Jeremias, Trudy

Trudy's mother, Anna Friedlaender, was born in 1902. She married Felix Epstein, with whom she had two children: Peter (1923) and Trude (1925). They lived in Vienna until the Anschluss . In January 1939 the family arrived in New York.

Walking on a beach in California, Anna Epstein had the idea of using natural objects for art. She began to design lampshades out of seaweed. One of her first customer happened to be Eleanor Roosevelt. She was successful in New York City with her lampshades, pottery and ceramics. One of her customers happened to be Eleanor Roosevelt. She also received a prize for her designs from the Museum of Modern Art. Anna opened "Plus Studio" with a friend and her husband. Sometime later Anna (Anny) Epstein divorced Felix and married Walter Gutman-de Carmel. She then became known as Anna (Anny) de Carmel.

In 1944 Anna de Carmel became an American citizen and in 1960 married a third time. Her husband was Felix Augenfeld, born in 1893 in Vienna, who had served as an officer in World War I and then became an architect. He, too, had left Austria in 1938 and arrived in New York City in 1939. He was most famous for having designed Sigmund Freud's chair. Felix Augenstein died in 1984, and Anna Augenstein in 1993. Her daughter Trudy Jeremias became an artist, too.

From the guide to the Trudy Jeremias Collection, 1857-2008, bulk 1930-1980, (Leo Baeck Institute)