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ON THIS MONTH: DESIGN Focus on: Elizabeth Friedlander From black propaganda to Penguin covers Successful designer Elizabeth Friedlander arrived in Britain in the thirties as a refugee from Nazi Germany (via Milan) but she could initially only get work as a maid. During the war the Political Intelligence Department became aware of her, and recruited her as head of design in the ‘black propaganda’ unit, forging or inventing Wehrmacht and Nazi rubber stamps and ration books. Befriended by poet and printer Francis Meynell, who helped her get freelance commissions, she remained in Britain, becoming responsible for many of Penguin’s post-war designs. Katharine Meynell, granddaughter of Francis, has curated an exhibition of her work at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. “Francis had a fierce sense of social justice and anti-fascist conviction,” she says. “He had been a firebrand in his youth and he never quite lost that. I remember him taking me in his car to rip down posters supporting Ian Smith’s apartheid regime, in what was then Rhodesia. He kept the engine going and sent me out to remove them. I was about eleven. “He took us to The Mikado and Annie Get Your Gun, sang along to Harry Belafonte records, taught us ping-pong, how to prune roses and mix cocktails. “The name Friedlander was familiar to me, but it was only a few years ago that I discovered two calligraphic anthologies she had done for Francis in the back of his bookcase. They startled me, even amongst all the beautiful volumes he had, so I wanted to know more. “Friedlander has been more or less ignored. It was by chance I came across the biography of her by Pauline Paucker. Her story resonated with me. We face a terrible displacement of people today. Alongside this, rightwing ideologies are resurfacing, so I see her story as relevant to us, not only to reassess the contribution of women in design, but also because we face many of the same issues. “Friedlander is the only woman of her generation to have produced a Western typeface. Elizabeth type was a terrific success and it became her calling card when she fled Germany. It has an enduring elegance and has been digitised by Bauer Type, so is available for modern use. “Looking at the laws introduced by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the immigration processes that made it so difficult for Friedlander to come to the UK or emigrate to the US, we see that she was one of the lucky ones, she had exceptional skill and good friends. But it could so easily have been different for her. “I have made a short ‘essay’ film about Friedlander, describing what is known of her life, using archive footage interspersed with landscape, speculative images and text, probing the practical and political life of women surviving on wit and skill in midtwentieth century Europe. The film forms part of the exhibition. Much of the rest is being loaned from the Friedlander Archive at Cork. There is a wonderful range of book covers, commercial work, elegant patterned papers and fine calligraphy. The work is simply lovely.” Emma Chaplin Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, 6th Jan - 29th April. Tues - Sat, 10.30am-5pm. £6.50/5.50. ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk 47