Robert Samuel Haas (April 16, 1898–December 5, 1997) was a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

-born

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, art collector and book designer. He immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1939.

Biography and career

Robert Samuel Haas was born on April 16, 1898, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to Daniel and Ernestine Haas (née Pick). He was raised in Vienna, and received a degree in engineering from

Höhere Technische Lehranstalt A Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (German for ''Higher Technical Education Institute'', or more loosely translated ''Technical College''), commonly known as HTL, is an engineering-focused high school/institution of further education in Austria. As ...

. He studied calligraphy under Rudolf von Larisch and photography from

Trude Fleischmann Trude Fleischmann (22 December 1895 – 21 January 1990) was an Austrian-born American photographer. After becoming a notable society photographer in Vienna in the 1920s, she re-established her business in New York in 1940. Early life Born in Vi ...

. In 1925, he opened his own hand press printing shop, Officina Vindobonesis, in Vienna with Carry Hauser and Fritz Siegel, that mainly catered to the arts community. In addition to publishing his own works, they also published material for Austrian novelist

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, libretto, librettist, Poetry, poet, Playwdramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, th ...

, writer Otto Stoessl and artist

Alfred Kubin Alfred Leopold Isidor Kubin (10 April 1877 – 20 August 1959) was an Austrian artist, printmaker, illustrator, and occasional writer. Kubin is considered an important representative of Symbolism and Expressionism. Biography Kubin was born i ...

. He designed the

monogram A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...

for the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; ) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of ...

, which is still being used. His photo mural design for the Austrian Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World Fair, won the Grand Prix and the Gold Medal. Haas immigrated to the United States in 1939 and started Ram Press in New York City. He was a professor of calligraphy and typography at

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 ...

in Lower Manhattan until his retirement in 1967. From 1970 to 1971 he taught calligraphy at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and also taught at Purchase College. His archives and collections of calligraphy and typography were donated to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in 1996. In 1972, he was awarded the title of Beruss-Professor by Franz Jonas, then

President of Austria The president of Austria () is the head of state of the Austria, Republic of Austria. The office of the president was established in 1920 by the Constituent National Assembly (Austria), Constituent National Assembly of the First Austrian Repu ...

for his outstanding work in the United States. He was also selected three times for 50 Books of the Year Award. In 1946, he married Maude Dabbs, and they had two daughters. Haas died on December 5, 1997, in

Valhalla, New York Valhalla ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name wa ...

References

External links

* at ''Continuity/Rupture: Art and Architecture in Central Europe 1918-1939''
Book review of the Wien Museum exhibition catalogue
at ''Cosmopolis'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Haas, Robert Austrian typographers and type designers 1898 births 1997 deaths Calligraphers Austrian photographers American book publishing company founders Cooper Union faculty Yale University faculty State University of New York at Purchase faculty

Biography and career

See also

References

Further reading

External links