Erik Nitsche was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in an art-minded family.
Both his father and grandfather were noted photographers and artists
like Paul Klee were close friends of the family. Klee influenced
Nitsche in his choice to be an artist rather than a photographer.
Despite this close relationship, Nitsche didn't attend the Bauhaus
school where Klee was a teacher. Instead he studied at the
Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich.
"Among these young Americans it seems to be that Paul Rand is one of
the best and most capable [. . .] He is a painter, lecturer, industrial
designer, [and] advertising artist who draws his knowledge and
creativeness from the resources of this country. He is an idealist and
a realist, using the language of the poet and business man. He thinks
in terms of need and function. He is able to analyze his problems but
his fantasy is boundless."
- Lazlo Moholy-Nagy
Jan Theodoor Toorop was born on December 20 in Purworedjo Java,
Indonesia. He was not only a Dutch Impressionist, Symbolist and Art
Nouveau painter, but also an illustrator and graphic designer.
"There is an old and a new consciousness of time.
The old is connected with the individual.
The new is connected with the universal.
The struggle of the individual against the universal is revealing
itself in the world-war as well as in the art of the present day."
- Theo Van Doesburg
"Yes, I'm a decorative artist as well these days. And circumstances
give me so much time for my active interest in decorative art that many
ask with a downcast look: "but you're an architect, aren't you?"
'Wendingen' takes a particularly heavy toll on my architectural work."
- Hendrik Wijdeveld
