Gertrude Huston
Gertrude Huston (1919 – August 26, 1998)[1] was an American artist and illustrator[2] known for designing book covers for New Directions.
Early life and education[edit]
Gertrude Huston was born in New York City in 1919[1] and grew up in New York and Wilton, Connecticut.[3]
Huston graduated from Parsons School of Design.[3][4]
Career[edit]
Huston worked at the Helena Rubinstein salon in New York. After a tenure at Lucien Long in Chicago, Huston returned to New York City to work at Blaker Advertising Agency.[3] Huston was also a contract employee at the Ford Foundation.[4]
Huston began designing books for New Directions on a freelance basis. She designed books for the publishing company from the late 1940s through the late 1970s.[1] She also served as Art Director of New Directions.[3]
In his book "Literchoor Is My Beat": A Life of James Laughlin, Publisher of New Directions, Ian S. MacNiven describes Huston's book design style:
"Her covers suggested the influence of Alvin Lustig but tended more toward the whimsical: for the second printing of Thomas's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, she made a line drawing of a show-clipped French poodle, anglicized with a pipe and derby, sitting at a typewriter. It was humorous, but it certainly was not Dylan."[4]
Huston ended her regular work with New Directions in 1978, after a clash with Dan Allman — then head of book design — over the design of H.D.'s End to Torment: A Memoir of Ezra Pound. She continued to design book covers for the publishing company only occasionally afterwards.[4]
Outside of her book design work, Huston served as the secretary of Community Board No. 5 in Manhattan. She was active at the Midtown South Police Precinct Community Council and Encore Community Services at St. Malachy's Church.[3] She served as president of the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association.[5] A fan of jazz music, Huston was a member of the Duke Ellington Society, and lobbied to have Ellington formally memorialized in New York City.[3][2]
Selected New Directions books designed by Huston[edit]
- The Blood Oranges by John Hawkes[6]
- The Selected Poems of Irving Layton[7]
- Sun Rock Man by Cid Corman[8]
- Arrival: Book 1 of Daily Lives in Aghsi-Altai by Robert Nichols[9]
- The Delights of Turkey: Twenty Tales by Edouard Roditi[9]
- The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton by Thomas Merton[9]
- The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton[9]
- A Dark Stranger by Julien Gracq[10]
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (second ed.) by Dylan Thomas[4]
Other books designed by Huston[edit]
- In Another Country by James Laughlin[4]
Personal life[edit]
Huston lost a husband in World War Two. Huston met New Directions founder James Laughlin at a Halloween dance party in 1945.[4] The pair maintained an affair through both of Laughlin's earlier marriages, though they married on December 5, 1990.[1]
Death[edit]
Gertrude Huston died in Norfolk, Connecticut on August 26, 1998, after a long illness.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Laughlin, James; Williams, Tennessee (2018-03-13). The Luck of Friendship: The Letters of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-65274-1.
- ^ a b "Metropolitan Diary". The New York Times. 1977-01-26. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Paid Notice: Deaths LAUGHLIN, GERTRUDE HUSTON". The New York Times. 1998-08-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g MacNiven, Ian S. (2014-11-18). "Literchoor Is My Beat": A Life of James Laughlin, Publisher of New Directions. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-374-29939-2.
- ^ Austin, Charles (1981-06-14). "Church's Program for Homeless Upsets Its Neighbors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ Hawkes, John (1972-04-17). The Blood Oranges. New Directions Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8112-2255-6.
- ^ Layton, Irving (1977). The Selected Poems of Irving Layton. New Directions Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8112-0642-6.
- ^ Corman, Cid (1970). Sun Rock Man. New Directions Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8112-0024-0.
- ^ a b c d "The Beat & Little Magazine Collection". arwen.lib.usu.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
- ^ "A Dark Stranger - 50 Watts". 50watts.com. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
External links[edit]
- New Directors Publishing Corp. records at Houghton Library, Harvard University
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