David Zwirner Books Presents The Paris Review Prints

When The Paris Review was founded in 1953 by George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen, and Doc Humes, it immediately made waves both for its contents and for its design. It was the first literary magazine to give voice to Jack Kerouac and Philip Roth, among many other now famed authors, and, under the directive of children’s book illustrator and art editor William Pène du Bois, legendary artists like Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau contributed doodles, self-portraits, and otherwise uninhibited, free-form works that suited the Review's adventurous flair. In the late 1960s, Paris editor Maxine Groffsky brought its covers to life with highly saturated color palettes and abstract graphics, and curator and art editor Richard Marshall—also known for his work at the Whitney—selected paintings and sketches for the publication's covers well into the 1980s.

In 1964, The Paris Review began commissioning prints and posters by major contemporary artists, many of them friends of the magazine. Largely through the efforts of publisher Drue Heinz, who underwrote the series, and of Jane Wilson, who was chosen by Plimpton to direct the program, twenty-three inaugural artists were persuaded to donate signed and limited editions of original work.