The Tiger’s Eye: The Art of a Magazine

The Tiger’s Eye, a widely read magazine of art and literature, was published in nine quarterly issues from 1947 to 1949 by writer Ruth Stephan and painter John Stephan. It took its name from the poem by William Blake. The Tiger’s Eye featured European and American Surrealists, members of the Latin American avant garde, and young American painters soon to become known as Abstract Expressionists. The artists, among them Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Adolph Gottlieb, Stanley William Hayter, Andre Masson, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Anne Ryan, Kay Sage, Kurt Seligmann, Rufino Tamayo, and Mark Tobey, as well as art editor and co-publisher John Stephan himself, range across the cultural forefront of the post-war period.

This handsome book presents numerous examples of the art, writings, and pages of the magazine, using it as a lens through which to view the art world during these richly creative years when its center was shifting from Paris to New York. Also included is an essay tracing the history of the magazine, along with an annotated index of its contributors. Lavishly produced as an homage to the format, striking design, and structural devices of The Tiger’s Eye, the resultant volume will not only contribute to our understanding of postwar art history but will itself illuminate every aspect of this complex publication.