Alfred Finsterer

Biography

Publicity, letterer, woodcuts, book design, ex libris. Born 8 July 1908 in Nuremberg. 1927-30: studied at Nuremberg Kunstgewerbeschule. 1931: worked as industrial designer. From 1934: worked for publishers such as Propyläen, Reclam, Scherl, Ullstein. 1934: first woodcuts; first exhibition (Berlin). 1935: one of 10 German artists chosen to exhibit in Chicago International Exhibition. 1935 and 1937 Dürer Prize from the city of Nuremberg. 1938: awarded Silver Medal at the Paris International Exhibition. 1938: guest lecturer, then appointed by Walter Tiemann, its director, to teach at the Leipzig Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe. 1939-45: taught Meisterklasse for woodcut illustration, Leipzig Akademie. War service as cartographer; returned to a bombed-out Nuremberg and Leipzig Akademie where all his work had been destroyed. 1947-73 artistic adviser to the publisher Philipp Reclam Jr, Stuttgart; especially known for his book jacket designs for Reclams-Universal-Bibliothek. Postwar work for publishers Artemis, Brockhaus, Suhrkamp among others. 1952: his great revision of Hoffmanns Schriftatlas published. 1952-6: artistic adviser to Gebr. Klingspor typefoundry, Offenbach a.M., where he designed numerous typographic decorative borders; designed posters and catalogues for DRUPA. 1957-73: associated as editor and designer with the printing and publishing firm Belser, Stuttgart. 1958-62: Editor of the journal Stuttgarter Leben. Designed the typefaces Figura (1954, Klingspor), Duo (1954, Klingspor) and Titula (1957). In 1980s Finsterer was producing colour engravings and designed covers for Philobiblon, 1984. Died 25 January 1996 in Stuttgart.

Writings by

  • (introduction
  • ed. and reviser), Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1952
  • (editor) Farbige Graphik unserer Zeit, Stuttgart: Belser, 1960.

Writings about

  • 1937-55: Eberhard Hölscher, ‘Comments on German book illustration’, AfB, Jan. 1937, pp. 1-20
  • E. Hölscher, ‘The wood-engraver Alfred Finsterer’, AfB, April 1937, pp. 171-80
  • ‘Die Kalender des Jahres 1938’, Deutscher Drucker, Jan. 1938, pp. 152-4, esp. p. 152 (calendar)
  • AfB, 1938, pp. 392, 395 (wood engravings)
  • Alexander Heilmeyer, ‘Zeichnung und Graphik aus der “Grossen Deutschen Kunstausstellung 1939” im Haus der Deutschen Kunst’, Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich, Oct. 1939, pp. 326-37, esp. p. 332
  • Wolfgang Bruhn, ‘Deutsche Buchillustration und Buchschmuck der Gegenwart’, AfB, 1939, pp. 529-96, esp. pp. 568, 570 (Liederbuch der Hitler-Jugend), 571
  • H. Weber, ‘Der deutsche Holzschnitt der Gegenwart’, Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich, Nov. 1941, pp. 308-20
  • Remigius Netzer, ‘Der Buchkünstler Alfred Finsterer’, Gg, March 1951, pp. 38-44
  • HS, 1952, pp. 32, 48, 53, 57, 88
  • E. Hölscher, comments on Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, in Gg, Jan. 1953, p. 59
  • note on Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, in Graphis 45, 1953, p. 82
  • review of Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, in Printing & Graphic Arts, Dec. 1953, pp. 79-80
  • E. Hölscher, ‘Propaganda for the book’ (posters), Gg, June 1954, pp. 8-19
  • Bertold Hack, review of Hoffmanns Schriftatlas, in Imprimatur, 1954/55, pp. 176-7
  • showing of Duo, Gg, Jan. 1955, p. 54
  • 1956-present: Gerda Finsterer-Stuber, Marken und Signete, Stuttgart: Julius Hoffmann, 1957
  • Fritz Genzmer, ‘Firm symbols’ (logos, based on G. Finsterer-Stuber, Marken und Signete), AfDuP, 1957, v. 3, pp. 312-15 (esp. p. 314)
  • Alfred Finsterer. Farbradierungen, Gouachen, Zeichnungen (exh. cat.), Friedrichshafen: Städtisches Bodensee-Museum, 1976
  • Paul Quensel, Alfred Finsterer. Gedanken über sein Leben und Werk (monograph), Stuttgart: Belser, 1979
  • Ilse Unruh, ‘Alfred Finsterer. Buchkunst und Graphik’, Aus dem Antiquariat, 1980, 5, pp. A205-8
  • Christian Scheffler, ‘Alfred Finsterer: Buch- und Schriftkunst’, Philobiblon, Sept. 1984, pp. 197-212, and Heinrich Geissler, ‘Von Hexen, Gauklern und erträumten Paradiesen’, pp. 213-29
  • Alfred Finsterer/Druckgraphik (exh. cat.), Nuremberg: Hans Carl, 1988 (good bibliography)
  • Günther Wirth, Alfred Finsterer/Zeichnungen und Radierungen (exh. cat.), Albstadt: Städtische Galerie, 1990
  • HAH, 1991
  • MGD, 1992
  • www.klingspor-museum.de.

Exhibitions

  • Berlin, 1934
  • Chicago, 1935
  • International Exhibition, Paris, 1937
  • Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein, Leipzig, and Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin, 1937
  • Haus der Deutschen Kunst, Munich, 1937
  • China, 1937
  • Modern German book-art, Leipzig, Berlin, 1936
  • Leipzig Academy, 1938
  • Galerie Böhler, Bensheim, 1975
  • Städtisches Bodensee-Museum, Friedrichshafen, 1976
  • Nuremberg, 1978
  • Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, 1980
  • Bonn, 1981
  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M., 1983
  • Neu-Isenburg, 1988
  • Stadtgeschichtlichen Museen, Nuremberg, Dec. 1988-Jan. 1989
  • Albstadt, 1990
  • Pirckheimer-Haus, Nuremberg, 1994
  • Galerie Dorn, Stuttgart, 1998, 2002 (group)
  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M., 2006 (with Rudolf Koch).

Collections

  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M.