Martin Solomon was born on July 7, 1932 in New York City. He studied under the famous art teacher Leon Friend, at Lincoln High School, in Coney Island, and was a member of the Art Squad, which was a breeding ground for many of the most famous designers in the US, indeed the world. He pursued his higher education at Pratt Institute, New York State University and the film program at CCNY.

After serving in the US Army during the Korean War, he returned home to study at Pratt Institute and the NY State University in NYC. Martin began to work as an art director at Doyle Dane Bernbach, and later, BBDO. He developed his love of letterforms during this period and subsequently founded his own typographic and graphic design firm called Ottino Solomon where he developed alphabets for Volvo, Eastern Airlines, Fisher Price, IBM, Chanel and many more. He loved not only the latin alphabets but also Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese characters. Many of the letters were deconstructed or refined into something fresh, innovative, beautiful and even abstract.

In the 1970's he began to teach graphic and typographic design at SVA and The Cooper Union. The classroom was his temple where he shared and discovered. It was a place to encourage, motivate, and teach each student about the inherent beauty and forms of letters and words, which tied to rich historical base and philosophy in art, music, mathematics and nature. Solomon was absorbed with his art, and his passion for exploring and creating, clearly spilled from his personal creations,into the classroom. In the 90's and early 2000's he continued to teach and influence students at Parsons and FIT.

Over his career he has won countless awards and recognitions from the NY Art Directors Club, The NY Type Directors Club, and many international honors and awards and well. He wrote a well regarded text book used in type design classes throughout the country called, "Typoiconography". He has also had exhibitions of his paintings (many of which are inspired by letters) in the US, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Australia and Japan.

For more on Martin Solomon's legacy and his work, you are invited to visit and join "Martin Solomon Art and Design"

Courtesy: Dane Solomon