McGraw-Hill Paperback Covers^283
Rudolph de HarakIf modernism imposes coldness and sterility,
as critics have argued, then Rudolph de
Harak (b. 1924 ) must have done something
wrong. A devout modernist, his work for
public and private institutions has been
uncompromisingly human. For proof take 127
John Street, a typically modern skyscraper in
New York City’s financial district. Before de
Harak designed its entrance-level façade it
exuded all the warmth of glass and steel on a
winter’s day. But with the installation of his
three-story-high digital clock (composed of
seventy-two square modules with numerals
that light according to hour, minute, and
second), the mysterious neon-illuminated
tunnel leading to the lobby entrance, and the
bright canvas-covered permanent scaffolds
that serve as sun decks, 127 John Street was
transformed from a modern edifice into a playground.
De Harak’s innovative addition to the John Street building
enlivened a faceless street; likewise his inspired exhibition designs for
museums and expositions have transformed didactic displays into engaging
environments. Dedicated to the efficient communication of information, he
used detail the way a composer scores musical notes, creating melodies of
sensation to underscore meaning. His exhibits were indeed symphonies that
both enlightened and entertained. His exploded diesel engine, the
centerpiece of the Cummins Engine Company Museum in Columbus,
Indiana, in which virtually every nut and bolt of this complex machine was
deconstructed in midair, was evidence of the designer’s keen ability for
extracting accessible information from even the most minute detail. And
yet while his exhibition design explored the rational world, his graphic
design uncovered the subconscious.
Although de Harak deliberately employed neutral typography to
anchor his design, the hundreds of book jackets, record covers, and posters
he created between the opening of his design office in 1952 and its closing
in 1990 , are evidence that throughout his career he expressed emotion