Hyphenated Designers

Jan Le Witt and George Him are two artists who work as one. To millions who have seen their art, they are known simply as Lewitt-Him, and for 20 years they have been turning out some of the most imaginative posters, advertising art and book illustrations of the day. Last week Lewitt-Him, visiting Manhattan from England, were proudly strolling about the Associated American Artists Galleries exhibiting their first two-man show in the U.S. Among the exhibits:

P: A wartime poster for Britain's Ministry of Food, featuring "The Vegetabull," a fanciful creature formed by carrots, turnips, celery, tomatoes, cauliflower, etc.

P: An accident-prevention poster showing a flourishing plant with petal-like human fingers. The legend: "If you can't grow fingers--grow careful."

P: A group from the famed Schweppshire ads (for Schweppes--TIME, Feb. 16), with texts by Stephen (Lifemanship) Potter.

P: An anti-black-market poster for the wartime Netherlands government in exile, depicting four huge men carrying large yellow bags under their arms, the four arms forming a swastika.

Him, 53, and Le Witt, 46, both Polish-born, see nothing odd in their hyphenated approach to their work. "When people ask us why we collaborate," says Him, "we ask, 'Why don't others do the same?' ' The single artist, he explains, must play critic and artist alternately. "Working together, we have this corrective thing all the time." Says Le Witt: "If you want to know who does what, we can't tell you anything. We think it's more interesting to leave people guessing."

During their visit, Lewitt-Him hope to line up some U.S. clients, and feel sure their ideas will not be lost on Americans. "If you can find something interesting in an object," says Le Witt, "you can interest other people. People like the vague bit of a puzzle, and once they get into it. they feel they are taking part in the creation of it." "Just," concludes Him, "as they accept the challenge of a crossword."

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