Fritz Eichenberg

Fritz Eichenberg was to be an artist from his earliest days.  He worked as a printer’s apprentice and studied at the Municipal School of Applied Arts in Cologne, where he had been born, followed by the Academy of Graphic Arts in Leipzig. He then moved to Berlin to work as an artist, producing illustrations for books and newspapers.

Deeply opposed to war because of his experience living through World War I, he was politically outspoken in his newspaper work, including loudly denouncing the Nazis.  Thus, when Adolf Hitler rose to power, Eichenberg emigrated with his wife and children to the United States, where he settled in New York City.  In New York he taught art at the New School for Social Research and at Pratt Institute.  Later he led the art department at the University of Rhode Island and started and built the printmaking studios there.

Eichenbeg most of his life as a Quaker but was also deeply committed to Catholic charitable work.

In 1947, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1949.  Eichenberg was a former director of Graphic Arts Center in Brooklyn.