Sadamitsu Neil Fujita (, May 16, 1921 – October 23, 2010) was an American graphic designer known for his innovative book cover and record album designs.

Early life

Born in Waimea, Hawaii, to Japanese immigrants, Fujita attended a boarding school in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, where he adopted the name Neil. He enrolled in Chouinard Art Institute, but his studies were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and his forced relocation in 1942 (following the signing of Executive Order 9066), first to the Pomona Assembly Center outside Los Angeles and later to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. During his confinement, he worked as the art director of the camp newspaper, the ''Heart Mountain Sentinel''. He enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

on January 1, 1943, and served in an anti-tank unit with the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a segregated regiment of

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian Americans, Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 United States census, 2000 census, they have declined in ...

volunteers and draftees that became the most decorated unit in the war. He was assigned to combat duty in Europe—seeing action in Italy and France, but eventually worked as a translator in the Pacific theater in Okinawa. Fujita achieved the rank of Master Sergeant. He completed his studies at Chouinard after the war on the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

Career

Fujita joined a prominent Philadelphia ad agency— N.W. Ayer & Son—after completing his studies. He worked for Ayer for three years and during his tenure was awarded an

Art Directors Club The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization for art directors in New York City. It was founded in 1920, and has grown as an industry group, promoting art directors' work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award fo ...

gold medal for his Container Company of America ad. He employed an avant-garde style and was noticed by William Golden at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. Columbia hired him in 1954 to lead the design department, building on the work of Alex Steinweiss who established the practice of custom cover art. Fujita was the first to commission painters, photographers and illustrators to create cover art for Columbia's albums. Columbia felt a particular need to keep up with the cover art of Blue Note Records. While at Columbia, Fujita designed close to 50 album covers, including numerous iconic jazz covers from the period for Dave Brubeck,

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

, the Jazz Messengers, and Charles Mingus, among others. Fujita used his own colorful abstract paintings for the covers of Brubeck's '' Time Out'', Gigi Gryce's '' Modern Jazz Perspective'', and '' Mingus Ah Um.'' In 1957, Fujita left Columbia in order to broaden his portfolio. He rejoined the company a year later but left for good in 1960 to start his own firm. In 1963, he joined the public relations firm Ruder & Finn, creating a design division called Ruder, Finn & Fujita (later Fujita Design) where he embarked on a long career of book cover design. He designed the covers for '' In Cold Blood'', ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

'', and ''

Pigeon Feathers ''Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories'' is a collection of 19 works of short fiction by John Updike. The volume is Updike's second collection of short stories, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1962. It includes the stories "Wife-Wooing" and "A&P (s ...

''. He taught design at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, the Pratt Institute, and Parsons School of Design. Near the time of retirement in the late 1980s, he served on the Board of Designers of the Go For Broke Monument near the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.

Death

A resident of Southold, New York, Fujita died at age 89 due to complications of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

on October 23, 2010, in Greenport, New York. He was survived by a younger brother, Hisao "Hy" Fujita, (also a graphic designer), three sons and six grandchildren. His wife, Aiko Tamaki, whom he met while she was also a student at Chouinard, died in 2006.

Bibliography

* ''Aim for a job in graphic design/art'' (1979)

References

* Chang, Gordon H., Mark Dean Johnson, Paul J. Karlstrom & Sharon Spain, Asian American Art, a History, 1850–1970, Stanford University Press, , pp. 314–315 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujita, S. Neil 1921 births 2010 deaths American graphic designers United States Army personnel of World War II Chouinard Art Institute alumni American artists of Japanese descent Artists from Hawaii Artists from New York (state) Pratt Institute faculty Parsons School of Design faculty People from Kauai County, Hawaii People from Southold (town), New York United States Army soldiers American military personnel of Japanese descent University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty Japanese-American internees People from Greenport, Suffolk County, New York