We're continuing to share images this week from a new digital collection in the Hagley Digital Archives. Our Irv Koons digital collection offers a selection of materials from Hagley Library's collections of Irvin Koons photographs (Accession 1996.315), Irv Koons papers (Accession 2132), and Irv Koons memorabilia (Accession 2716), all originating from the life and work of the graphic artist, industrial designer, and illustrator Irv Koons (1922-2017).
This sketch, created by Koons around 1987, documents some of the trials and tribulations of packaging design work, and originates in a dispute between Koons and ALPO Petfoods, Inc., who contracted the designer to create marketing and labeling materials for their new line of cat food in 1986. You can read more about this conflict, and the ensuing legal battle, in Hagley Library's Research & Collections News.
These collections include materials documenting his work in marketing and industrial design, his efforts to expand awareness about the historical and contemporary importance of packaging in a consumer economy, his work as an educator in the field of marketing and package design, and his work in advocacy on behalf of underdeveloped and developing nations.
Given Koons' status in the field, these collections are also a useful resource for the study of the growth and development of the packaging industry in the second half of the twentieth century. To view it online now in our Digital Archive, just click here!