David Edward Byrd
Encyclopedia
David Edward Byrd is an American graphic artist
, designer, illustrator and painter
.
, and was raised in Miami Beach, Florida
. David has lived in the Los Angeles
area since the 1980s. In 1985 David began Byrd/Beserra Studios, with his partner Jolino Beserra.
in 1959, attended the Boston Museum School
for a year and then Carnegie-Mellon University
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
where he received a BFA
in Painting and Design in 1964 and an MFA
in Painting and Printmaking in 1966.
where in early 1968, work was started for Bill Graham
for venues in the new Fillmore East
Ballroom in Manhattan's East Village
. David was reputedly hired on the spot after showing his portfolio
to Bill Graham and signed on as the exclusive poster and program designer, beginning with a poster for the upcoming Traffic event. In the period 1968 to 1973, he and Fantasy Unlimited
created posters for Jimi Hendrix
, Iron Butterfly
, Jefferson Airplane
, Ravi Shankar
, Traffic
, and Bill Graham favorite the Grateful Dead
.
In 1969 David created the original poster for the legendary Woodstock Festival
(not to be confused with the artwork by Arnold Skolnick).
He also did work for Broadway. Posters were designed for the Follies
, Godspell, The Robber Bridegroom
and The Grand Tour
. He has also made posters for Jesus Christ Superstar
and other musicals. David worked with The Who
and their rock opera Tommy (not to be confused with the work by Michael McInnerney). From 1970 to 1979 David also taught at the Pratt Institute
and the School of Visual Arts
.
In 1981 David came to Los Angeles to work on the Van Halen
World Tour. After that he did more poster creations in and around Los Angeles for, among others, The Mark Taper Forum
, The Ahmanson Theatre
, The Doolittle Theatre (in Hollywood, CA), The Pasadena Playhouse
.
From 1984 to 1986 he was Art Director of the national gay news magazine The Advocate
, in the time it changed from a tabloid newspaper to a standard national magazine format. David has been a regular contributor of covers for TV Guide
Magazine.
From 1991 to 2002, David was Senior Illustrator at Warner Brothers
Creative Services, creating illustrations, backgrounds and style guides for all the Looney Tunes
and Hanna–Barbera characters. His other tasks included working on a variety of important projects, including creating, along with Creative Director Ed Wleczyk and his fellow artists at WBCP, the initial look and master styleguide for the Harry Potter
franchise, working with writer J. K. Rowling
on the first three books to make a visual cornerstone for the Harry Potter films that were to follow.
In addition to the work mentioned, David Edward Byrd has also worked for the Chicago International Film Festival
, the Franklin Mint
, Walt Disney Imagineering
and many others.
for the album design and packaging of Tommy (by The Who).
In 2007 the Ringling College of Art and Design put on an exhibition in their Selby Gallery, one of the galleries was dedicated to a retrospective of the work of David Edward Byrd. The poster for the exhibition was designed by David himself.
On Thursday, April 16, 2009, David delivered a keynote lecture entitled "Bombast & Ballyhoo: The Power of the Poster", prior to the opening night festivities for the Richard Amsel
retrospective at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery in the University of the Arts
.
Many of David's works are now collectibles and are exhibited in museums. His work is also regularly included in expositions.
The poster that Byrd created for Bill Graham's Fillmore East, for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was voted #8 in the Top 25 Rock Posters by Billboard Magazine and can be seen in the Fantasy Unlimited article.
Rock posters
Although David has made excellent Rock posters, some are credited to Fantasy Unlimited and can be seen there.
Posters
Paintings with comments by the artist
Other work
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, designer, illustrator and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Personal life
David Byrd was born April 4, 1941, in what is now Cleveland, TennesseeCleveland, Tennessee
Cleveland is a city in Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 41,285 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bradley County...
, and was raised in Miami Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. David has lived in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area since the 1980s. In 1985 David began Byrd/Beserra Studios, with his partner Jolino Beserra.
Education
He graduated from Miami Beach High SchoolMiami Beach High School
Miami Beach Senior High School, commonly referred to as "Beach High" or "MBSH", is a secondary school located at 2231 Prairie Avenue in the Miami Beach, Florida, right around the corner from the Miami Beach Convention Center and Botanical Gardens on Prairie Avenue and Dade Boulevard...
in 1959, attended the Boston Museum School
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is an undergraduate and graduate college located in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to the visual arts. It is affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in partnership with Tufts University...
for a year and then Carnegie-Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
where he received a BFA
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
in Painting and Design in 1964 and an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Painting and Printmaking in 1966.
