Bob Cato
Cato (September 5, 1923 – March 19, 1999) was an American graphic designer, photographer, painter and collagist whose work in record album cover design contributed to the development of music and popular culture for five decades. He was vice president of creative services at Columbia Records, and later at United Artists.
Bob Cato
- Name
- Bob Cato
- Born
- September 5, 1923
- Birthplace
- New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
- Died
- 19 March 1999
- Place of death
- New York City, U.S.
- Occupation
- Graphic designer
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Cato (September 5, 1923 – March 19, 1999) was an American graphic designer, photographer, painter and collagist whose work in record album cover design contributed to the development of music and popular culture for five decades. He was vice president of creative services at Columbia Records, and later at United Artists.
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Bob Cato was born at New Orleans. Bob Cato was born in 1923. Bob Cato died at Manhattan.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 25 September 2026
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wikidata · Q4932037 · wikipedia · Bob Cato
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Bob Cato • Born — September 5, 1923 • Birthplace — New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. • Died — 19 March 1999 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Graphic designer
Biography
Biography
Bob Cato was born in 1923 to Cuban immigrant Ysabel Soto and Robert Bailey Cato in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, he studied with Mexican painters Pablo O'Higgins and José Clemente Orozco. A Quaker, Cato was imprisoned during The Korean War as a conscientious objector. He then lived in Chicago, studying with László Moholy-Nagy of the Bauhaus school. Moving to Philadelphia in 1947, Cato studied with renowned art director and magazine designer Alexey Brodovitch, eventually becoming Brodovitch's assistant at Harper's Bazaar. Cato painted and exhibited throughout the 1940s and 1950s, while serving as art director at Dance, Glamour, Jr. Bazaar and Theatre Arts magazines. Cato began working in the music industry in 1959 at Columbia Records, becoming vice president of creative services there and later at United Artists. During the next 20 years, he designed and oversaw hundreds of albums for dozens of artists, forging lasting relationships with many, including The Band, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Janis Joplin, and Van Morrison. In 1966, he directed the CBS-TV miniseries Playback, featuring Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis, John Gielgud, Johnny Mathis, and Igor Stravinsky. He also served for many years on the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences advisory council. In 1997, the academy awarded Cato the President's Merit Award. Among Cato's other accomplishments was a redesign of McCalls, art directorships of Ladies' Home Journal and Jazz Review, and while vice president of Revlon, he conceived and designed the Charlie fragrance campaign, contracting Lauren Hutton to be the brand ambassador. He produced the book Joyce Images (1994), a collection of photos and art devoted to James Joyce. Cato also taught, at the School of Visual Arts and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Bob Cato was married to Kate Jennings, an Australian writer, poet and novelist, in 1988. He died as a result of complications of Alzheimer's disease in 1999 in New York City. His archive is at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that bob Cato is recorded with the occupation designer. Institutional cataloguing adds that bob Cato is recorded as a citizen of United States. Recorded with the gender male. It is also recorded that bob Cato died on 19 March 1999. Institutional cataloguing adds that bob Cato was born in New Orleans. Institutional cataloguing adds that bob Cato is recorded with the occupation graphic designer.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
New Orleans.
Birth place
Manhattan.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q4932037: Bob Cato
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Bob Cato”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards
• 1964, Grammy Awards for Best Album Cover of the Year for Barbra Streisand's People • 1968, Grammy Awards for Best Album Cover of the Year for Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits • 1997, President's Merit Award, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bob Cato Cary Graphic Arts Collection RIT. www.rit.edu.
- 2.Liner notes, London Phase 4 LP SPC 21077
- 3.Bob Cato Cary Graphic Arts Collection RIT. www.rit.edu.
- 4.Ravo, Nick. Bob Cato, 75, Designer of Covers for Albums. The New York Times. March 20, 1999. 0362-4331.
- 5.Cary Graphic Arts celebrates designer Bob Cato. RIT.
- 6.Thorgerson, Storm. 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves. Dorling Kindersley. 137. 1999. 0-7513-0706-8.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q4932037: Bob CatoWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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