“I like the work, to solve problems. Advertising can be as much fun as anything because the problems are varied and non-recurring. That’s a problem with publishing. By the time you’ve done the fourth annual beauty issue, you’re sick of it. If the problem is dull then the results are dull…whether it’s in advertising where the client is the boss or in editorial where it’s the publisher who says yes or no in the end. As long as money is involved in art, there’s always one guy that has the last word. That’s the fallacy of research and the computers and all the numbers, because, in the end, there’s just a person, the client or the publisher. If they’re far-sighted, it’s fun.”
Henry Wolf was born in Vienna, Austria on May 23 1925. Wolf studied with Hermann Kosel in France and then attended School Industrial Arts, New York. He took a photography class under Alexey Brodovitch and painting class under Stuart Davis. He became a graphics director in Esquire magazine in the age of 26. One of the youngest graphics director. 7 years later, Wolf became the art director of Harper's Bazzar, succeeded his former teacher Alexey Brodovitch.
He became an art director for McCann Erickson in 1965 and later he worked with Jane Trahey to form Trahey/wolf. In 1971, he launched Henry Wolf productions, a studio focusing in photography, film and design.
He was also a teacher at Parson School of Design, School of Visual Arts and Cooper Union.