Friedrich Neugebauer

Biography

Calligraphy, posters, certificates. Austrian, partly trained in Germany. Born 16 November 1911 in Kojetein, Moravia (now in the Czech Republic). First apprenticed to a lithographic printer in Troppau, Austria. 1930-32: studied lettering and book design under Paul Hampel at the Breslau Kunstgewerbeschule. 1932-5: studied at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule des österreichischen Museums für Kunst und Industrie, including lettering under Rudolf von Larisch. 1936: assistant to Larisch’s widow Herta Larisch-Ramsauer. 1935-9: freelance design for publishers in Vienna: Herbert Reichner, Wilhelm Frick, Bermann-Fischer, and Max Niehans, Zurich. 1937: awarded diplôme d’honneur and gold medal at Paris World Fair. 1940-44: military service (in German army) in France, Poland, Russia, Italy. 1944-7: British prisoner of war in Egypt. 1947: freelance designer in Bad Goisern, Austria. 1949-51: taught at Linz Kunstschule. 1951-73: directed Master class for lettering and applied arts, Linz Kunstschule. 1956-9: Freelance design for numerous publishers. 1963: founded the Neugebauer Press, Bad Goisern, to produce fine editions with an emphasis on calligraphy. 1964: founded shop Haus für Freunde der Buchkunst und der Graphik in Bad Goisern. 1973: appointed Professor of the Meisterklasse für Schrift- und Buchgestaltung at the Linz Hochschule für künstlerische und industrielle Gestaltung. Neugebauer’s work exhibited in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe. 1979: Neugebauer’s Mystic Art of Written Forms published in Germany. Awards: London, Paris, Trieste (1962 and 1965), Rome, Stockholm, Vienna (Gold Medal). Died 2005.

Writings by

  • Schrift als Kunst, Bad Goisern: Neugebauer Press, 1975
  • The Mystic Art of Written Forms (tr. Bruce Kennett), Salzburg, London/Boston: Neugebauer Press, 1980
  • ‘Rudolf von Larisch’ (tr.: Siegmund Forst), Letter Arts Review, vol. 12, no. 1 (1995), pp. 8-17.

Writings about

  • Eberhard Hölscher, ‘Austrian commercial graphic art’ (FN and Josef Autherid), Gg, Jan. 1952, pp. 18-25
  • T. Jung, ‘Friedrich Neugebauer – Kalligraph, Designer und bibliophiler Verleger’, Graphische Revue Osterreichs (Vienna), 1975, nos. 5/6, 9/10
  • Huib Van Krimpen, ‘Neugebauer, scribe of Austria, Penrose 74, 1982, pp. 65-72
  • Pfäfflin, 1986
  • Vida Bokal Neugebauer, ‘In Memoriam Friedrich Neugebauer’, Letter Arts Review, v. 20, no. 3, 2005, p. 56.

Exhibitions

  • Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, Poland, USA
  • Klingspor Museum, Offenbach a.M., 1985.