Rudolph De Harak

Background

Harak, Rudolph De was born on April 10, 1924 in Culver City, California, United States.

Career

De Harak was notable as a designer who covered a broad spectrum of applications with a distinctly modernist aesthetic. He was also influential as a professor of design. After serving in World World War II, de Harak was influenced by two lectures given by Will Burtin and György Kepes which compelled him to pursue graphic design.

Along with Saul Bass, Alvin Lustig and others, de Harak helped found the Los Angeles Society for Contemporary Designers before he moved to New York to become art director for Seventeen for just 18 months.

At the same time, de Harak drew illustrations for Esquire and soon began his long tenure in teaching. De Harak served "as the Frank Stanton Professor of Design, for a quarter century at the Cooper Union, and visiting professor at Yale, Alfred University, Parsons, Pratt Institute and other schools."

He designed a three-story digital clock installed on the exterior of 200 Water Saint (previously 127 John Street) in New York City.

The clock consists of "72 square modules with numerals that light according to date, hour, minute and second". He also designed a neon-illuminated entrance and a scaffold covered with brightly covered canvas outside.

He was the recipient of a 1992 American Institute of Graphic Arts Meda

Achievements

• Rudolph De Harak has been listed as a notable painter, graphic designer by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

De Harak is a member of the 1989 Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.