Bob Cato
Encyclopedia
Bob Cato was a graphic designer
whose work in record album cover
design contributed to the development of music and popular culture for five decades. He was vice president of creative services at Columbia Records
, and later at United Artists
.
and José Clemente Orozco
. A Quaker, Cato was imprisoned during World War II
as a conscientious objector
. He then lived in Chicago
, studying with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
of the Bauhaus school
. Moving to Philadelphia in 1947, Cato studied with renowned art director and magazine designer Alexey Brodovich, eventually becoming Brodovitch's assistant at Harper's Bazaar
.
Cato painted and exhibited throughout the 1940s and 1950s, while serving as art director at Dance, Glamour, Jr. Bazaar and Theatre Arts magazines.
Cato began working in the music industry in 1959 at Columbia Records
, becoming vice president of creative services there and later at United Artists. During the next 20 years, he designed and oversaw hundreds of albums for dozens of artists, forging lasting relationships with many, including The Band
, Johnny Cash
, Miles Davis
, Bob Dylan
, George Harrison
, Janis Joplin
and Van Morrison
.
In 1966, he directed the CBS-TV miniseries Playback, featuring Leonard Bernstein
, Miles Davis, John Gielgud
, Johnny Mathis
and Igor Stravinsky
. He also served for many years on the advisory council of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1997, the Academy awarded Cato the President's Merit Award.
Among Cato's other accomplishments was a redesign of McCalls, art directorships of Ladies’ Home Journal and Jazz Review, and while vice president of Revlon
, he conceived and designed the Charlie fragrance campaign, contracting Lauren Hutton
to be the brand ambassador.
Bob Cato was married to Kate Jennings
, an Australian writer, poet and novelist, in 1988. He died as a result of complications of Alzheimer's disease in 1999.
s for Best Album Cover of the Year:
Graphic design occupations
A number of occupations are commonly classified under the broad term of graphic designer. Graphic design career paths cover all ends of the creative spectrum...
whose work in record album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
design contributed to the development of music and popular culture for five decades. He was vice president of creative services at Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, and later at United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
.
Biography
Bob Cato was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, he studied with Mexican painters Pablo O'HigginsPablo O'Higgins
Pablo Esteban O'Higgins was an American-Mexican artist, muralist and illustrator....
and José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
. A Quaker, Cato was imprisoned during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
. He then lived in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, studying with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts.-Early life:...
of the Bauhaus school
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
. Moving to Philadelphia in 1947, Cato studied with renowned art director and magazine designer Alexey Brodovich, eventually becoming Brodovitch's assistant at Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
.
Cato painted and exhibited throughout the 1940s and 1950s, while serving as art director at Dance, Glamour, Jr. Bazaar and Theatre Arts magazines.
Cato began working in the music industry in 1959 at Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, becoming vice president of creative services there and later at United Artists. During the next 20 years, he designed and oversaw hundreds of albums for dozens of artists, forging lasting relationships with many, including The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
.
In 1966, he directed the CBS-TV miniseries Playback, featuring Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Miles Davis, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
and Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
. He also served for many years on the advisory council of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1997, the Academy awarded Cato the President's Merit Award.
Among Cato's other accomplishments was a redesign of McCalls, art directorships of Ladies’ Home Journal and Jazz Review, and while vice president of Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
, he conceived and designed the Charlie fragrance campaign, contracting Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton
Lauren Hutton is an American model and actress. She is best-known for her starring roles in the movies American Gigolo and Lassiter, and also for her fashion modeling career.-Personal life:...
to be the brand ambassador.
Bob Cato was married to Kate Jennings
Kate Jennings
Kate Jennings is an Australian poet, essayist, memoirist, and novelist.-Life:Jennings grew up on a farm near Griffith, New South Wales. She attended the University of Sydney in the late 1960s, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours...
, an Australian writer, poet and novelist, in 1988. He died as a result of complications of Alzheimer's disease in 1999.
Awards
Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for Best Album Cover of the Year:
- Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
- People (1964) - Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- Greatest HitsBob Dylan's Greatest HitsBob Dylan's Greatest Hits is the eighth album released by Bob Dylan on Columbia Records, original catalogue number KCS 9643. It contains every Top 40 single Dylan enjoyed through 1967. It peaked at #10 on the pop album chart in the United States, and went to #3 on the album chart in the United...
(1968)