Remembering Bruce Beck Designer, Printer, Teacher, and Caxtonian
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caxtonian JOURNAL OF THE CAXTON CLUB VOLUME XVII, NO. 11 NOVEMBER 2009 Remembering Bruce Beck Designer, Printer, Teacher, and Caxtonian Robert McCamant his mother who the girl was working at the jewelry store. ruce Beck (’77) was a She could think only of the Bpivotal member of the older-women salesclerks, and Caxton Club. His web of said none worked there. But personal connections led out then the thought came to her: towards dozens of members it must have been the jeweler’s both older and younger than daughter, Margaret! “She’s way himself. He was an organizer too young for you,” was her of Club programs, and the motherly advice. designer of Club publications. A year later, they were Unfortunately, he was confined married. to the McGaw Care Center of Margaret was teaching at the Presbyterian Homes for Elgin high school, and Bruce several years, so new members had a job doing design work at are unlikely to have met him a printing company. But Bruce or his delightful wife Margaret. was getting restless, so Margaret He died on July 21 of this year. assured him that he should feel He was born in Harvard, Illi- free to strike out on his own. nois, in 1916. Printing interested So he took a space in an office him from an early age. In high above the Schubert Theater school, he had a part time job with three other people (Rainey at the Lanning Bag Company Bennett, Martha Bennett King, of Harvard, which made cloth and James Hayes) and hung bags for the distribution of out his own shingle. After a screws. He made himself so few months, he went to work useful there that the owner of at Whittaker Gurnsey studio, the factory tried to talk him out where he stayed for three of going to college, asking him years. Then, in 1952, Bruce to train as the future head of Beck Design became his only the factory. employer for the remainder Beck had the sense that the of his life. That same year he world had more to offer than screw bags, and He served four years in the Army, rising to the became a member of 27 Chicago Designers, went ahead and attended Cornell College. He rank of Captain despite poor vision. the organization. majored in English there, and minored in art. Upon his return after the war, he took a From 1952 to 1981 (when Beck gave up A decisive moment came when during senior train to Harvard from Chicago. Meanwhile, graphic design for a second career as a fine year (1938) he discovered a copy of 27 Chicago Margaret was meeting an arriving boyfriend printer) he served a raft of businesses and not- Designers, the book, in the college library. on the same train. They crossed paths at for-profits, designing books, signs, packages, That spring vacation, he came to Chicago to Margaret’s father’s jewelry store on Main and promotional materials. He won design meet many of those designers: John Averill, Street when Beck stopped in for a new watch awards from the Society of Typographic Arts, Rainey Bennett, Ray DaBoll, Everett McNear, band. Margaret figured out who he was, and the Art Director’s Club of Chicago, and the R. Hunter Middleton, Bert Ray. He had a named some of his classmates who were American Institute of Graphic Arts. He also glimpse of the world he wanted to join. attending a nearby college. Bruce was several found time to teach classes at the Institute of But several years intervened before that years older than Margaret, so even though Design (now part of IIT) and to serve on the became possible. First there were some unsat- they had attended the same high school, he board of the International Design Conference isfying jobs, and then there was World War II. did not know her. He went home and asked See BRUCE BECK, page 2 BRUCE BECK, from page 1 at Aspen. His family tells the memorable story of a o time they were headed C A X T O N I A N out for an Aspen confer- ence, during the period when Bruce was head of membership for the Caxton Club, Founded 1895 organization. At 6 am David S. Mann, President on a Friday morning, the Wendy Cowles Husser, Vice-President family car broke down in Bruce H. Boyer, Secretary Nebraska. Once it had Thomas E. Swanstrom,Treasurer C. Steven Tomashefsky, Past been towed 50 miles to President the nearest town, the Council prognosis was grim: the Class of 2010 part it required would Dorothy J. Anderson take two days to arrive. Don Chatham But the Aspen member- above The Design Mary Ann Johnson ship materials needed Partnership in 1974: Philip R. Liebson standing: Bud Mabrey, J. William Locke to get to the conference on time. A rental car for Hank Robertz, Haywrd Class of 2011 Blake; seated: