Roy Kuhlman; Designer for Grove Press
Hyfler/Rosner
February 5, 2007 Monday
Late Edition - Final
Roy Kuhlman Dies at 83; Designer for Grove Press
BYLINE: By STEVEN HELLER
Roy Kuhlman, whose jazzlike improvisational paintings and
graphics for Grove Press books in the 1950s and '60s
introduced an Abstract Expressionist style to graphic
design, died in Mesa, Ariz. He was 83.
Although he had Alzheimer's disease for several years, the
cause of death was pneumonia, said his daughter, Arden
Riordan.
Mr. Kuhlman, who said his work was influenced by ''the
strong, simple'' style of the painter Franz Kline, developed
an array of colorful painted and drawn abstract and
geometric forms, which were combined with either clean
gothic typefaces or roughly sketched, expressive
letterforms. He developed this approach in the early '50s,
when other leading Modernist jacket designers, including
Paul Rand and Alvin Lustig, were employing symbolic and
expressionistic methods in a publishing field known for its
unambiguous realism and billboardlike typography.
But Mr. Kuhlman's minimalist graphic vocabulary was entirely
his own. He avoided literal representation, because he said
he could not really draw well. Instead, his random color
patterns and amorphous shapes seemed totally independent
from the texts they were illustrating. He rarely read the
manuscripts before designing the covers, and yet every image
was eye-catching and posterlike, designed to draw attention
to the books on the shelves.
Mr. Kuhlman was born on July 9, 1923, in Fort Worth. When he
was 3, his family moved to Glendale, Calif., so his father,
a mechanic, could find work. Born with a heart condition
that kept him indoors for most of his early years, the young
boy turned to the pursuit of art. His mother, who made
violins as a hobby, enrolled him in an adult figure-drawing
class as a child, and he continued to take drawing classes
through high school. He received a scholarship to the
Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and in 1946 obtained
another scholarship to the Art Students League of New York,
where he embraced Abstract Expressionism.
Realizing, however, he could not make a living as a painter
in New York, he looked for commercial work, and in 1951, at
28, he showed his portfolio to Barney Rosset, publisher of
the avant-garde Grove Press.
Although Mr. Rosset was looking for a distinctive style to
upgrade his lackluster jackets, he did not initially find
anything he liked in the portfolio, until Mr. Kuhlman
inadvertently showed him some of the abstract sketches,
prepared for his next interview, at a jazz record company.
The unconventional, abstract approach appealed to Mr.
Rosset, a friend of Wilhelm de Kooning, as exactly what
wanted to create allure for a line of on-the-edge
literature, including ''Krapp's Last Tape'' by Samuel
Beckett, ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' by Hubert Selby Jr. and
''The Balcony'' by Jean Genet.
He produced around 60 Grove Press covers a year, at $50 a
cover until the mid-'60s, when he raised his rate to $100.
He also designed the original format for Evergreen Review,
Grove's cultural magazine.
In addition to painting, Mr. Kuhlman experimented with
photographic techniques including photograms, made famous in
work by Man Ray. He often combined these and other
photographs with painting elements to achieve layers of
image and color. When printed on glossy cover paper, the
work achieved a vibrancy that was not common at that period.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kuhlman also got a start in the advertising
business from the famed art director Herb Lubalin at Sudler
& Hennessy, and became an art director and designer for
Columbia Records. Later he was hired by the public relations
firm Ruder & Finn to establish an in-house art department,
then joined Benton & Bowles, where he designed the
award-winning I.B.M. ''Mathematics Serving Man'' campaign.
I.B.M. also commissioned him to produce 700 slides and 52
live-action and animated shorts to promote computer sales.
In 1962 he joined Electra Films to work on motion graphics
and title sequences.
After retiring as a designer in the '80s, he continued to
make his own photographic experiments. In 1995 he was
inducted into the Art Directors' Hall of Fame.
He was married in the 1950s to Ellen Raskin, the graphic
designer and children's book author and illustrator, who is
deceased, and in 1961 he married Gilda Hannah, a
professional book designer, with whom he had two children.
Both marriages ended in divorce.
In addition to his daughter, who lives in Mesa, he is
survived by a son, Daniel Kuhlman of Denver, and a sister,
Micky Moody of Las Vegas.
Hyfler/Rosner
"Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:M5qdnW4r87YpflrY...@rcn.net...
> The New York Times
>
> February 5, 2007 Monday
> Late Edition - Final
>
> Roy Kuhlman Dies at 83; Designer for Grove Press
>
If you're of a certain age, these books covers are very
familiar. I bet I have 20 of his books.
http://www.torriblezone.com/roykuhlman.html
http://www.evergreenreview.com/107/print_article/pg62.html
MGW
scrawled:
>
> "Hyfler/Rosner" <rel...@rcn.com> wrote in message
> news:M5qdnW4r87YpflrY...@rcn.net...
> > The New York Times
> >
> > February 5, 2007 Monday
> > Late Edition - Final
> >
> > Roy Kuhlman Dies at 83; Designer for Grove Press
> >
>
>
> If you're of a certain age, these books covers are very
> familiar.
They sure are! Thanks for the links -
--
MGW
I have yet to see a problem, however complicated, which when you looked at
it in the right way, did not become still more complicated. ~ Poul Anderson