic attention in recent years, respect the abstraction of the 1950w, in which lies much of their stylistic origin, yet they develop their own personality – irreverent, intellectual and unusually accessible. Importantly, they reflect an artistic maturity that understands and accepts the strength of tradition, rather than self-consciously seeking the "new." The result is original and refreshing – a look at our world through wonderfully satisfying imagery that is as comfortable with humor, wit and irony as it is with occasional nostalgia, anger or even tragedy. As a technical matter, it is not possible to encounter Ivan Chermayeff’s work without admiration for his exceptional command of composition and space. Nowhere better than in these collages do we see the hand of this master used with more assurance and visual integrity. He brings a late-20th-century humanism to the Bauhaus synthesis of form and function. Over the past two decades Ivan Chermayeff and I have worked together on many projects. His intellectual depth, his sheer delight in the creative process and the force of his talent, have always made our collaborations an adventure of learning and discovery. For as this exhibition eloquently demonstrates, Chermayeff is a unique star in America’s creative constellation.

- David C. Levy, President and Director, The Corcoran