09.06.10

Categories: Unit: Design/Research

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Steven Frost was a friend of Ronald Clyne (1925—2006). As the interview here shows, Clyne was clearly the sort of man who inspired affection and respect in equal measure.

FW04542: Anthology of Central & South American Indian Music

Q: Can you give me a short description of yourself?

A: I am 43 years old. An educator, entrepreneur and collector.

 
How did you come to meet Ronald?

About 15 years ago I was a customer of a tribal art bookstore in NYC called OAN (Oceanie Afrique Noire). Ron was also a client and the young lady who ran the store thought I would enjoy visiting Ron and seeing his collection of Melanesian Art from New Guinea and Vanuatu. She passed along his phone number and I arranged to visit him at the first opportunity.

 
You have talked about him being a hugely influential figure in your life. Can you say why?

I met Ron at the beginning of my adult life and career. I was just discovering the world of art and design.

When I first visited him in Brooklyn I was blown away by his refined taste, style and drive for perfection in everything that surrounded him. What became quickly apparent was, despite a 40-year age gap, how much we had in common with regard to personal interests and passions beyond New Guinea art.

We were both hi-fi and music enthusiasts, Ron designed his living room to be acoustically excellent for music and appreciating the masterpieces of Melanesian art he had been lucky enough to collect.

We liked the same modern painters and furniture designers. I greatly admire the furniture design of Poul Kjaerholm and Ron and his wife owned several Kjaerholm pieces including stools, lounge chairs and a coffee table.

Ron changed my life by giving me the confidence to trust my decisions and direction in life. He encouraged me to examine all the books about New Guinea art as carefully as possible, and especially to study the photographic images. He also warned me not to put too much stock in the written texts, since many of the authors ‘don’t know what they’re talking about.’ The most important thing for Ron was to look for artistic merit in an individual piece, not the age or provenance. Ron’s passion for New Guinea art was driven by appreciation of artistic merit. He approached New Guinea art with the same perfectionist spirit that informed all his choices. As an intellectually curious man, he was interested in the culture of Melanesian peoples. The pieces he most appreciated were for aesthetic criteria that are universal.

 
We tend to think of him as ‘just a graphic designer’ – but of course he had a wide range of interests. Can you talk about some of these?

Ron was obsessed with hi-fi. He subscribed to all the magazines and read them religiously. He was particularly interested in loudspeaker design, because it is the biggest challenge in the audio chain. Unlike an ‘audiophile’ who is mainly interested in equipment, Ron was a music lover with expansive knowledge of many forms of music. He spent several hours a day in the living room listening to music and looking at books.

He liked going out to eat and to the movies with his wife, Hortense. Whenever I saw him or we spoke on the phone he always had a good movie recommendation.

He was a very intellectually curious person. He introduced me to incredible Baroque music, recorded by perfectionist European record labels like Astree and Alia Vox. I probably would not have discovered these on my own. Ron also loved Indian classical music (and food). For Ron, the great 20th century orchestral masterworks did not stand the test of time. He preferred music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Ron was adamant that jazz never improved beyond King Oliver, this was one of his few opinions I could not embrace.

FW04581: Primitive Music of the World

Ronald has spoken about his joy at finding a client like Mo Asche at Folkways and the freedom he was given, did he talk much about his work with Folkways?

He told me the same things about working with Folkways that he mentioned in the Smithsonian video interviews. He felt Mo Asche found the perfect designer for his jackets because of Ron’s intellectual interest in world culture. He definitely appreciated the creative freedom he was given a great deal.

He shared humorous stories about going to Asche’s office to be paid. Apparently attorneys from the Internal Revenue Service routinely threatened to arrest Asche for non-payment of taxes. Ron said Asche would scream at the IRS people that he was performing a public service and therefore should not be obliged to pay taxes.

 
Within the graphic design world he is a rather shadowy figure. He doesn’t seem to have joined any of the graphic design ‘communities’ or sought to have his work seen in competitions or awards brochures. Was there a sense in which he saw himself as an outsider?

Ron was so confident in his taste and judgement I doubt it ever occurred to him to seek out the approval of a trade organization or his peers. He was proud of the awards and acknowledgment his work received, but he obviously did not need ovations or accolades to give him confidence. He had the album flat for FW36050 (featured in the Unit Editions publication) on the wall next to the bookcase and mentioned to me he had won a trade award for the design.

I know he was amused when the Folkways album cover exhibition was being organized in Canada, but he felt no need to see it himself. When a British fan contacted him with an invitation to a horror convention, (for some iconic book jacket designs early in his career) he declined. He mentioned this to me several times so I know he was gratified for the acknowledgement.

Ron knew exactly what he liked and was a perfectionist and individualist. He liked meaningful, genuine conversation and completely lacked pretension or superficiality. He was very intense and particular, unless you shared his passions there would probably not be much opportunity for dialogue.

He must have believed his work spoke for itself. He did not feel the need to add any further explanation. He was an outsider in the sense that he always sought perfection in his own world, and knew exactly what he liked. That goal put him at odds with an outside world overflowing with mediocrity.

FW09786: Stories & Poems of New Guinea

Can you tell me anything about the house he designed for himself and Hortense?

The house is a space for the art collection, his appreciation for design and hi-fi. Every element is carefully considered down to the smallest details, with nothing unnecessary. He even painted the nails holding his art pieces the same colour as the wall.

The house is located on a quiet street in Brooklyn Heights, a beautiful historic neighbourhood. When Ron bought the lot I think he was ahead of the curve realizing how great the location was. Essentially you have a beautiful, modern, minimalist residence set amongst surrounding brick colonial row houses.

Purity and minimalism were very important for Ron. And this is evident in his graphic design work, the furniture he designed for his home and his surroundings. He often said it is much more challenging to make something minimally, because if there are any errors they will be readily apparent.

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Steven Frost notes: the three album jackets shown above were selected by Ron. The latter two featuring pieces from his collection. The middle jacket is Ron’s Iatmul housepost, a masterpiece of monumental New Guinea art. It is illustrated in Oceanic Art (Kaeppler, Newton, Kaufman). The latter jacket is life size Asmat sculpture of a male ancestor, formerly in Ron’s collection

Steven Frost’s website

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You can order Design/Research 01 – Ronald Clyne at Folkways. Anthology of Folkways album cover art featuring the work of Ronald Clyne (1925—2006) here.