STEVE JOBS (1955–2011)

A commemorative issue of TIME magazine dedicated to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and one of the most influential figures in technological culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The cover features the celebrated portrait of a young Jobs with a Macintosh computer. The presentation is complemented by the phrase “Don’t Settle”, a concise statement that, within the composition, evokes the standards of ambition, inquiry and pursuit of excellence associated with his public image.

Steve Jobs became one of the central figures of the personal computer revolution. Apple, which he co-founded with Steve Wozniak, had a profound influence on personal computing, digital music, smartphones and contemporary technology design. Introduced in 1984, the Macintosh occupies a particular place within this history and became one of the most recognizable visual symbols of the early personal-computing era.

At the centre of the object is TIME’s October 17, 2011 commemorative issue, published following Jobs’s death. The black-and-white portrait with the Macintosh, framed by TIME’s distinctive red border, creates the principal graphic focus. The magazine is presented within a frame against a broad black mount, with a separate plaque below bearing the phrase “Don’t Settle” and Steve Jobs’s name. The restrained artist-designed presentation emphasizes the documentary character of the magazine while giving the complete composition the presence of an exhibition piece.

The combination of a historic TIME issue, the iconic image of Jobs with the Macintosh and a museum-inspired presentation gives the work particular relevance to collections devoted to Apple history, personal computing, design, entrepreneurship and technological culture. It brings together magazine history and the visual legacy of one of the defining figures of the digital age.