Jacqueline Casey

Jacqueline Casey studied at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Employment is recorded with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Work by Jacqueline Casey is recorded in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Art and Crafts Hamburg and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

• Name — Jacqueline Casey • Birth Name — Jacqueline Shepard • Born — 20 April 1927 • Birthplace — Quincy, Massachusetts, US • Died — 18 May 1992 • Place of death — Brookline, Massachusetts, US • Field — Graphic design, fashion illustration, interior design • Training — Massachusetts College of Art (BFA, 1949) • Movement — Modernist • Patrons — Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Casey was born Jacqueline Shepard in 1927 in Quincy, Massachusetts, the only child of a working-class couple. She studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fashion design and illustration at the Massachusetts College of Art (MassArt), graduating in 1949. After graduating, she had a number of jobs, including work in interior design and advertising, however she never obtained a job she was completely interested in; she stated, "I broke the negative cycle by traveling through Europe for three months" and came back "with the decision to focus my life on something related to the arts... to develop my visual sensitivity."

The professional quality and creative additions to design are what made the MIT's campus design group widely respected in the field. MIT is acknowledged as the first American college to employ graphic designers as part of the faculty, and Jacqueline Casey was one of the few who were hired. The prototype for the university's publisher (MIT Press) was implemented by the graphic designers, who became known for the meticulous and straightforward style of their typography. Campus projects, programs, cultural, and scientific events were advertised on campus, locally, and to the world at large through the group designer's works. In 1955, Jacqueline Shepard was recruited by fellow MassArt alumna Muriel Cooper to work at the Office of Publications at MIT. She later stated, “In my early days at MIT, a designer working on summer materials would interview faculty and have a mini-course in a subject such as radioisotopes from the professor in charge. There was an opportunity to learn something new every day.” In 1972, Casey became Director, taking over this position as her colleague joined the MIT faculty. The two women were among the few working at this professional level at MIT of the time. During her tenure as Director, Casey became known for designing distinctive publicity posters for MIT events, working alongside Ralph Coburn and Dietmar Winkler. Casey's designs were influenced by the International Typographic Style recently developed in Switzerland, particularly designers such as Karl Gerstner, Armin Hofmann, and Josef Müller-Brockmann. Casey's posters generally consisted of a striking image or bold typography, accompanied by informational details in smaller text. She often used typographic wordplay and visual puns in her work. Speaking of her designs in 1988, she said: "My job is to stop anyone I can with an arresting or puzzling image, and entice the viewer to read the message in small type and above all to attend the exhibition." As well as being used for promotion of on-campus events and in MIT publications, Casey's work was exhibited at MIT, the Chelsea School of Art in London, and the London College of Printing.

In 1958, Jacqueline Shepard married William "Bill" Casey, and changed her name to Jacqueline S Casey. Her spouse was a psychologist doing social work from a home office in their art-filled home in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1975, he died of cancer. Jacqueline Casey herself was diagnosed with cancer in 1982, and struggled to handle the workload at MIT with assistance of her staff. In 1989 she was forced to retire, but her longtime colleague, neighbor, and friend Muriel Cooper arranged for her to continue work as a visiting scholar at the MIT Media Laboratory. Casey died of cancer on May 18, 1992.

• Give Blood. 1983. • Arts on the Line. 1980. • Poster for Coffee Hour. 1979. • Ger Dekkers (New Dutch Landscape) Exhibition Poster. 1979. • Mediums of Language. 1977. • Art and Environment. Poster for MIT’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies, 1972. • Poster for Octave of Prayer. 1972. • Goya: The Disasters of War. 1971. • Six Artists Exhibition Poster. 1970. • Poster for Open House. 1969. • Poster for The Moon Show. 1969. • Poster for Center for Space Research. 1968. • Light 7 Exhibition Poster. 1968. • Miscellaneous Motions of Kinetic Sculpture. 1967. • Poster for Boston Visual Arts Union. Hayden Gallery. • Poster for MIT Gospel Choir: God Is... • Poster for MIT Gospel Choir: There Is NoGreaterLove. • LincolnLab Recruitment Poster. • Walking in the Spirit: A Celebration of Gospel Music.

• Furniture by Architects Exhibition Poster. 1981. • Two Views/Peter Berg, Two Sculptures/Ed Rothfarb. 1979. • MIT Symphony Orchestra Tour 1973. 1973. • Medicine of the Future. 1971. • Monuments to Malcolm X Poster. 1970. • Stop Oil Pollution. 1970. • Library Booklet Cover. 1967. • Ocean Engineering Recruitment Poster. 1967. • Humanities Series Concerts. 1966. • Corners Exhibition Poster. • Presidents' Ball Poster. • Technology and Policy Program at MIT.

• Jacqueline Casey. 1990. • Academic Honesty: Are Our Standards Clear?. 1984. • Elijah: Felix Mendelssohn. 1984. • James Turrell: An Installation. Wallace Library. 1983. • Constructed Color: Sculpture by James Biederman, James Hoberman, Steve Keister, Lizbeth Marano, George Mayocole. Wallace Library. 1982. • Great Big Drawings. Wallace Library. 1982. • Intimate Architecture: Contemporary Clothing Design. Wallace Library. 1982. • 4 Painters. Wallace Library. 1981. • Body Language. Wallace Library. 1981. • The Computer: From Counting To Cognition. 1979. • Chemistry at MIT. 1978. • Cancer: Symposium on the Occasion of the Dedication of the Seeley G. Mudd Building. 1975. • Brassai, The Eye of Paris: An Exhibition of Photographs. 1974. • Fredrich St. Florian Projects. Wallace Library. 1973. • A Spring Festival of Music 1972 in Honor of Klaus Liepmann. 1972. • Poster for Faculty-Student Exchange Program. 1972. • Lift Equilibrium: An Outdoor Experiment. 1969. • Hans Haacke Exhibition Poster. Wallace Library. 1967. • Aesthetics of Progress. • Helène Aylon. • Seven Montreal Painters.

• Casey, Jacqueline S. & Small, David. Fives. Visible Language Workshop, October 1990. • Russia, USA Peace. 1985. • Judge at Creativity on Paper exhibition. Sponsored by Art Direction magazine, 1966.