Vojtěch Preissig

Vojtěch Preissig (31 July 1873 – 11 June 1944) was a Czech typographer, printmaker, designer, illustrator, painter and teacher. He studied in Prague at the School of Applied Industrial Art (in Friedrich Ohmann's Decorative Architecture workshop) from 1892 to 1896 and at the School of Decorative Architecture from 1897 to 1898.

Life

Vojtěch Preissig was born on 31 July 1873 in Světec in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic). His father was a mining engineer. In 1884 he moved to Prague In 1897 he moved to Paris and worked for two years with the Czech Art Nouveau artist, Alphonse Mucha. His early, Secessionist, work was influenced by Japanese art and Symbolism. He returned to Prague in 1903 where he founded the periodical Česká grafika ("Czech Graphics"), published the book Barevný lept a barevná rytina ("Color Etchings and Color Engravings") in 1909 He taught at Columbia University and the Art Students League of New York starting in 1912, then moved to Boston by 1916 and taught a course in graphic arts for the Wentworth Institute. He became the director of the School of Printing and Graphic Arts, until 1926.

Membership in Czechoslovak resistance Preissig, along with his daughter Irena Bernášková, supported the Czechoslovak resistance during both World Wars and was arrested in 1940 for doing graphic design work for one of the most important magazines of the resistance, called V boj ("Into Combat"), that had been outlawed by German authorities. He died on 11 June 1944 in Dachau concentration camp.

Work During World War I he designed recruitment posters for the United States armed forces, which were mainly directed at Czech immigrants. Preissig created 'Preissig Antiqua' roughly around the early 20th Century that would influence the style of print and type designs not only in Czechoslovakia, but also all over Europe in general.

Tributes and awards The Czech government has commemorated Vojtěch Preissig by issuing stamps that feature his work in 1988, 1994 and 1998. In 1992, after Preissig's death, he was awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, class II. In 2008 the United States embassy in Prague held an exhibit of Preissig's work.