Cooper Hewitt says...
Walter Sprink was a commercial artist and designer active in Indiana and Ohio. A talented young artist, in 1923 Sprink was one of four students in the Richmond, Indiana public school system to win a scholarship to study with local artist Randolph LaSalle Coats. At age 15, Sprink won second place for a watercolor painting exhibited at the Richmond public art gallery in a show organized by the Student Art League. After graduating from high school, Sprink became a commercial artist in Ohio, eventually settling in the industrial hub of Akron, where he would spend the majority of his career. In the 1930s Akron was home to the Goodyear Zeppelin Company, which built airships based on German Zeppelin patents and engineered the New Haven Comet train with the aid of industrial designer Donald R. Dohner. From 1938–43, Sprink worked as a member of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. art department. He also maintained individual artistic pursuits, exhibiting a portrait of his wife at the Akron Art Institute in 1940. In the late 1940s, Sprink became a prolific artist for Vogue Picture Disc records, creating many of the colorful images that were embedded into the popular vinyl records.
