Barnett Freedman
| Barnett Freedman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Barnett Freedman 19 May 1901 Stepney, London, U.K. |
| Died | 4 January 1958 (aged 56) |
| Education | |
| Known for | Lithography, Typography, Illustration |
Barnett Freedman CBE, RDI (19 May 1901 in Stepney, London – 4 January 1958) was a British painter, commercial designer, book illustrator, typographer, and lithographer.
Barnett Freedman was born in the east end of London, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia. Freedman's only formal education was at an elementary school, and from the age of nine he spent much time in hospital. This period was filled by reading and learning how to draw and to play the violin. At the age of fifteen, he obtained work as an office boy, then turning to draughtsmanship, initially with a monumental mason and subsequently at an architect's office. The strong interest in letterforms that grew out of this everyday work was later to stand him in good stead. He was assiduous in attending evening classes at Saint Martin's School of Art, hoping to win a London County Council scholarship. Although Freedman was initially unsuccessful, William Rothenstein, Principal of the Royal College of Art, was impressed by his potential and used his influence to enable Freedman to be admitted to the College.
After leaving the Royal College of Art in 1925, Freedman tried to earn his living as a painter. He married a fellow student, Beatrice Claudia Guercio; and, after hard times, gained an introduction to the publishers, Faber and Gwyer, for whom he illustrated Laurence Binyon's Wonder Night, in the Ariel Poems series. Barnett illustrated two further titles, Walter de la Mare’s News and "Behold This Dreamer", and Roy Campbell’s Choosing a Mast, while Claudia did sketches for de la Mare’s poem, A Snowdrop. Barnett designed book jackets for the firm for twenty-five years. Nearly all were auto-lithographed on stone with hand-drawn lettering. During this period, he carried out a wide range of work for other publishers and worked extensively also on package design.
...
Wikipedia