Henrietta Condak is an American graphic designer and design educator. She is noted for the use of historic references in her design work for CBS Records.
Early life
Condak was born in New York City. After graduating from
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...
, Condak began her career at ''
Esquire Magazine
''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst, it also has more than 20 international editions.
Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under the guidance of ...
''. Initially, she worked for ''
GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly)'', also published by Esquire, Inc., but later advanced to ''Esquire''s promotion department.
She left the magazine in 1958 to tour Italy with her soon-to-be husband, the illustrator Cliff Condak.
Career
CBS Records
Condak accepted a design position creating album cover designs for
in 1963. There she worked for art directors
Bob Cato
Robert G. Cato (September 5, 1923 – March 19, 1999) was an American photographer and graphic designer whose work in record album cover design contributed to the development of music and popular culture for five decades.Liner notes, London Phas ...
and
John Berg,
who was also a Cooper Union graduate. In 1965 she became one of the first women to be nominated for a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
in the category of
Best Classical Album Cover. She received a second Grammy nomination in 1968 for the design of ''
Haydn: Symphony No. 84 in E Flat Major'' / ''
Symphony No. 85 in B Flat Major ("La Reine")''.
Condak was eventually promoted to senior art director for
Columbia Masterworks
Columbia Masterworks was a record label started in 1924 by Columbia Records. In 1980, it was separated from the Columbia label and renamed CBS Masterworks. In 1990, it was revived as Sony Classical after its sale to the Sony Corporation.
Histor ...
where she designed hundreds of classical music albums. She commissioned cover art work from her husband as well as a number of other notable illustrators including
Milton Glaser
Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer, recognized for his designs, including the I Love New York logo; a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan; the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University, Brooklyn Brewery; and his ...
,
David Levine
David Levine (December 20, 1926 – December 29, 2009) was an American artist and illustrator best known for his caricatures in ''The New York Review of Books''. Jules Feiffer has called him "the greatest caricaturist of the last half of the ...
, David Wilcox and
Robert Weaver.
Condak also created typographic covers. Her designs for a series of 100 reissues of the Great Performances series used a common set of five vintage
wood typefaces.
In 1980, along with
Lou Dorfsman
Louis Dorfsman (April 24, 1918 – October 22, 2008) was an American graphic designer who oversaw almost every aspect of the advertising and corporate identity for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in his 40 years with the network.
Biog ...
, John Berg and illustrator
Gerard Huerta, she developed a logo for the label's rebranding to CBS Records Masterworks.
Design historian Philip Meggs, writing about graphic design at CBS Records, describes Condak's classical album covers as "romantic and esthetic enchantment". Other designers at CBS during Condak's tenure included
Carin Goldberg and
Paula Scher
Paula Scher (born October 6, 1948) is an American graphic designer, painter and design educator. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991. She started her career as an art director in the 1970s and ear ...
. Goldberg credits Condak as a leader in using historical vernacular for album cover design.
Both women recognize Condak as an important mentor in their careers.
Later career
In 1984, Condak left CBS to open her own design studio. She continued to create album covers for clients that included
Nonesuch and
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
. In addition, she re-entered the realm of publishing, designing for
Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
,
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
, ''
Business Week
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'', ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'', and the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', among others.
In addition to her professional design work, Condak taught at the
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design.
History
This school was started by Silas ...
for more than 30 years.
Awards and recognition
Condak's album cover designs have received awards from ''
Communication Arts
''Communication Arts'' (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustra ...
'' and AIGA, the
American Institute of Graphic Arts
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...
.
Her 1964 album cover for ''Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra'' and her 1967 album cover for ''Haydn: Symphony No 84 In E Flat Major And Symphony No. 85 In B Flat Major La Reine'' received Grammy Award nominations for Best Album Cover.
References
External links
Henrietta Condak in the AIGA ArchivesDiscogsHenrietta Condak, Cary Collection Graphic Design ArchiveHenrietta Condak collection, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RITHenrietta Condak, Cary Collection Digital Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Condak, Henrietta
American graphic designers
American women graphic designers
Cooper Union alumni
School of Visual Arts faculty
American album-cover and concert-poster artists
Book designers
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Designers from New York City
20th-century American artists
20th-century American women artists