Linwood Lipanovic

Linwood Lipanovic (1915 - 2003) was the child of immigrants from Eastern Europe who settled in Northland. Aspiring to study architecture Lipanovic moved to Auckland but the cost of an architectural degree led to his studying at Elam School of Art. Lipanovic worked in the office of advertising agency J. Walter Thompson Studios on graduation. During the Second World War Lipanovic designed camouflage, then designed “Korero”, an illustrated magazine for soldiers serving overseas. Post war Lipanovic went to work with Elam graduate Bill Haythornthwaite at whose studio Lipanovic worked on the prestigious advertising campaigns for TEAL (Tasman Empire Airlines Ltd). After Lipanovic moved to the Carlton Carruthers agency he worked again on an airline account, this time for NAC (National Airways Corporation). For a time we stocked prints of Lipanovic’s work from this period, one of which (Be There Longer - Fly NAC) has been described by design writer Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins as Lipanovic’s “masterwork”. Lloyd-Jenkins wrote in “40 Legends of NZ Design” that this poster featuring a variation of the “Modern Sun Worshipper” has a “conceptual sophistication and near flawless execution that still takes your breath away”. Unfortunately the publisher of the prints had not got the the copyright clearance from the current copyright holder (Air New Zealand) whose ownership these images passed into when they merged the precursor airlines into the entity that exists today. Similar prints are still available from other designers in our vintage posters collection.