Wednesday 11 March 2015

Werner Klemke

Fig 1/2 (above and below): illustrations from Werner Klemeke, Die Kinder und Hausmarchen Der Bruder Grimm, P1963

Illustrations and  book cover for Grimms Fairy Tales by Werner Klemke ( 1917-1994) with the eye and teeth of the wolf looking out from the spine.
This book was first published in 1963, last in print in 2009.

Fig 3 (above): photograph of Wemer Klemke Jan 1981

Werner Klemke was the son of a carpenter born in Berlin in 1917, he was to became one of the most famous illustrators in Germany. Wermer trained as an art teacher and then worked as an animator at Kruse film from 1936-39. His career in animation was interrupted by the second world war.

Since Werner Klemke's death in 1994 incredible details have come to light about his involvement in the war where he worked in an office at the Western Front but used this as an opportunity to forge papers for Dutch Jews at least 300 people were saved due to this brave man's activities.

In 1946 Werner returned to Berlin and pursued a career as a commercial artist for various magazines and then his career bloomed in 1949 he produced 126 wood engraving illustrations for George Weerth's "Humoristischen Skizzen aus dem deutschen Handelsleben". During his career as an illustrator and book designer Wemer produced over 800 books. Werner Klemke was also an inspirational teacher at Berlin School of Art.

References

Fig 1/2: Werner Klemeke, Die Kinder und Hausmarchen Der Bruder Grimm, P1963 http://all-drawings.livejournal.com/187890.html?title=Werner%20Klemke%20(1917%20-%201994%20)%20%D0%B4%D0%BB%D1%8F%20%D0%B2%D0%B7%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BB%D1%8B%D1%85%20%D0%B8%20%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9&hashtags=

Fig 3: Photograph of Werner Klemke 1981. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-Z0107-016,_Berlin,_Werner_Klemke.jpg

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Klemke
http://www.mdr.de/mdr-figaro/hoerspiel/feature/essay-werner-klemke128.html

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