Eva Herrmann (February 8, 1901 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

- September 7, 1978 in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

) was a German-American painter, illustrator, draftsperson, and caricaturist.

Biography

Eva Herrmann was born the third of five children to Frank S. Herrmann (1866–1942), an American painter with German-Jewish origins who had studied at the Munich Art Academy at the end of the 19th century, and Anna (née Schlesinger, 1875–1944), a Romanian Jew who was later murdered at Auschwitz. In 1919 she accompanied her father to live in

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, however returning to Europe intermittently. Although she originally wanted to become known as a painter, her artistic work also included book covers, drawings, and caricatures. During the 1920s,

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

took photographic portraits of Herrmann, which are today part of the Getty Museum collection. Her breakthrough as an artist occurred in 1929 with the release of ''On Parade: Caricatures by Eva Hermann''. During this period she became acquainted with

Klaus Klaus is a German, Dutch and Scandinavian given name and surname. It originated as a short form of Nikolaus, a German form of the Greek given name Nicholas. Notable persons whose family name is Klaus * Billy Klaus (1928–2006), American baseba ...

and Erika Mann, and their friend, artist Ricki Hallgarten. Between 1932 and 1939 Herrmann traveled extensively throughout Europe to portray the most famous faces of the day, including those of

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, Aldous Huxley, and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

whose portraits were then sent to their respective editorial offices within the United States. From 1933 onward (while not travelling), Herrmann frequently stayed in

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with the exiled Mann family and maintained close friendships with a circle of local emigrants, including writer

Sybille Bedford Sybille Bedford, OBE (16 March 1911 – 17 February 2006) was a German-born English writer of non-fiction and semi-autobiographical fiction books. She was a recipient of the Golden PEN Award. Early life She was born as Sybille Aleid Elsa von ...

. Commissioned by the publishing house ''Querido'' in

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, she developed cover designs for the German, Russian, and English editions of Lion Feuchtwanger's novel ''Exil'' in 1939. Herrmann moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

in the 1940s, again living among the local emigrant community. During this period, her caricatures were stylistically characterized by clear lines and austerity. Subsequently, moving to Santa Barbara, Eva Herrmann's house became a meeting locale for a number of exiled German writers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrmann, Eva 1901 births 1978 deaths 20th-century women artists Painters from Munich German illustrators German women illustrators German caricaturists Women caricaturists Jewish illustrators Jewish caricaturists German emigrants to the United States Bavarian emigrants to the United States