Henry Steiner, China

AGI member since 1980

Back to members

His family escaped Vienna in 1939. Henry grew up in Manhattan. At Hunter College, despite studying with masters like Robert Motherwell, he found that he was not a painter. Finally, at the Yale School of Art under Paul Rand, he discovered that the artwork he had been doing for school newspapers, yearbooks and theatre sets was called ‘graphic design’. He received a Fulbright scholarship to the Sorbonne, Paris. Then in 1961 Henry landed in Hong Kong for a nine-month assignment as The Asia Magazine’s first Design Director. A long-running series of banknotes based on Chinese mythological creatures for Standard Chartered Bank is still in circulation. Henry has been named Hong Kong Designer of the Year, a World Master by Japan’s Idea magazine, and one of Icograda’s Masters of the 20th Century. Henry received an honorary doctorate from Hong Kong Baptist University and is honorary professor at two Hong Kong Universities.

Design work by Henry Steiner


    Henry Steiner, China (1980)

    His family escaped Vienna in 1939. Henry grew up in Manhattan. At Hunter College, despite studying with masters like Robert Motherwell, he found that he was not a painter. Finally...

    Read full biography
    Henry Steiner, China (1980)

    His family escaped Vienna in 1939. Henry grew up in Manhattan. At Hunter College, despite studying with masters like Robert Motherwell, he found that he was not a painter. Finally, at the Yale School of Art under Paul Rand, he discovered that the artwork he had been doing for school newspapers, yearbooks and theatre sets was called ‘graphic design’. He received a Fulbright scholarship to the Sorbonne, Paris. Then in 1961 Henry landed in Hong Kong for a nine-month assignment as The Asia Magazine’s first Design Director. A long-running series of banknotes based on Chinese mythological creatures for Standard Chartered Bank is still in circulation. Henry has been named Hong Kong Designer of the Year, a World Master by Japan’s Idea magazine, and one of Icograda’s Masters of the 20th Century. Henry received an honorary doctorate from Hong Kong Baptist University and is honorary professor at two Hong Kong Universities.