Rudolph de Harak, USA

AGI member since 1963

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In the late 1940s, de Harak worked as a trainee commercial artist in Los Angeles. He became fascinated by the idea of Bauhaus modernism, to which he was introduced by a lecture by Will Burtin and later by Gyorgy Kepes. ‘I was searching for what I called the “hidden order”.’ He then realized that it was possible to communicate visual information in a way that transcended common conventions and that this could become art. After WW2 he took a job as an art director at Seventeen magazine and in 1952 he opened his own studio in NY. In the 1960s he got quite a reputation for designing the timeline and typography display for the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum and the three-storey digital clock and futuristic entryway of 127 John Street, Manhattan. He taught at the Cooper Union and Yale University. He received an AIGA medal for lifetime achievement in 1993. Rudolf also produced a beautiful book on posters by AGI members, 1960–85.

Design work by Rudolph de Harak

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    Rudolph de Harak, USA (1963)

    In the late 1940s, Rudolph de Harak worked as a trainee commercial artist in Los Angeles. He became fascinated by the idea of Bauhaus modernism, to which he was introduced...

    Read full biography
    Rudolph de Harak, USA (1963)

    In the late 1940s, de Harak worked as a trainee commercial artist in Los Angeles. He became fascinated by the idea of Bauhaus modernism, to which he was introduced by a lecture by Will Burtin and later by Gyorgy Kepes. ‘I was searching for what I called the “hidden order”.’ He then realized that it was possible to communicate visual information in a way that transcended common conventions and that this could become art. After WW2 he took a job as an art director at Seventeen magazine and in 1952 he opened his own studio in NY. In the 1960s he got quite a reputation for designing the timeline and typography display for the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum and the three-storey digital clock and futuristic entryway of 127 John Street, Manhattan. He taught at the Cooper Union and Yale University. He received an AIGA medal for lifetime achievement in 1993. Rudolf also produced a beautiful book on posters by AGI members, 1960–85.

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