Fritz Helmuth Ehmcke (1878–1965) was a German graphical designer, typographer and illustrator. Born in

Inowrocław Inowrocław (; , ) is a city in central Poland with a total population of 68,101 (as of December 2022). It is situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the largest and most historically significant cities within the historic re ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

(now Poland), Ehmcke was educated as a lithographer in Berlin during 1893–1897. In 1900, he was a co-founder of ''Steglitzer Werkstatt''. From 1903, he taught at the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for the ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, from 1913 to 1938 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, during 1920-1921 also in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. During 1946 to 1948, he was professor at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. In the second half of the 19th centur ...

. He designed a number of

typeset Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other ...

s, notably ''Ehmcke-Antiqua'' and ''Ehmcke-Kursiv'' in 1909/10 (adopted for English-language typesetting by

Stephenson Blake Stephenson Blake is an engineering company based in Sheffield, England. The company was active from the early 19th century as a type founder, remaining until the 1990s as the last active type foundry in Britain, since when it has diversified in ...

under the name ''Carlton'').

Typesets

* ''Ehmcke Antiqua'' (1908 Flinsch) * ''Ehmcke Kursiv'' (1910 Flinsch) * ''Ehmcke Fraktur'' (1912 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Rustika'' (1914 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Schwabacher'' (1914 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Schwabacher halbfett'' (1915 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Fraktur halbfett'' (1917 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Mediaeval'' (1922 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Mediaeval kursiv'' (1923 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Mediaeval halbfett'' (1924 D. Stempel AG) * ''Ehmcke Latein'' (1925

Ludwig & Mayer Ludwig & Mayer was a German type foundry in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Many important designers worked for the Ludwig and Mayer type foundry, including Heinrich Jost, Karlgeorg Hoefer, Helmut Matheis, and most notably Jakob Erbar, whose '' Erba ...

) * ''Ehmcke-Latein halbfett'' (1925 Ludwig & Mayer) * ''Ehmcke Brotschrift'' (1927 Rupprecht Presse) * ''Ehmcke Elzevir'' (1927 L. Wagner) * ''Ehmcke Elzevir kräftig'' (1930 L. Wagner)

Bibliography

* ''Amtliche Graphik.'' Hugo Bruckmann, München 1918. * ''Ehmcke-Kursiv'' (= Type und Ornament Heft XXXIX), Schriftgiesserei Flinsch, Frankfurt 1910. * ''Ziele des Schriftunterrichts. Ein Beitrag zur modernen Schriftbewegung.'' Diederichs, Jena 1911, 2nd ed. 1929. * ''Ehmcke-Mediaeval und Mediaeval-Kursiv.'' Berlin 1925. * ''Die historische Entwicklung der abendlaendischen Schriftformen.'' Otto Maier, Ravensburg 1927. * ''Persönliches und Sachliches. Gesammelte Aufsätze und Arbeiten aus 25 Jahren.'' Reckendorf, Berlin 1928. * ''Kulturpolitik. Ein Bekenntnis und Programm zum Wiederaufbau deutscher Lebensform.'' Schauer, Frankfurt am Main 1947. * ''Broschur und Schutzumschlag am deutschen Buch der neueren Zeit.'' Mainz 1951. * ''Geordnetes und Gültiges. Gesammelte Aufsätze und Arbeiten aus den letzten 25 Jahren.'' Beck, München 1955. *
Der Sonderbund, Auszug aus F. H. Ehmckes Lebenserinnerungen I, 1909-1911
', in: Neusser Jahrbuch für Kunst, Kulturgeschichte und Heimatkunde 1985, S.5-25. *
Der Sonderbund, Auszug aus F. H. Ehmckes Lebenserinnerungen II, 1911-1912
', in: Neusser Jahrbuch für Kunst, Kulturgeschichte und Heimatkunde 1986, S.5-25.

References

* Thomas Kraft: ''Fritz Ehmcke (1878–1965).'' In: Thomas Kraft (ed.): ''Herrsching zur Zeit Christian Morgensterns. Bilder des kulturellen Lebens zwischen 1870 und 1920.'' Herrsching am Ammersee 2006, p. 153. *''Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon'', Band 32. K. G. Saur Verlag, München 2002, p. 432. *
F. H. Ehmcke und seine Neusser Schüler H. Cossmann, E. Malzburg, J. Urbach.
' Katalog Clemens-Sels-Museum Neuss, 1984. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ehmcke, Fritz Helmuth 1878 births 1965 deaths German illustrators German typographers and type designers People from Inowrocław