Grimms Fairy Tales / Brothers Grimm / Fritz Kredel

Fritz Kredel was born in Michelstadt in Germany in 1900. For political reasons he emigrated to the USA in the 1930s, where he died in New York in 1973. He is an uncommon figure in the history of book art because he moved apparently effortlessly in, and between, two cultures. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean he created an extensive oeuvre that is equally appreciated in Germany and in the USA. At the Paris World Exhibition of 1937 he was awarded the Gold Medal for book illustration and in the 1961 he designed the official seal for President John F. Kennedy. In Germany Kredel is appreciated as the most famous pupil and collaborator of Rudolf Koch and as a favored illustrator of the Insel-Verlag. In America he became famous as an illustrator of children’s and juvenile books.