Report - Historical female designer who has impacted design/creative industry...
Typeface designer, calligrapher & illustrator

Elizabeth Friedlander
1890 - 1910

 

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Few will recognise the name Elizabeth Friedlander, but many may be surprised to discover they have examples of the artist’s work at home, in the books, cards, posters and advertisements she designed, or even text set in Elizabeth-Antiqua, the font she created.

Friedlander was an artist and designer who worked hard to make a name for herself in the design industry.  Her work included commissions from companies like Mondadori, Curwen Press, Penguin Books, Linotype and Monotype.

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Given her remarkable life and many achievements, it’s a shame we don’t hear more about this pioneer of the design world.

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Born in 1903 to a Jewish family, Friedlander had studied at the Academy of Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts, and it was here she met Georg Hartmann, who ran the Bauer Type Foundry (Baueresche Giesserei), Frankfurt. On graduating, she worked as a designer and calligrapher at Die Dame - Germany’s first illustrated lifestyle magazine for women.

It was in 1933, while working at the Bauer Type Foundry, Friedlander was asked to create a typeface - a unique commission for a female designer at the time. She completed the design a year later and named it Elizabeth after she was unable to call it Friedlander (a Jewish name) for fear of persecution. The typeface was first cut in 1938 and the final version was released in 1939.

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“It’s something people take for granted with our reliance on computers.  Friedlander’s typeface is particularly beautiful.”

Head of research collections and communications at UCC, Cronan O Doibhlin

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20463385.html

 

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Friedlander’s font is especially notable for its elegant aesthetic.  The design was completed in a variety of point sizes in roman letter and cursive and detailed in bold and swash characters. Her font went on to be a significant commercial and critical success.

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“It’s easy on the eye, which is why people are so interested, her font is one of the more high-quality fonts of the time.”

Head of research collections and communications at UCC, Cronan O Doibhlin

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20463385.html

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The original type was thrown into the Thames in the 1950’ss and destroyed.  Fortunately, an academic in the U.K. recreated the original font digitally, so it is still available from Bauer, the original company.

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Friedlander’s achievement was overshadowed by political circumstances in Germany as the Nazis rose to power.  She was forced to leave the country in 1936 after she was refused permission to work. When she fled, she took three treasures with her: two portfolios of her work and an early 18th-century Klotz violin that had belonged to her mother. Precious items that stayed with her throughout her life.

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A brief stint in Italy saw her learn Italian and work with the publisher Mondadori (1936-8), and for Editoriale Domus (1937), designing book jackets and publicity materials, but in 1938, harsh Italian Race Laws threatened her employment. Unsuccessful in her attempts to emigrate to the USA, where she had offers of jobs, she eventually settled in London.

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There, she was sponsored and mentored by publisher Francis Meynell and in 1939, secured work at the advertising agency Mather & Crowther, where she went on to have an illustrious career as a designer and calligrapher.

Freidlander undertook freelance work for publishers and designed over 20 patterned papers for the Curwen Press.

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A rather interesting fact about her time in London; Meynell introduced her to Ellic Howe of the Political Intelligence Department of the Central Office of Information.  She began working here, in the ‘black propaganda unit’ during the Summer, 1942, producing counterfeit Nazi rubber stamps, ration books and other material for the British.

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When the war ended, Friedlander had planned to return to Europe or to relocate to the U.S. but the opportunity to work at Penguin arose. In June 1948 Friedlander was commissioned by Jan Tschichold, the new art director at Penguin Books, to do some title lettering and, most significantly, to design patterned papers for covers of the Penguin Music Scores and Penguin Poets.

Each cover, made up of a pattern that conveys the shifting times - from repetitive forms of traditional, precise, detailed line work; to abstract, loose waves; modernist jiggle marks and playful squiggles, all highlighting Friedlander’s varied output and her hand-drawn lettering and illustration skills.

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What ties the series together is that, however hard to read, they each maintain continual cycles and loops, much like history.

