“Dare and take risks,” he advised George Lois to his son Luke, advice that stems from the life and work of the legendary art director, advertiser and author of many books, who broke new ground in the field of art.

The Greek-American advertising guru died in mid-November 2022 at the age of 91, leaving an important legacy for a younger generation of professionals. “He was passionate, dedicated, honest and empathetic. A supporter of social justice and, of course, a creative soul,” he says. Luke Lois at kathimerini.gra successful photographer and advertiser himself, always addressing his father by his first name.

George Harry Lois was born in Manhattan on June 26, 1931 to Greek immigrants from mountainous Nafpakia: Charalambos (Harry), who was a florist, and Vasiliki (Tanasuli) Lois. Together with their sisters Paraskevi and Hariklia, they grew up in the Bronx.

He graduated from the Manhattan High School of Music and Art (now the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts) in 1949. After a year and a half at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he dropped out to work with a designer. Reba Sochis.

In 1951, he married the Polish artist Rosemary Lewandowski, despite his mother’s initial urging him to marry only a Greek woman. “But when Lois’s mother ate the stuffing that her son’s future wife had prepared, she told him: ‘Marry her, she cooks Greek,’” says George’s close friend and manager of the Ideal Cinema. Alexander Spences. From this marriage he had two sons, Harry, who died in 1978, and Luke, who gave him two grandchildren.

They met Mr. Spenzo in 2004 through a mutual American friend. “Then the newspapers wrote that the Americans would not come to watch the Olympics at all and that the Greeks would not be ready for the games on time. George took this patriotically and wanted to campaign for Greece, which ultimately did not happen for various reasons. We became friends, I often traveled to America, we met in New York, and I dined at his house, ”he recalls.

Greece, inspiration for his work

After being drafted in 1952, Lois served in the army for two years during the Korean War. He joined the CBS-TV network in 1954 as a commercial designer and began that career two years later.

He has collaborated with and served as president and art director for many important companies in the advertising industry. In addition to his brilliance in advertising, he was known for his enormous influence in many different areas of culture, causing a buzz in publications and on TV channels.

According to Luke, his father liked to develop a big idea. Creativity was his passion. “He always said that to create great advertising you need to be in touch with the culture, understand the arts, politics, sports, and he was passionate. He visited museums, read the newspaper every morning, “devoured” magazines and books, wanting to have as much information as possible to create advertising.

As for whether he was inspired by Greece in his work, the son emphasizes: “The power, determination and heritage of Greece was his driving force. He often spoke of a “NO” day. My father’s relationship with Greece was very deep and personal. He was very proud of his Greek side and did his best to help every Greek or homeland in any way he could.”

Covers

He was Madison Avenue’s most famous art director of the 20th century, bringing the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s to post-war advertising. The famous covers he created for Esquire magazine—photographs or montages, sometimes with hand-drawn elements and often without text—conveyed his strong message against American racism and participation in the Vietnam War.

His 32 covers in this magazine from 1962 to 1972, although some of them were considered controversial, were placed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2008.

In one, boxer Sonny Liston wore a Santa hat, implying that he was the last person white America would want to see coming down a chimney at Christmas. This one cost Esquire $750,000 due to advertising cuts. Another shows four Vietnamese children with Lieutenant William L. Colley, Jr., who ordered the My Lai massacre in 1968, smiling devilishly. Andy Warhol is also depicted choking on a large can of Campbell’s tomato soup.

Other covers depict Muhammad Ali stripped of his boxing title and imprisoned for refusing to be drafted to fight in Vietnam as Saint Sebastian pierced by arrows. According to the New York Times, applying shaving cream to actress Virna Lizzy’s face was meant to show that “a woman can be beautiful and masculine at the same time.”

But politicians did not remain aloof from his topic. Thus, on one cover, President Richard Nixon wears blush and lipstick for a television appearance during the 1968 presidential campaign. On the second, a mannequin of his then-opponent Hubert Humphrey sits on President Lyndon W. Johnson’s lap. Also, in a 1964 cover story by Tom Wicker on the cover of Kennedy Without Tears, a man’s hand was wiping a tear from assassinated President John F. Kennedy’s eye with a cloth.

He helped Tommy Hilfiger become famous

Over a career spanning sixty years, Lois has founded and led numerous advertising agencies, written books on advertising and art direction, developed award-winning campaigns that sold everything from soap to airlines, and has been recognized by partners and peers as one of the most influential and creative advertisers. of his time.

“George talked about his campaigns, hesitated at first, then got excited”

According to Mr. Spences, Lois spoke to him about his campaigns, first hesitantly, then enthusiastically. This is typical of how he helped the – initially unknown – Tommy Hilfiger establish himself in the fashion industry. “He was impressed with the clothes she designed and created a huge poster that said ‘America’s most famous fashion designers…’ and then continued with the initials of four names, including Hilfiger’s name.” Soon the New York Times and the New York Post were calling him to find out who Hilfiger was. “When it became known, his store sold out in 2-3 days. He told me then: “If his clothes were inappropriate, Tommy would disappear.”

According to the artist himself, in the early 1980s, he almost single-handedly saved MTV, which few people watched. “The channel enlisted the help of George, who, after some thought, created a campaign in which Mick Jagger uttered the phrase ‘I want my MTV,'” says Mr. Spentzos.

“Moments of my childhood with George”

Lois and his son Luke founded the advertising and marketing business Good Karma Creative in recent years. She has been inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame, the One Club Creative Hall of Fame, and the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame, and received awards for her overall achievement.

When asked what is one of his favorite childhood memories with his father, Luke replied: “The whole family is waiting for George to fly on Friday by seaplane to the beach of Fires Island in New York, where we had a resort. Every summer weekend is one of my most beautiful moments filled with joy and excitement.”

George Lois died two months after his wife, and the family is planning a memorial service for both of them in February. “He donated his records to a school in New York, the Community College of New York (CNY). We will honor my parents’ memory and hope to raise some money to help preserve the archives.”