Bruce Beck, Martha Chiplis Bruce was considered, Jack Weiss. right Floor Jill Gage but rejected in favor of Bradley Jonas plan of the office. Dan “Skip” Landt buying a new car. By 3 Alice D. Schreyer pm that afternoon, they had settled on the station Class of 2012 wagon they wanted, but Chicago banks had closed, Susan Hanes precluding a telephone call to establish his check was Jon Lellenberg Margaret Oellrich good. Fortunately, Bruce, Margaret, and the kids Morrell McKenzie Shoemaker, Jr. seemed right to the dealer. “You look like honest Mary S. Williams people,” he told them as he sent them on their way. Appointed Officers Beck was especially proud of his relationship with Robert Karrow, Programs long-term clients, in particular S.C. Johnson and Paul F. Gehl, Archivist-Historian Rand McNally, both of which he served for more Hayward R. Blake, FABS Representative than 30 years. “The design business was very different Committees in those days,” explained Margaret. “When we’d send Margaret Oellrich, Audio Visual out an invoice, we’d almost always get payment back J. William Locke, Dorothy Sinson in ten days. I don’t see how people can get started (Co-Chairs), Friday Luncheons these days, with companies holding payments for Dan “Skip” Landt, Membership Susan Rossen, Kim Coventry, months.” Publications and Exhibitions 1968 was a landmark year in his design history, Martha Chiplis, Scholarship because in that year he and several friends (Hayward John M. Dunlevy, Matthew Doherty, Blake, Lindell Mabrey, Henry Robertz, Jack Weiss, Web Site and Directory and Ken Kaiser) formed the Design Partnership. Caxton Club Staff Here’s how Communication Arts described it in a 20- Dan Crawford, General Manager page article in 1974. Caxtonian short of the ideal.... They began considering a more ...The total staff numbers 26 and they operate out Robert McCamant, Editor integrated working arrangement with shared space Wendy Husser, Copy Editor of offices in Chicago and Evanston. With that much and facilities... They found an interesting location, a Robert Cotner, Founder description, The Design Partnership sounds like a Matthew J.Doherty, Wendy Husser, whole floor of a triangular-shaped building that was normally-structured design firm with the capability Paul Ruxin, Florence Shay, primarily one large open space. The former tenant Contributing Editors of handling very large projects. Sometimes they do. was a clothing store. It had 6000 square feet and a 16- ©2009, Caxton Club. The Caxtonian is published But there is something unique about the organiza- foot ceiling. A carefully thought-out interior design monthly by the Caxton Club, whose office is tion. It is also four more modestly-sized firms that in The Newberry Library. Printing: Kelmscott plan turned this into a really handsome, functional Communications, Aurora, IL. can operate individually or in tandem. working space with all the amenities an artist/ designer could want. ...Being in neighboring offices allowed a workable participation in mutual projects and a fairly free The article even devoted a full page to the floor exchange of ideas and critiques, but it was sometimes plan of the office! The Caxton Club • 60 W. Walton St., Chicago, IL 60610-3305 • ph 312-255-3710 • [email protected] • www.caxtonclub.org Margaret explained an unusual element of her husband’s administrative style, which Russell Maylone remembers Bruce Beck he followed pretty much everywhere he could, with clients, partners, and even fellow ruce Beck and members of volunteer organizations. “Any BI first met time there was a difference of opinion, he in 1971, when the insisted that things be talked through until Northwestern a common opinion developed. No cutting Library needed a the discussion off with a vote! The result was bookplate for the that everyone ended up on the same page and collection of the worked better subsequently.” works of the Latin I’m not certain when I met Beck myself. It poet Horace. must have been in the late 70s, when he was Someone sug- still a practicing designer but had started to gested that Bruce think about his second career as a printer. might be inter- Perhaps it was at a Wayzgoose in San Fran- ested in doing cisco in 1979. (These days, Wayzgoose is the such a bookplate name for any sort of gathering of letterpress and thus our first printers. It was originally the name for a party meeting. What happened was less about several places on the meadow. I convinced given by a printer on the occasion of putting the bookplate (though one was made) than the Library that the print would be a suit- waxed paper into the windows of the print about using printing and images to promote able token.