[henry wolf]
[harper's bazaar december 1958 cover] [show april 1963 cover]
[harper's bazaar cover] [show august 1962 cover]
Henry Wolf – Design Hero
One of my favorite and go-to designers is Mr. Henry Wolf. Wolf was born in 1925, in Vienna Austria. Like many designers, he was skilled at many aspects of art such as: photography, art directing, teaching, and of course graphic design. He is most notoriously known for being the art director and editorial designer at the following magazine companies: Show, Harper’s Bazaar (1958), and Esquire (1952). It was fellow graphic designer, Alex Brodovitch who literally handed down his art director position to Wolf in 1958. Some of his covers are literally the most outstanding pieces of work and should be viewed by all graphic designers. A few of them I have posted to give an idea of the kind of talent this man possessed.
Having worked with such famous photographers as: Art Kane, Melvin Sokolsky, and Richard Avedon, not only led Wolf to open up his own photography studio in New York but also further launched these men’s careers. Wolf was also a master at ad campaigns and directed advertisement campaigns for: Coca-Cola, Alka Seltzer, De Beers, Saks Fifth Avenue, IBM, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Gillette, Xerox, and Buick. He won such awards like: the medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts for Lifetime Achievement (1976), Induction into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame and the Royal Society of Arts (1980), the Herb Lubalin Award from the Society of Publication Designer (1989), and a Doctor of Fine Arts by the Parsons School of Design (1996). In addition, Wolf taught graphic design at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School of Design.
Wolf’s work is along the lines of surrealist/expressionist. The way he plays with typography is truly something to be studied, and the way he fills his space is truly inspiring. I always see myself going back to him and other designers during this time period for inspiration in my own work. He has a style that really represents the 50's and 60's, from the color, typography, design, and everything else is so true to these generations. Four major themes that show up in his work consistently are "art, love, time, and money." Which are timeless themes that any designer at some point in his/her career focuses on. A few of my favorite pieces of his, are the cover for Show Magazine with Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy’s faces making up the American flag. The idea behind it is obvious that this family is the new America. And the execution of having their faces make up the flag is brilliant. It takes on a humorous tone and the colors are subdued enough to take this issue more seriously but still attract all varieties of people because during this time the majority of the country admired and wanted to be the Kennedys. Another favorite piece of mine is his cover for the last Harper's Bazaar cover shown. The way he styles the title of the magazines is very interesting. Typically, for designers this is a "no, no" you don't alter, destroy or change the read of the title. However, I think in this instance we see Wolf do a very unique manipulation to the word "Bazaar" and it works. I'd even go further to say that it's comical and goes well with the rest of the issue. Unfortunately in 2005 Wolf died in New York and this world lost one of the most talented graphic designers.
Bibliography
Glaser, Milton. “Henry Wolf.” 2011. September 21, 2011. <http://www.aiga.org/medalist-henrywolf/>.
“Henry Wolf – Graphic Designer.” 2009. September 21, 2011. <http://www.revelinnewyork.com/blog/11/03/2009/henry-wolf-graphic-designer
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