- Fritz Eichenberg
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name=Fritz Eichenberg
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birth_date=October 24 ,1901
birth_place=Cologne
death_date=November 30 , 1990
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known_for=illustration
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footnotes=Fritz Eichenberg (
October 24 ,1901 –November 30 ,1990 ) was a German-Americanillustrator who worked primarily in wood engraving. His best-known works were concerned withreligion ,social justice andnonviolence .Eichenberg was born in
Cologne , where the destruction ofWorld War I helped to form his anti-war beliefs. He worked as a printer's apprentice, and studied at the Municipal School of Applied Arts in Cologne and the Academy of Graphic Arts inLeipzig . In 1923 he moved toBerlin to begin his career as an artist, producing illustrations for books and newspapers. In his newspaper and magazine work, Eichenberg was politically outspoken and sometimes both wrote and illustrated his own reporting.In 1933, the rise of
Adolf Hitler convinced Eichenberg (who was of Jewish descent and had been a public critic of theNazis ) that it was not safe to remain in Germany. He emigrated with his wife and children to the United States, settling inNew York City , where he remained for most of his life. He taught art at theNew School for Social Research and atPratt Institute , and was part of theWPA 'sFederal Arts Project . He also served as the head of the art department at theUniversity of Rhode Island and laid out theprintmaking studios there.In his extremely prolific career as a book illustrator, Eichenberg worked with many forms of literature but focused on material with elements of extreme spiritual and emotional conflict, fantasy, or social satire; authors he illustrated include Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Charlotte and
Emily Brontë , Poe, Swift, and Grimmelshausen. He also wrote and illustrated many books offolklore and children's stories.Raised in a non-religious family, Eichenberg had been attracted to
Taoism as a child. Following his wife's unexpected death in 1937, he turned briefly to the practice ofZen Buddhist meditation, then joined theReligious Society of Friends in 1940. Though he remained a Quaker until his death, Eichenberg was also associated with Catholic charity work through his friendship withDorothy Day —whom he met at a Quaker conference on religion and publishing in 1949 [cite journal |last=Gneuhs |first=Geoffrey |title=The Art of The Worker |journal=TheCatholic Worker |volume=LXXV |no=3 |issue=May 2008 |pages=6] —and frequently contributed illustrations to Day's newspaper the "Catholic Worker ".References
elected works
* "The Art of the Print: Masterpieces, History, and Technique", 1976
External links
* [http://artarchives.si.edu/oralhist/eichen64.htm Eichenberg interview] - from Smithsonian Archives of American Art
* [http://www.pendlehill.org/bookstore/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=eichenberg&osCsid=dbd1805a54a78ad554385c0ebec0e65a&x=6&y=10 Pendle Hill Pamphlets] - publishes two pamphlets written and illustrated by Eichenberg, "Art and Faith" (1952) and "Artist on the Witness Stand" (1984), and the biographical essay "Letting That Go, Keeping This" (2001) by Philip Harnden
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