Dorrit Dekk
| Dorrit Dekk | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 May 1917 Brno, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 29 December 2014 (aged 97) |
| Nationality | Czech-born British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Graphic design |
Dorrit Dekk, born Dorothy Karoline Fuhrmann, (18 May 1917 – 29 December 2014) was a Czech-born British graphic designer, printmaker and painter.
Early life
Dekk was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia[1] and trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna from 1936-1938. There she was taught by the stage designer Otto Niedermoser and contributed to designs for the theatre and for film director Max Reinhardt.[2] Following the Anschluss in 1938, Dekk escaped to London, where she took up a place at the Reimann School through a scholarship arranged by Niedermoser and specialised in graphic design.
Career
Following the closure of the Reimann School in 1939, Dekk joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and became a 'listener', taking down coded messages by hand which were then sent to Bletchley Park for deciphering.[3] At the end of the war, she joined the design studio of what was to become the Central Office of Information, working under Reginald Mount. During her two and a half years, she designed numerous government posters, including the iconic Ministry of Health's poster Trap the Germs in Your Handkerchief.[4] Dekk also designed posters for the Ministry of Works post-war re-building programme and for the Polish Resettlement Corps.[5]
Dekk left the Central Office of Information in 1948 to spend a year in Cape Town, where she worked as a stage designer and illustrator.[6] Dekk returned to London in 1950 and established herself as a freelance designer. Her clients included Air France, the Orient Shipping Line (latterly P&O Orient Line), the Post Office Savings Bank, Trust House Forte, Penguin, The Tatler and London Transport. She also worked as a designer for the Travelling Section of the Festival of Britain, creating the mural 'British Sports and Games'.[7] In 1956, she became a Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists.[4]
She retired from her graphic design practice in 1982, but continued to work as a painter and printmaker right up until her death in December 2014.[1]
Personal life
In 1940, she married Leonard Klatzow, a South African physicist. He had a key role in the invention of the cathode-ray tube and infrared night vision for the navy. He died in 1942, following a plane crash.[1] In 1968, she married Kurt Epstein and they remained together until his death in 1990.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Games, Naomi (7 January 2015). "Dorrit Dekk obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ↑ Artmonsky, 93
- ↑ Artmonsky, 95.
- 1 2 Artmonsky, 96.
- ↑ Richard Slocombe (2014). British Posters of the Second World War. Imperial War Museum. ISBN 978-1-904897-92-7.
- ↑ David Buckman (1998). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 95326 095 X.
- ↑ 'Dorrit Dekk' on the London Transport Museum's website. Date accessed: 4 February 2014.
Further reading
- Ruth Artmonsky, Designing Women: Women Working in Advertising and Publicity from the 1920s to the 1960s, Artmonsky Arts, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9551994-9-3.
- Interview with Dorrit Dekk on YouTube about the Land Traveller exhibition of the 1951 Festival of Britain. Date accessed: 4 February 2014.
External links
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