Joel Resnicoff

Joel Hirsch Resnicoff (October 23, 1948 – December 28, 1986) was an American artist and fashion illustrator who incorporated expressionistic art into commercial fashion illustration. He worked for seven years on the staff of Women's Wear Daily before becoming a freelance artist, creating fashion illustrations, department-store window displays, greeting cards, and clothing designs for the brand Esprit. His work was noted for blending diverse cultural influences and, alongside artists such as Andy Warhol, for blurring the line between commercial and fine art. Resnicoff died of AIDS-related complications at age 38.

Early life and education

Resnicoff was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Hyattsville, Maryland. He studied art at the University of Miami for one year, and then transferred to Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village, New York City.

Career After two years at Parsons School of Design, Resnicoff worked as a fashion illustrator for seven years on the staff of Women's Wear Daily (WWD), where illustrations were used more as commentaries on fashion and predictions of consumer reaction than as a means to advertise and sell products to consumers.

WWD proved to be a "wonderful showcase" for artists including Resnicoff, and through his work, he quickly made a name for himself in the fashion industry. However, after seven years with that publication, he left in order to devote a year to experimentation with different art forms, take some classes in sculpture, and have a chance, as he put it, "to deal with reality after a life of illusion." some overseas travel for invitational commissioned artwork, including billboard designs in Scandinavia; and art he created for clothing and fashion accessories that included the international design brand, Esprit.

In the early 1980s, his unusual displays for windows in major New York City department stores, including Macy's and Bloomingdale's, caught the attention of both the public and the press, with an article in the New York Post, which reported in 1983 that his Macy's window display literally "stopped traffic" on 34th St. The windows were part of Macy's campaign to publicize Resnicoff's new shop in its New York location.

Resnicoff's fashion illustrations were well known and wide-ranging, including his years of work with WWD, and with other Fairchild Publications journals, including Footwear News, and the Daily News Record; a variety of fashion advertisements in virtually every New York newspaper, from The New York Times to The Village Voice, including cover illustrations for some, such as the Soho News, and Art Direction; contributions to special publications such as the Manhattan Catalog; illustrations and lay-outs for national and international periodicals, including Travel and Leisure and Mademoiselle; special brochures for stores and periodicals, including New York magazine; and multi-color spreads for a number of foreign publications and journals, including some in Italy, like Vanity Magazine, and Japan. Resnicoff's work always reflected his own unique style, but they also often brought to mind images from "fine art" or literature, such as in his well-known illustration for hosiery that "directly referenced the film poster, Six Girls Seeking Shelter, by Vladimir and Georgi Stenberg." In some ways, along with artists like Andy Warhol and Antonio Lopez, Resnicoff's art helped "blur the line between commercial art and fine art."

In 1985, Resnicoff began working with Esprit, and in 1986, two summer seasons of clothing, including brightly colored shirts and scarves, featured his designs—with his signature on each item. Using an unusual approach, the company commissioned Resnicoff to paint a series of "oversize summery murals", which Esprit then used as a basis for its "sassy...bold, and colorful" fabric designs. In fact, Resnicoff's artwork for the summer designs were so successful that he was invited to repeat his collaboration with Esprit for an additional season, but by then he had to decline the invitation due to his failing health. In addition to his work with Espirit, Resnicoff also designed a series of Tee-Hee Shirts—pullovers and sweatshirts, and "cooking apparel"—aprons, gloves, and pot-holders, illustrated with whimsical characters similar to those on his Resnicards illustrations.

Reputation His work did not fit easily into any one category, and "the figures in his amusing illustrations defy stereotype and are posed in unexpected ways." His work captured the new impact of multiculturalism on art and the "standards of beauty" of the seventies, and along with artists such as Andy Warhol helped "blur the line between commercial art and fine art."

However his work was described, a strong sense of humor was always evident, which others referred to "his comic style," He died at the age of 38 on December 28, 1986, as a result of AIDS-related complications. In his final months, he returned to live with his mother near Hyattsville, Maryland, and he died at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Personal life Resnicoff had his Bar Mitzvah in 1961. Resnicoff's older brother is Arnold Resnicoff, a Rabbi and former U.S. Navy Chaplain.