Barbara Stauffacher Solomon

Multi-disciplinary artist Barbara Stauffacher Solomon (1928-2024) was best known for her bold wall-painted Supergraphics of the 1960s and is widely recognized for her outsize influence on the trajectory of graphic design. An originator of California Cool, her unique visual sensibility combined with her Swiss design training is exemplified by one of her first jobs – the logo and wall paintings at Sea Ranch, a unique planned community on the California coast north of the Bay Area. Solomon’s signature aesthetic utilized black and vermillion line, shape, and sans serif typography at architectural scale and in her inventive works on paper.

The San Francisco-based artist worked as a dancer before studying painting and sculpture. After the death of her husband in 1956, she moved to Basel, Switzerland with her young daughter to study graphic design at The Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design) with acclaimed designer Armin Hofmann. Profoundly influenced by Hofmann’s teachings, she returned to San Francisco and established her own office in 1962, bringing the Swiss Style to California. In her 90s, Solomon began focusing on paper – namely drawing, collage, and artist books. Solomon’s thematic and sometimes autobiographical books were conceived of as intentional bodies of work. Her collages showcase her wry sense of humor and affinity for wordplay and graphic invention.

Over the course of her life, Solomon practiced as a designer, landscape architect, and writer and has taught at Harvard, Yale, San Francisco Art Institute, and the University of California at Berkeley. Solomon has had solo exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA, the Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, IL.