Regular Edition: Hardcover, 10" x 12.75", 5.18lb, 286 pages, ISBN 9781954632400
Signed Limited Edition: Hardcover in Slipcase with Signed Bookplate, 6.20lb, ISBN 9781954632493
Print version available in December 2025
Creating the Hero: The Art of Michael Schwab
A magnificent 50-year retrospective of Michael Schwab's graphic art and design, this large-format volume showcases over 200 color plates featuring hand-drawn preliminary sketches and Polaroid photographs of his models that form the foundation of his distinctive work. These intimate glimpses into Schwab's creative process reveal how he transforms observation into his signature heroic and iconic characters. A definitive coffee table treasure.
Opening with the beloved and iconic Muir Woods design gracing its cover, this retrospective captivates audiences far beyond the graphic design world. Schwab's bold portraits span the breadth of American culture—celebrating chefs and sommeliers, opera and jazz legends, baseball heroes and Olympic athletes, the majesty of National Parks and the romance of the American West with its cowboys, bison, mountain vistas, and locomotives. Each image seduces through graphic simplicity and visual power, distilling complex subjects into their essential heroic forms. From an opera house stage to wilderness trails, from cultural icons to everyday heroes, Schwab's work elevates the ordinary into the extraordinary. His distinctive style—characterized by bold silhouettes, dramatic contrast, and timeless composition—has defined American graphic design for half a century.
"There is a classic quality to his work—contemporary, but never trendy—that unique point of view." —Robert Redford
Clients include: Amtrak, Apple, Major League Baseball, Levi Strauss & Co, National Parks Service, Nike, The North Face, NY Metropolitan Opera, Pebble Beach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Robert Redford, The San Francisco Opera, Scribners, Turner Classic Movies, US Dept. of the Interior, 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
Michael's work is included in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor: Achenbach Collection, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Library of Congress, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.