John J Reiss

'Colors'. Illustrated by John J Reiss (1922- ), first published in 1969. John graduated from the Wisconsin State College in Milwaukee now the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he was in attendance from 1944 to 1946. 

John also attended the Black Mountain College summer schools. Black Mountain College was founded by Josef Albers (German, 1888–1976) and Walter Gropius (American and German, 1883–1969) from the Bauhaus in the 1930's after they had fled Nazi Germany. The summer art institute of 1945 had guest teachers,  Paul Rand (American, 1914-1996) and Alvin Lustig (American, 1915–1955), an innovative graphic, interior, and industrial designer, these two designers left a marked impression on John Reiss.

After his studies, John worked briefly in New York as a freelance designer. He returned to Milwaukee in 1947 and helped to organize the International Print Show held at UW-Milwaukee in 1956 and authored and illustrated many concept board books including; Colors, Shapes, and Numbers.