Richard Arbib
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Richard Arbib (September 1, 1917 in Gloversville, New York - February 22, 1995 in Manhattan, New York City) visionary American industrial designer.
Family
Richard Henry Arbib was the son of Robert Simeon Arbib, Sr. (March 3, 1889 in Cairo, Egypt – January, 1969 in New York) and Edna Josephine Henry (November 3, 1889 in Richmond, Virginia – July 17, 1975 in New York City. Siblings were Robert Simeon Arbib, Jr. (March 17, 1915 in New York – July 1987 in New York) and John A, Arbib (born September 1924 in New York). Robert Sr. arrived in the United States from Liverpool, England in May 1908. Richard was married to Audrey Schulz and they were divorced in 1952 in Volusia County, Florida. Audrey later married Associated Press photographer Baron Hans Ferdinand von Nolde (born Berlin, Germany, died November 9, 2002 at 77 years of age). Richard later married Helen W. He dated model Bettie Page in the 1950s.
Career
Arbib graduated from the Pratt Institute in New York City in 1939 . He worked as a designer for the Henney Motor Co. of Freeport, Illinois, a manufacturer of professional car bodies such as ambulances, hearses and limosines. Henney was Packard's sole professional body supplier. He started his automotive design career consulting with Harley Earl at GM Styling in the late 1930s. He came to the attention of Henney after serving in World War II. He was responsible for the design of the commercial line of Packard built by Henney from 1951 to 1954. One of the distinctive features of these models was wrap-around rear side windows. Arbib designed the Packard show car Pan American for the International Motor Sports Show held in New York City at the Grand Central Palace on March 29th 1952. It was based upon a 1951 Packard 250 convertible and built by Henney. The Pan American won the first-place trophy for most outstanding design at the show.
Arbib's clients included Argus, Benrus, General Motors, International Nickel, Republic Aviation, Simca, Swank Jewelry, Tidewater Oil, Union Pacific, American Type Founders, and U.S. Rubber.
In 1955, Arbib was hired by American Motors to create a unique look for the Hudson line that was to share the senior 1955 Nash body. His main design theme was to use a "V" form throughout the car, which he dubbed V-Line styling. Hudson was going to use a V-8 engine in the 1956 model. He also designed, and his Richard Arbib Company built, the Astra-Gnome "Time and Space Car" show car featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine's September 3, 1956 issue. It was based on the Nash Metropolitan. Supposedly, Arbib and model Bettie Page are sitting in the car in the 1954 Ford publicity picture of the Ford FX Atmos, which he may have designed.
He designed asymmetrical cases for the new Hamilton electric watches in the 1950s, including such notable models as the Ventura, Everest, and Pacer. He also designed watches for Tourneau, Benrus, Sheffield and Gucci. He designed boats for the Century Boat Company in the 1950s, notably one of their most successful and expensive models, the Coronado, as well as the Arabian model.
