AS LONG AS MANY OF THEM CAN REMEMBER, TOP CREATIVE DIRECTORS have reached for American Illustration for inspiration, when assigning the top artists for important commissions, and sometimes just to treat themselves to a little eye candy. To commemorate AI's 25th anniversary, 25 of today's top artists were commissioned by Mark Heflin, Director, to create a new work to represent one year from the last 2.5 decades. Each piece will run in the book as a double-page divider spread to accompany the 322 jury-selected images.

Between now and November 9th - the launch party at Angel Orensanz Foundation - DART will present the AI25 Anniversary Timeline artwork, three images at a time, twice a week. Watch this regular AI25 Timeline feature for party details and registration. And it's not too late to order advance copies of American Illustration 25 and American Photography 22  which will be available late November.

1982: Heart Art, by Seymour Chwast

The first permanent artificial heart is implanted in a human.

Seymour Chwast was born in New York City and is a graduate of The Cooper Union, where he studied illustration and graphic design. He is a founding partner of the celebrated Push Pin Studios (now The Pushpin Group), whose distinct style has had a worldwide influence on contemporary visual communications.

For a quarter of a century the studio published the Push Pin Graphic, with readers around the world. It was recently covered in a book published by Chronicle. Currently, along with his design and illustration assignments, Mr. Chwast produces The Nose, sent twice yearly to designers and art directors.

His award-winning work has influenced two generations of designers and illustrators. Mr. Chwast is a recipient of the AIGA Medal, is in the Art Directors Hall of Fame and has an honorary Ph.D in Fine Art from the Parson's School of Design. Chwast has exhibited and lectured widely. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other major museums around the world.

1983: Seal Wars, by Sue Coe

Captain Paul Watson blockades the seal ships. For two decades as Master and Commander of Sea Shepherd voyages, he sailed the world to protect, defend and conserve the Earth's wild oceans.

Sue Coe is one of the most important politically oriented artists living in the U.S. today. From the outset of her career working as an illustrator for such publications as the New York Times and The Progressive, Coe was committed to reaching a broad audience through the print media. Later, she began creating extended visual discourses on subjects (such as racial discrimination or animal rights) that she felt were not being adequately addressed by conventional news organizations.

Widely written about and exhibited, Coe's work has appeared on the cover of Art News and was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Her work is in the collections of many major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

1984: George Orwell's "1984," by R.O. Blechman and Nicholas Blechman

Looking back, none of Orwell's chilling predictions came true. But don't hold your breath.

R. O. Blechman:

Occupation: Illustrator, Animated filmmaker

Career high spots: Publication of first book in 1952

L'Histoire du Soldat film in 1983

Election to The Art Directors Hall of Fame in 1999

Scanning his own artwork in 2006

Nicholas Blechman is principal of Knickerbocker Design, an illustration and graphic design studio in the meatpacking district of Manhattan. He is publisher of "Nozone" and art director of the New York Times Book Review. His work has garnered awards from AIGA, American Illustration, Society of Publication Designers, and Art Director's Club.