National Academy Museum

and School of Fine Arts

 

National Academy Clarifies Identity with Change of Name and New Visual Identity

 

Visitors to the National Academy will notice something different this fall: new brochures, new signage, and business cards, not to mention a new name on the Fifth Avenue door. This spring the institution's Council approved a measure to change the name from the National Academy of Design to the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts.

Notes Dr. Annette Blaugrund, "The change of our name reflects a new spirit of integration incorporating the association of artists, museum, and school, to fashion an exciting reuse of resources--all under one roof.

The change also clarifies and underlines the Academy's great strengths in today's terms: the fine arts. The word `design' encompassed the fine arts when the institution took its name in 1825. But, in 1997 the word `design' evokes another discipline, the decorative arts, and confuses us with other museums specializing in that area. The Academy continues to flourish as a celebrated art school and museum of the fine arts exhibiting painting, sculpture, prints, and architectural materials."

A New Visual Identity Herald the Change

Graphic Designer Karen Salsgiver of Salsgiver Coveney Associates in Westport, CT, selected by the Executive Committee and staff from seven firms, has developed a new logo for the institution, along with a complete system of signage and range of printed materials. The logo's "NA" stands for the National Academy, alluding also to its artist members, known with prestige since 1825 as National Academicians. Images drawn from the nearly 8,000 works in the collection grace the printed materials, recalling a wide range of American artists affiliated with the Academy from 1825 to the present. The Academy extends its thanks to the Overbrook Foundation for its generous funding of this comprehensive design project, and to Champion International Corporation donating the paper on which our new materials are printed.

 

rev. 11/22/10


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