Art Daily reports: 

“NEW YORK.-From 1962 to 1972, George Lois changed the face of magazine design with his covers for Esquire magazine. MoMA presents prints of 32 of the 92 covers Lois created for the magazine in George Lois: The Esquire Covers from April 25, 2008, to March 31, 2009, in the Museum’s Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries on the third floor. A wall in the gallery also pairs the original artwork by Lois for seven of his most iconic covers, including Muhammad Ali as St. Sebastian (1968) and Andy Warhol drowning in tomato soup (1969). George Lois: The Esquire Covers is organized by Christian Larsen, Curatorial Assistant, Research and Collections, Department of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art. This installation continues the tradition of showcasing works in MoMA’s graphic design collection, which includes noteworthy examples of typography, posters, and other combinations of text
and image.

Before Lois (American, b. 1931), a renowned advertising executive, art director, and designer, even the most celebrated magazine covers like James Montgomery Flagg’s Uncle Sam for Collier’s or Norman Rockwell’s poignant illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post depended on drawing or painting to illustrate the content or symbolize the spirit of the publication. Many covers suffered from a banal, formulaic style, and often text competed with the image. Lois stripped the cover down to a graphically concise yet conceptually potent image that ventured beyond mere illustration of the feature article. He exploited the communicative power of the mass-circulated front page to stimulate and provoke the public into debate, pressing Americans to confront controversial issues like racism, feminism, and the Vietnam War. These images hit the public with their messages artfully communicated with force and immediacy. Viewed as a collection, the covers serve as a visual timeline and a window onto the turbulent events of the 1960s. Initially received as jarring and prescient statements of their time, the Esquire covers have since become essential to the iconography of American culture.”