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“They were just setting up and she was employed by them for several years, working on some of their early cover designs, when they became a little more decorative. She designed patterned papers which were very colourful but classic.”

Head of research collections and communications at UCC, Cronan O Doibhlin

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20463385.html

 

 

During the following decade she drew roundels for the Penguin Classics series (her later Penguin work was commissioned by Hans Schmoller), worked for the Folio Society, and lettered presentation scrolls and rolls of honour. From 1951 she was the calligrapher to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, lettering Rolls of honour. Her ornamental borders were issued by Linotype (1952) and Monotype (‘The Friedlander borders’, 1958). 

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“In the 1950’s and 60’s she was responsible for the design of many of the book jackets, including the title font and the layout. She also designed the Little Penguin logo when they were 25 years old.”

Head of research collections and communications at UCC, Cronan O Doibhlin

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20463385.html

 

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In 1961, Friedlander moved to Kinsale, Cork, with her life-partner, Alessandro McMahon, from where she continued to design bookplates, book jackets, catalogues, and calligraphic maps, as well as lettering Irish proverbs on parchment.

Details about her years in Cork are sketchy. Little was signed, and there are only a handful of photographs, a couple of self-portrait sketches from her art student days, and one biographical study by Pauline Paucker published in a limited edition.

Though failing eyesight limited her work, she pursued her love of gardening and designed keepsakes for Kinsale crafts.

When Friedlander died in 1984, she left her archive and the violin to her friend Sheila Goldberg, the wife of Gerald Goldberg, who became the first Jewish lord mayor of Cork. They in turn left the archive to University College Cork, which has loaned most of the original graphic work, and the beloved violin to the Cork School of Music, which loans it every year to an outstanding pupil.

 

Considering Friedlander lived in exile from her homeland for most of her life, the violin served as a memento of her mother and of everything she lost in her enforced departure. Fittingly, one of the students in receipt of this precious instrument, Mairead Hickey, went on to study at the prestigious Kronberg Academy in Germany.

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The reason I chose this exceptional historical female designer, was simply that I am interested in the design of books. In every summary I found of her career, Penguin books was the top mentioned highlight.  But the more I researched, the more I realised that this aspect of her life was but a mere drop in the ocean of design work.

Friedlander’s portfolio is an example of the finest mid-century graphic design, with her typography known to those with an interest in design history and publishing. Its refreshingly crisp and expressive, demonstrating a keen eye for detail and a precise way with line and letterform. 

Her designs are modern and decorative; in her execution Friedlander created delicate marks, often minute in scale (her exhibition offered magnifying glasses such was the detail) and always harmonious.

With this level of talent and attention to detail, Friedlander always found work. In the face of antisemitism, she experienced in her early life and career, she shifted, finding ways to nurture her career as a designer, especially not an easy feat for a female.  It makes her achievements during pre and post war years more impressive, and poignant.

It has been a pleasure exploring the work of this hugely talented, overlooked, and understated designer.  I have the utmost respect for her bravery and tenacity. In spite of all the difficulties in her life, she was recognised by her peers, and she witnessed at least two exhibitions of her work.

We must believe that Friedlander’s influence is widespread in modern day design when we see wallpapers and textiles featuring similar patterns. Orla Kiely is 1 such designer who exhibits a comparable style, albeit in a less delicate manner to Friedlander’s motifs.   

As a female lover of graphic design, in particular within the publishing world, I can’t help but be hugely influenced by Elizabeth Friedlander and her accomplishments. It has made me realise that even in the 1950’s and 60’s, designers had to evolve with the times and be adaptable to the environment around them to be employable.  She was a prime example of this and we should be forever grateful to her for paving the way for us 21st century female designers.

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In New Borders, author, Pauline Paucker tells the story of "a resilient, independent, artistic woman who survived exile and discrimination, and left her trace on the landscape of 20th century design and bookmaking.”

Pauline Paucker, New Borders

https://www.uvic.ca/library/home/home/news/current/elizabeth-friedlander.php