Career
After graduating, David moved to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where in early 1968, work was started for Bill Graham
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
for venues in the new Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
Ballroom in Manhattan's East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
. David was reputedly hired on the spot after showing his portfolio
Artist's portfolio
An artist's portfolio is an edited collection of artwork intended to showcase an artist's style or method of work. Many people can use portfolios. Freelancers, writers, photographers, models and graphic designers are just a few examples of people who use them...
to Bill Graham and signed on as the exclusive poster and program designer, beginning with a poster for the upcoming Traffic event. In the period 1968 to 1973, he and Fantasy Unlimited
Fantasy Unlimited
Fantasy Unlimited was a multimedia artists collective in New York.-History:The collective was founded by Peter Nevard in 1967. One of the co-founders was David Edward Byrd, whom Peter knew from art school....
created posters for Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
, Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
, Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, and Bill Graham favorite the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
.
In 1969 David created the original poster for the legendary Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
(not to be confused with the artwork by Arnold Skolnick).
He also did work for Broadway. Posters were designed for the Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
, Godspell, The Robber Bridegroom
The Robber Bridegroom (musical)
The Robber Bridegroom is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman. The story is based on the 1942 novella by Eudora Welty of the same name, with a Robin Hood-like hero; the adaptation placed it in a late 18th century American setting...
and The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour (musical)
The Grand Tour is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Based on S. N. Behrman's play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, the story concerns an unlikely pair. S.L. Jacobowsky, a Polish-Jewish intellectual, has purchased a car he cannot drive....
. He has also made posters for Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
and other musicals. David worked with The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
and their rock opera Tommy (not to be confused with the work by Michael McInnerney). From 1970 to 1979 David also taught at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
and the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
.
In 1981 David came to Los Angeles to work on the Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
World Tour. After that he did more poster creations in and around Los Angeles for, among others, The Mark Taper Forum
Mark Taper Forum
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739 seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of downtown Los Angeles...
, The Ahmanson Theatre
Ahmanson Theatre
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that comprise the Los Angeles Music Center.Through the generosity of philanthropist Robert H. Ahmanson, construction began on March 9, 1962. The theatre opened on April 12, 1967 with a production of More Stately Mansions starring Ingrid Bergman,...
, The Doolittle Theatre (in Hollywood, CA), The Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
.
From 1984 to 1986 he was Art Director of the national gay news magazine The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, in the time it changed from a tabloid newspaper to a standard national magazine format. David has been a regular contributor of covers for TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
Magazine.
From 1991 to 2002, David was Senior Illustrator at Warner Brothers
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Creative Services, creating illustrations, backgrounds and style guides for all the Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
and Hanna–Barbera characters. His other tasks included working on a variety of important projects, including creating, along with Creative Director Ed Wleczyk and his fellow artists at WBCP, the initial look and master styleguide for the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
franchise, working with writer J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...
on the first three books to make a visual cornerstone for the Harry Potter films that were to follow.
In addition to the work mentioned, David Edward Byrd has also worked for the Chicago International Film Festival
Chicago International Film Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
, the Franklin Mint
Franklin Mint
The Franklin Mint is a private corporation founded by Joseph Segel in 1964. The private mint operated from Wawa, Pennsylvania but that operation has now closed...
, Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering is the design and development arm of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for the creation and construction of Disney theme parks worldwide...
and many others.
Today
Spanning a career of nearly 50 years, David Edward Byrd has made a significant contribution to modern American culture. Although Byrd is nearly 70 years old, he is still very much active and working. He lives in Los Angeles with his partner of 28 years, Jolino Beserra, a noted Mosaic Artist.Accolades and awards
In 1973, he, along with several other prominent illustrators, received a Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for the album design and packaging of Tommy (by The Who).
In 2007 the Ringling College of Art and Design put on an exhibition in their Selby Gallery, one of the galleries was dedicated to a retrospective of the work of David Edward Byrd. The poster for the exhibition was designed by David himself.
On Thursday, April 16, 2009, David delivered a keynote lecture entitled "Bombast & Ballyhoo: The Power of the Poster", prior to the opening night festivities for the Richard Amsel
Richard Amsel
Richard Amsel was an American illustrator and graphic designer. His career was brief but prolific, including movie posters, album covers, and magazine covers. His portrait of comedienne Lily Tomlin for the cover of Time is now part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution...
retrospective at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery in the University of the Arts
University of the Arts (Philadelphia)
The University of the Arts is one of the United States' oldest universities dedicated to the arts. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia...
.
Many of David's works are now collectibles and are exhibited in museums. His work is also regularly included in expositions.
The poster that Byrd created for Bill Graham's Fillmore East, for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was voted #8 in the Top 25 Rock Posters by Billboard Magazine and can be seen in the Fantasy Unlimited article.
Gallery
Over the years Byrd has created myriad pieces of art work, but only a few can be shown here.Rock posters
Although David has made excellent Rock posters, some are credited to Fantasy Unlimited and can be seen there.
Posters
Paintings with comments by the artist
Other work