Kredel, Fritz, 1900-1973

Fritz Kredel was a renowned and versatile illustrator and artist. He found early success in Germany, culminating in a Gold medal for Book Illustration at the 1937 Paris World Exposition. His success continued in the United States, where he illustrated a book written by Eleanor Roosevelt, and later was commissioned to design a woodcut of the Presidential Seal for John F. Kennedy's inauguration. Diverse and prolific, Kredel's illustrations are whimsical, detailed, and individual.

Fritz Kredel (1900-1973), American illustrator and woodcut artist.

Fritz Kredel was born in Odenwald, Germany, and studied art under Rudolf Koch and Victor Hammer. After teaching art in Offenbach-am-Main and working as an artist and illustrator in the Rudolf Koch workshop, Kredel emigrated to the United States in 1938. He began teaching at Cooper Union Art School in 1940. His list of awards includes the Golden Medal for book illustration at the World Exhibition (1938), the Silver Jubilee Citation of the Limited Editions Club (1954) and the Goethe Plaquette (German, 1960). Many of the books he illustrated were selected by the American Institute of Graphic Arts for inclusion on their annual list.

Fritz Kredel, illustrator originally from Germany, who settled in New York City in 1938. He illustrated the H. Bittner and Company's Soldiers of the American Army 1775-1941; Frederick P. Todd wrote the text.

Fritz Kredel: German artist, working in Germany and the United States, 1900-1973.

George Salter: German graphic artist, educator, and calligrapher, working in Germany and the United States, 1897-1967.

Fritz Kredel (1900-1973) began his graphic education as an art student in Munich. In the early 1920s he studied with Rudolf Koch, type designer for Gebr. Klingspor in Offenbach, becoming Koch's assistant both at the foundry and at the Offenbach technical school, where he taught graphic design and developed his skills as a woodcut artist. After Koch's death in 1934, Kredel moved to Frankfurt and set up a studio in the Stadel Museum, where he was surrounded by a circle of artists interested in graphic design.

In 1936, Fritz Kredel fled Germany, moving with his family first to Austria, then, with the help of Melbert Cary, to New York in 1938. In America, Kredel illustrated a number of volumes for George Macy's Limited Editions Club and established himself as a graphic arttist, illustrator, teacher and active typophile.

Fritz Kredel was born February 8, 1900, in Michelstadt, Odenwald, Germany. He was the son or a major in the Prussian army, and was himself in the German army during WWI. In 1938 he emigrated to the United States, eventually becoming a naturalized citizen. Although he wrote a small number of books in German, his career was basically as an illustrator. He worked in a variety of styles, and illustrated in a variety of literary genres, from Plato and Shakespeare to children's books. He died on June 10, 1973.

Biographical Source: Something About the Author, vol. 17