Friedl Dicker – Austrian Jewish Designer: A Creative Journey

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Montesorri Kindergarten design Franz Singer and Friedl Dicker
Montessori Kindergarten design Franz Singer and Friedl Dicker

Friedl Dicker (1899 – 1944) Austrian architect & interior designer

Friedl Dicker (1899 – 1944) was an Austrian architect and furniture, interior, and textile designer, she was born in Vienna. 

Education

  • Studied photography; 
  • 1912-14, fabric design: Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna; 
  • 1916 -19, with Johannes ltten, Vienna; 
  • 1919-23, Bauhaus, Weimar, under ltten. 

Biography

Bewteen 1923-26, Dicker was active with Franz Singer in their Werkstätten bildender Kunst, Berlin.

She settled in Vienna and set up the first studio with Anny Moller-Wottitz and, in 1924, a second studio with Martha Döberl.

In 1926, amalgamated her studio with Singer’s, Vienna, designing houses, apartments, kindergartens, offices, textiles, interiors, and furniture.

Montessori kindergarten in Vienna’s Goethehof, Schüttaustraße, design: Franz Singer / collaboration: Friedl Dicker / photo: Pfitzner-Haus, 1932.

In 1927, (with Singer) also worked in Stuttgart for a textile firm. When the Dicker-Singer studio closed, Dicker set up her own, Vienna, 1930-31.

chair – Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Franz Singer and Friedl Dicker designed this chair for a children’s home in Vienna seven years after leaving the Bauhaus. They ran a design studio together in Vienna until 1930. In 1935 Singer came into contact with Metz & Co, resulting in a large number of designs, of which probably only two tables and some toys were put into production.

In 1934, she was arrested during the Starhemberg Putsch in Vienna.

In 1934-38, in Prague, she practised interior architecture with Grete Bauer-Fröhlich, taught drawing, and was active as an artist and anti-fascist.

In 1938, turned down a visa to settle in Palestine.

In 1938-42, lived in Mettau (now Hronov, Czech Republic), teaching drawing and being active as an architect, artist, and, for B. Spiegler und Söhne, textile designer.

1942-44, was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp near Prague, where she taught children’s drawing courses.

Children’s drawings from the Terezín ghetto 1942-1944 taught by Friedl Dicker

In 1944, she was killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination camp. 

Recognition

  • Dicker was awarded at 1924 Deutscher Spitzenmesse, Berlin, for efforts in the Werkstatten with Singer. 
  • Her work was shown at 1927 Kunstschau, Vienna; 
  • 1929 ‘Ausstellung Moderner Inneneinrichtungen’ Exhibition, Osterreichisches Museum, Vienna; 
  • 1938 exhibition (gold medal and award for textiles for Spiegler) on the 20th anniversary of Czechoslovakia. 
  • Her work was the subject of a 1940 exhibition, the Royal Academy, London, and (with Singer)
  • Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 1988-89.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing

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