Erik Nitsche, USA

AGI member since 1964

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In Print (1999) Steven Heller wrote an obituary entitled ‘Erik Nitsche, The Reluctant Modernist’, calling Nitsche the equal of Lester Beall, Paul Rand and Saul Bass. Paul Klee was a family friend who had a great influence on Erik. Yet Nitsche did not study at the Bauhaus, but went – after a short period at the College Classique in Lausanne – to the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where he won a prestigious poster award. He worked in Cologne and Paris; there he was employed by the Draeger Bros and Maximilien Vox. Aged 26 he moved to New York, where he was appointed art director for Saks Fifth Avenue. His list of clients included Orbachs, Bloomingdales, Decca Records, Filene’s, 20th Century Fox, NY MoMa, CCA, NY Transit Authority and Revlon. Nitsche designed covers and artwork for American fashion and decoration magazines, and books for US and Swiss publishers. He was a consultant to commercial and industrial corporations and museums. Considering himself to be asocial, he soon left AGI.

Design work by Erik Nitsche

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    Erik Nitsche, USA (1964)

    In Print (1999) Steven Heller wrote an obituary entitled ‘Erik Nitsche, The Reluctant Modernist’, calling Nitsche the equal of Lester Beall, Paul Rand and Saul Bass. Paul Klee was a...

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    Erik Nitsche, USA (1964)

    In Print (1999) Steven Heller wrote an obituary entitled ‘Erik Nitsche, The Reluctant Modernist’, calling Nitsche the equal of Lester Beall, Paul Rand and Saul Bass. Paul Klee was a family friend who had a great influence on Erik. Yet Nitsche did not study at the Bauhaus, but went – after a short period at the College Classique in Lausanne – to the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, where he won a prestigious poster award. He worked in Cologne and Paris; there he was employed by the Draeger Bros and Maximilien Vox. Aged 26 he moved to New York, where he was appointed art director for Saks Fifth Avenue. His list of clients included Orbachs, Bloomingdales, Decca Records, Filene’s, 20th Century Fox, NY MoMa, CCA, NY Transit Authority and Revlon. Nitsche designed covers and artwork for American fashion and decoration magazines, and books for US and Swiss publishers. He was a consultant to commercial and industrial corporations and museums. Considering himself to be asocial, he soon left AGI.

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