Arnold H. Skolnick (February 25, 1937 – June 15, 2022) was an American

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

and

book publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. His best known work is the original 1969 poster for the

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

Art and Music Fair.

1969 Woodstock poster

Skolnick's 1969 Woodstock poster showed a white

catbird Several unrelated groups of songbirds are called catbirds because of their wailing calls, which resemble a cat's meowing. The genus name ''Ailuroedus'' likewise is from the Greek for "cat-singer" or "cat-voiced". Australasian catbirds are the ...

perched on the neck of an acoustic guitar. Woodstock Ventures asked Skolnick to design a music and art fair poster. Skolnick's son Peter remembers watching his father cut the words and bird from paper. He also remembers his father trying different layouts. Skolnick was hired on a Thursday and delivered the poster the following Monday around 11am. Although much money has been made from Skolnick's symbol, he received only one royalty check of about $15. While Skolnick won many awards, perhaps his 1969 and his 40th anniversary Woodstock posters are his most famous."Woodstock Story Interview with Arnold Skolnick"
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Book publishing

Skolnick next started Imago Imprint, a company that published, designed, and produced mostly art books. It was established in New York City and led to a number of published books such as ''Lightest Blues (Great Humor from the 1930s)'' and ''Paul Cadmus''. His company Chameleon Books led to many more art books such as ''The Lyrical Constructivist: Don Gummer Sculpture'', ''The Girl with the Watering Can'', ''Hyman Bloom'', and ''Times Squared'' (photographs by Toby Old). He also worked on projects with companies such as Carl Little, Pomegranate, Down East Books, Potter, Rizzoli, First Glance Books, and Chronicle Books.

Film

Skolnick worked on titles and credits for the 1962 film ''

To Kill A Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

''. He also worked with

Linda Yellen Linda Yellen is an American director, producer and writer of film and television, (born in New York City). As a producer some of her credits are '' Playing for Time'' (1980), ''The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana'' (1982) and ''Second Serve' ...

as her assistant storyboarder, and with her on '' Playing for Time'' (1980) and '' Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number'' (1985).

Fine artist

Skolnick's drawings, paintings, and photography have been exhibited in Massachusetts at the Oxbow, Michelson & William Baczek Fine Art Galleries and in various galleries in New York City.

Gallery exhibitions

* 1976 Rolly Michaux Galleries, New York, NY * 2004 Members Group Show (Paintings), Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, MA * 2005 Earth, Water, Sky (paintings & photographs), Painter Arnold Skolnick and Photographer Robert Aller, Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, Ma * 2006 Nudes and Still Life, Paintings & Drawings,(with Robert Aller, photographer), Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, MA * 2008 Landscape Paintings & Drawings, Oxbow Gallery, Northampton, MA * 2008 Love Song: The Erotic Photographs of Arnold Skolnick, Michelson Gallery, Northampton, MA * 2008 Love Song: The Erotic Photographs of Arnold Skolnick, Babcock Galleries, New York * 2010 Antique and Artisan Center, Stamford, CT * 2011 Color and Rhythm, Paintings by Arnold Skolnick, Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, Maine * 2014 Spinoza's God: Paintings by Arnold Skolnick, Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Falmouth, Maine * 2017 Light Touch, Nudes In White Charcoal, Elusie Gallery, Easthampton, MA * 2017 Eyes of Western Massachusetts, Colson Gallery, Eastworks, Easthampton, MA

Articles and reviews

* Hennessy, Christina
"Woodstock poster designer's paintings on exhibit in Stamford"
''

Stamford Advocate ''The Advocate'' is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Stamford, Connecticut. The paper is owned and operated by Hearst Communications, a multinational corporate media conglomerate with $4 billion in revenues. ''The Advocate'' circulates in S ...

'', Friday, October 15, 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skolnick, Arnold 1937 births 2022 deaths Artists from Brooklyn American book publishers (people) The High School of Music & Art alumni Pratt Institute alumni Woodstock Festival