Henri Friedlaender
Henri Friedlaender (1904–1996) was an Israeli typographer and book designer. He co-founded the Hadassah Printing School and served as the first director of the school.
Also recorded as Henri Friedländer
Henri Friedlaender

Etan J. Tal · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Henri Friedlaender הנרי פרידלנדר
- Born
- 15 March 1904
- Birthplace
- Lyon, France
- Died
- 15 November 1996
- Place of death
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Field
- * Typographer
- Nationality
- Israel
- Occupation
- typesetter · university teacher · designer · graphic artist · draftsperson · typographer
- Fields
- typography · graphic design
- Teachers
- Hermann Delitsch
- Languages
- German · Hebrew
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Henri Friedlaender (1904–1996) was an Israeli typographer and book designer. He co-founded the Hadassah Printing School and served as the first director of the school.
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wikidata · Q691860 · wikipedia · Henri Friedlaender
In this article
Biography
Biography
Friedlaender worked between 1904 and 1996 across typesetter, university teacher, designer, graphic artist and draftsperson and 2 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 8 published texts and 26 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Training under Hermann Delitsch is recorded. The recorded working language is German and Hebrew. The field of work recorded is typography and graphic design. Places of work recorded in the authority are The Hague, Wassenaar and Jerusalem. Employment is recorded with Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Work by Henri Friedlaender is recorded in the collections of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Henri Friedlaender הנרי פרידלנדר • Born — 15 March 1904 • Birthplace — Lyon, France • Died — 15 November 1996 • Place of death — Jerusalem, Israel • Field — * Typographer • Graphic designer
Early life
Early life
He was born in Lyon, France, in 1904 to a British mother, Rose Calmann and a German-Jewish father, Théodore Friedlaender, who was a silk merchant. His sister was the ceramic artist Marguerite Wildenhain. When he was six years old the family moved to Berlin where he attended the Mommsen-Gymnasium. In 1925, he moved to Leipzig, where he studied calligraphy and printing in Leipzig Academy of Graphic Arts.
Career and personal life
Career and personal life
• Illustration — Friedlaender examines Hadassah Hebrew typeface sketches. The sequence was shot in his study in Motza Illit in 1978 • Illustration — Henri Friedlaender and his wife Maria, in his study in Motza Illit, Israel (1989) • Illustration — IBM Selectric II dual Latin/Hebrew Hadar typeball, designed by Friedlaender In 1930, Friedlaender started working on the Hebrew typeface Hadassah in Germany. He later worked with B. G. Teubner and with Wirth in Dresden, with Jakob Hegner in Hellerau, and for the Klingspor Type Foundry with Max Dorn. After working with Rudolf Koch he became a typographic designer with Hartung in Hamburg and later a printer and manager with Haag-Drugulin in Leipzig with Ernst Kellner. In 1932, Friedlaender immigrated to the Netherlands where he worked as art director of Drukkerij Mouton & Co. in The Hague. In 1940 Friedlaender married Maria Helena Bruhn, a gymnastics teacher. Due to the Nazi occupation restrictions he had to stop his professional activities and hide in the attic of his house in Wassenaar. Between 1940 and 1945 he was totally isolated, communicating only with his wife who, herself not being Jewish, could overtly make a living. In these years he continued to work for the Exilliteratur publishers Querido and Allert de Lange, and further designed the Hadassah typeface (completed in 1958). In 1950, Friedlaender along with his wife and daughter immigrated to Israel, where he headed the Hadassah-Brandeis Apprentice School of Printing in Jerusalem. Retiring in 1970 he continued to work as a book designer and teacher, and designed three Hebrew typefaces for the IBM Selectric typewriter II typeball (Shalom, Hadar, Aviv). Henri Friedlaender received the Gutenberg Prize of the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz in 1971. Friedlaender died in Motza Illit (near Jerusalem) at the age of 92, in 1996 and his wife died in 1994, at the age of 90.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• Israel Museum - 1973 • Tel Aviv Museum of Art - 1985
Life and work
Life and work
Henri Friedlaender was born on 15 March 1904 in Lyon. Friedlaender held the nationality of Israel. Friedlaender studied under Hermann Delitsch. Recorded father: Theodor Friedlaender. Recorded mother: Rose Calman. Friedlaender worked as typesetter, university teacher, designer and graphic artist, and the authority record catalogues a further 3 occupations under the same name, among them draftsperson, typographer and type designer. Friedlaender worked in The Hague, Wassenaar and Jerusalem. Friedlaender was employed by Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Friedlaender worked in German and Hebrew.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1904–1996
The full dated record · 3 entries
1904
Henri Friedlaender was born in 1904 at Lyon.
