Lucian Bernhard – born 15. 3. 1883 in Stuttgart, Germany, died 29. 5. 1972 in New York, USA – graphic artist, illustrator, painter, type designer, interior designer, teacher. Born as Emil Kahn, he assumes his pseudonym in 1905. Mostly self-taught, he studied briefly at the Akademie iin Munich.
1901: moves to Berlin. 1903: wins a poster competition for Priester matches. 1904: art director of the Deutsche Werkstätten für Handwerkskunst. 1910: works with Hans Sachs on the publication of the magazine "Das Plakat". 1920: professor at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. 1923: moves to New York. 1928: opens the Contempora studio with Rockwell Kent, Paul Poiret, Bruno Paul and Erich Mendelsohn. Works as a graphic artist and interior designer. After 1930, he primarily works as a painter and sculptor.
Fonts: (1912), Bernhard Fraktur (1912–22), Bernhard Privat (1919), Bernhard Schönschrift (1925–28), Bernhard Handschrift (1928), (1929), Bernhard Gothic (1929–31), Negro (1930), Lilli (1930), Lucian (1932), Bernhard Tango (1933), (1933–38), Aigrette (1939).
Publications include: F. Plietzsch "Lucian Bernhard", Deutsches Museum, Hagen 1913. Numerous articles have been published on his work in international magazines and books; numerous exhibitions.
* TYPOGRAPHY – An Encyclopedic Survey of Type Design and Techniques Throughout History by Friedrich Friedl, Nicolaus Ott (Editor), Bernard Stein, published by Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.
