Clément Moreau

Joseph Carl Meffert (26 March 1903 in Koblenz, Germany – 27 December 1988 in Sirnach, Switzerland), better known by his nom de plume Clément Moreau, was a politically and socially conscious graphic designer and artist. His best-known work is the wordless novel Night over Germany.

Personal life

Josef Carl Meffert was born out-of-wedlock in Koblenz, Germany on 26 March 1903. After a difficult childhood, he spent 1914 to 1918 in two hospitals in Westphalia.

In 1927, he moved to Berlin, where he came into contact with Käthe Kollwitz, Emil Orlik, Heinrich Vogeler, Otto Nagel and John Heartfield, among others. Thanks in part to their encouragement, Meffert produced his first graphic works, as well as book and magazine illustrations for the workers' press. A passionate relationship developed with Sonja Marchlewska, the wife of Heinrich Vogeler, who had referred the then drug addict to Käthe Kollwitz.

He went into exile in Argentina in 1935, where he worked at the Argentinisches Tageblatt newspaper.