Modernism's secret emotional side
When music and design meet, true gems can emerge. The Westminster Records album covers are proof. Thanks to Rudolph de Harak's talent, we can enjoy over 50 magnificent works—synthesis of abstract forms and expressionism.
"I tried to develop forms that in feeling covered the entire emotional spectrum and were impeccable in their sense and order." This was modernism for de Harak—pure rationalism but without neglecting the emotional and sentimental charge that colors and forms evoke.
When we think about modernism, we imagine something cold, neutral, sterile. De Harak's work shows us another way is possible. A dedicated modernist and one of the last heirs of the Bauhaus, his work is the perfect synthesis between Swiss and American modernism of the late 1950s.
De Harak understood that rational design didn't have to mean emotionless design. His album covers for Westminster Records proved that geometric abstraction could be warm, inviting, even joyful. Circles, lines, and color blocks arranged with mathematical precision—yet somehow they pulse with life.
"I was always looking for the 'hidden order,' trying to somehow either develop new forms or manipulate existing forms," de Harak explained. His covers didn't just package music—they visualized it. Each composition was a visual score, translating sound into shape and color.
"Constellations so rich that they in themselves would communicate content" — Rudolph de Harak
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