{{Short description|German-American artist (1900–1973)}} {{Infobox person | name = Fritz Kredel | image = | image_size = | caption = | occupation = Graphic designer, illustrator | birth_name = | birth_date = February 8, 1900 | birth_place = Michelstadt-im-Odenwald, Germany | death_date = April 12, 1973 | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = }}
'''Fritz Kredel''' (February 8, 1900 – April 12, 1973) was a German, later American artist and graphic designer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/10/arts/art-in-review-fritz-kredel.html|title=ART IN REVIEW; Fritz Kredel|last=Glueck|first=Grace|date=2000-11-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-05-13|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== Early years == He was born in Michelstadt-im-Odenwald, then in the Grand Duchy of Hesse of the German Empire. In his early years, he studied under Rudolf Koch at Offenbach School of Art and Design, and developed skills in woodcuts. In 1920, he began studying at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Offenbach am Main.<ref>{{Cite web |title=German graphic designers during the Hitler period: Biographical and bibliographical references by Gerald Cinamon |url=http://www.germandesigners.net/designers/fritz_kredel |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=www.germandesigners.net}}</ref> Koch and Kredel collaborated on ''A Book of Signs'' (1923) and ''The Book of Flowers'' (1930). Following Koch's death in 1934, Kredel moved to Frankfurt, but in 1938, he fled Germany for political reasons with help from Melbert Cary.
== Career == After emigrating to the United States that year, he taught at Cooper Union in New York and continued to work as an artist. He produced illustrations for over 400 books in German and English and received many awards and honors. Many of his originals are now housed at the Art Library at Yale University.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://atlas.lib.uiowa.edu/illustrations.php|title=The Atlas of Early Printing|website=atlas.lib.uiowa.edu|access-date=2019-05-13}}</ref>
Kredel illustrated Eleanor Roosevelt's children's book, ''Christmas'' (Alfred A. Knopf, 1940), and was commissioned to create a woodcut of the Presidential Seal for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.<ref name=":0" /> He illustrated 21 volumes for George Macy's Limited Edition Club, the most of any of their illustrators (cf. Heritage Press), and the original ''World's Best Fairy Tales'' for Reader's Digest Association (1967). The Limited Edition Club titles include ''The Complete Andersen: All of the Stories of Hans Christian Andersen in Six Volumes'', a limited edition of 1500 sets for the Limited Editions Club (completed as a set, 1949, {{LCCN|49003049}}). Kredel also colored the John Tenniel illustrations for Lewis Carroll's ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' for the 1946 Random House editions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/fritzkredelwoodc00kred|title=Fritz Kredel, woodcutter and book illustrator, Hermann Zapf, calligrapher and type designer|last=Kredel|first=Fritz;Zapf|date=1951|website=library.si.edu|access-date=2019-05-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artprice.com/artist/15851/fritz-kredel?l=en|title=Fritz KREDEL (1900-1973)|website=Artprice.com|language=en-EN|access-date=2019-05-13}}</ref> From 1950 until his death Kredel received numerous awards, including Honorary Citizen Award from the Town of Michelstadt (1969). Died 12 of April 1973 in New York.<ref>{{Cite web |title=German graphic designers during the Hitler period: Biographical and bibliographical references by Gerald Cinamon |url=http://www.germandesigners.net/designers/fritz_kredel |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=www.germandesigners.net}}</ref> Kredel was married to a woman who had been born Jewish, but who converted to Christianity while working with Rudolf Koch. Annie Kredel was a textile artist. The couple had two children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GENIOS - Genios - Dokumente |url=https://www.genios.de/document?id=DECH__166978330001472680800&src=hitlist&offset=0 |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=www.genios.de}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== Other Resources == * {{Citation |editor=Zipes, Jack |year=2000 |title=The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-9653635-7-0}} * {{Citation |author=Kredel Brown, Mathilde and Judith Kredel Brown (editors) |year=2000 |title=Fritz Kredel|location=New York |publisher=Steinhour Press}} *Brown Swanson, Mathilde Kredel (2013), ''Fritz Kredel: Artist, Illustrator and Grandfather'', Printing History. [https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-407670281/fritz-kredel-artist-illustrator-and-grandfather Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208023327/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-407670281/fritz-kredel-artist-illustrator-and-grandfather |date=2019-12-08 }}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=40388| name=Fritz Kredel}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Fritz Kredel}} * {{LCAuth|n80017911|Fritz Kredel|113|ue}} *[https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/516 Fritz Kredel Letters] at [https://www.newberry.org the Newberry Library]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kredel, Fritz}} Category:1900 births Category:1973 deaths Category:American children's book illustrators Category:German children's book illustrators Category:20th-century German printmakers Category:German fantasy artists Category:American fantasy artists Category:Illustrators of fairy tales Category:20th-century American illustrators Category:People from Michelstadt Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States