1996
Dies at Jerusalem.
1996
Henri Friedlaender died in 1996 at Jerusalem.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Lyon.
Birth place
Jerusalem.
Death place
Writings by
Writings by
• Die Vorbilder der Mediäval und der Antiqua, Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, Leipzig: Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein., 1927, 10/12, pp. 726–730 • Die Buchbinderinnen Dorothea und Katharina Freise, Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, Leipzig: Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein., May 1932, pp. 227–232 • Moderne holländische Druckschriften, Schweizer Graphische Mitteilungen (journal), to 1951. See also Typographische Monatsblätter. Aug. 1948, pp. 336–339 (brief Eng. summary pp. 359, 361) • Philobiblon, 1933, p. 1 (self-advertisement) • Typografisch ABC, Den Haag, 1939 (written for apprentices at Mouton) (Dutch) • De Overweldiger. Hoofdstuk I en II van het boek Habakuk vertaald door Henri Friedlaender (1945) (Dutch) • Zijn einde. Jesaja XIV: 3-21 vertaald door Henri Friedlaender (1945) (Dutch) • Der Knecht Gottes, (introduction + commentary) Pulvis Viarum (1947) (German) • Hoe bereikt men aesthetisch verantwoord zetsel op de zetmachine?, Kerstnummer Drukkersweekblad, Winter 1948 (Dutch) • Typographie oder Gebrauchsgraphik?, Schweizer Graphische Mitteilungen (journal), to 1951. See also Typographische Monatsblätter, June 1948, pp. 257–264 (German) • Toward a Modern Hebrew. Printing & Graphic Arts. February(1959): 49–56. • Modern Hebrew Typefaces. Typographica. 16(1959): 4–9. • The history of numerals. Typographica. 1(1960): 48–53. • On Letters and Digits. Hadassah Printing School, Jerusalem, 1960. (Hebrew) • Book Craft. Hadassah Printing School, Jerusalem, 1962. (Hebrew) • Modern Hebrew lettering. Ariel: A quarterly review of the arts and sciences in Israel. 4(1962): 6–15. Print. Jan./Feb.(1964): 81. (Typography – USA seminar). • Training by production. Penrose Annual. (1965): 167–173. • Die Entstehung meiner Hadassah-Hebräisch, Hamburg: Sichowsky/Christians, 1967. (translated into English: The Making of Hadassah Hebrew. The Typophiles Keepsake. 1975. Israel Bibliophiles newsletter. 4(1984): 1–4.). • Von dem Möglichkeiten und den Notwendigkeiten künftiger Buchgestaltung (HF as participant in a symposium with Jan Tschichold and others), Hamburg: Sichowsky/Christians, 1970 (German). • Dankwort - Gutenberg Preis, Gutenberg Gesellschaft, Mainz (1971) (German) • Contribution to Richard von Sichowsky, Typograph, 1985 • Color Theory for Printers, 1994 (Hebrew)
Writings about
Writings about
• Henri Friedlaender: Typography and Lettering, Jerusalem: Israel Museum. Library Hall. February–March, 1973. Cat. no. 105. • Henri Friedlaender: Gutenberg Prize Winner. Israel Book World. 5(September 1971): 9–11. • Wer ist wer? Schweizer Graphische Mitteilungen (journal), to 1951. See also Typographische Monatsblätter. July(1949): 321. • Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, Munich/Leipzig: K.G. Saur Verlag, 1990-., 2005. • Avrin, Leila. The art of the Hebrew book in the twentieth century. In [49], pages 125–139. • Blumenthal, Joseph. Typographic Years: a Printer's Journey Through a Half Century 1925-1975. New York: Frederic C. Beil, 1982. • Broos, Kees, and Hefting, Paul. Dutch Graphic Design. London: Phaidon, 1993, pp. 126, 127, 146. • Fischer, Ernst and others, Buchgestaltung im Exil 1933–1950. Eine Ausstellung des Deutschen Exilarchivs 1933–1945 Der Deutschen Bibliothek. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003. pp. 38, 40, 95, and biog. pp. 160–161 • Fontaine, William C. The Hadassah type at Dartmouth's Graphic Arts Workshop in Baker Library. on The Hadassah Type at Dartmouth's Graphic Arts Workshop in Baker Library • Friedl, Friedrich. Ott, Nicolaus. Stein, Bernard. Typography – when/who/how. Cologne: Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. 1998, 1998. • Halbey Hans A. (Ed.) Henri Friedlaender, in Scriptura, Harenberg Edition, 1990 • Heynemann, Susanne. Henri Friedlaender, in Jelle Kingma (ed.), Susanne Heynemann, Typografe (exh. cat.), Den Hague: Museum van het Boek/Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, 1998 • Keim, Anton Maria. Gutenberg-Preis. Preisträger 1971: www.gutenberg-gesellschaft.uni-mainz.de. • Keim, M. Der Gutenberg-Preis: eine internationale Botschaft aus der Medienstadt Mainz seit 1968. Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, Mainz 1998. • Löb, Kurt. Drei deutschsprachige graphische Gestalter als Emigranten in Holland. Philobiblon, Sept. 1989, pp. 177–207 (includes Paul Urban) • Löb, Kurt. Die Buchgestaltungen Henri Friedlaenders für die Amsterdamer Exil-Verlage Querido und Allert de Lange 1933–1940. Philobiblon, September 1990, pp. 207–217 • Löb, Kurt. Exil-Gestalten. Deutsche Buchgestalter in den Niederlanden 1932–1950, Arnhem: Gouda Quint, 1995 (the work of Friedlaender and Paul Urban biographies, bibliographies see esp. p. 108) • Löb, Kurt. Grafici in ballingschap: Henri Friedlaender en Paul Urban, Duitse grafisch vormgevers in het Nederlandse exil 1932–1950. Amsterdam: Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam, 1997. (Catalog of an exhibition held at the University Library Amsterdam, March 21 - May 16, 1997.) • Lubell, Stephen. Henri Friedlaender - In Memoriam, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1997, pp. 348–349 • Ovink, G.W. Die Gesinnung des Typografen (speeches by Ovink and Friedlaender at the Gutenberg Prize presentation, 1971), Mainz: Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1973 + Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1984, pp. 14–17 • Ranc, Robert. Henri Friedlaender. Arts et techniques graphiques. 85(1972): 3-26. • Remy, W. Henri Friedlaender und das Hohelied. Illustration. 63(August 1984): 42–55. • Soifer, I. Henri Friedlaender: Book designer. Ariel: A Quarterly Review of Arts and Letters in Israel. Jerusalem. 33-4(1973): 131–148. • Soifer, Israel. Henri Friedlaender: New Approach to Type. Publishers' Weekly. (1 July 1968):74-75. • Standard, Paul. Henri Friedlaender: A Koch Pupil Who Brings His Master's Reflective Spirit to the Dutch Book Arts. Print: A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts. 2(1947): 15–27. • Stern, Gideon. Printing, Books and Gideon Stern, Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2004 • Tamari, I.J. Kusari-Hebräisch – der Anfang einer Druckschrift von Henri Friedlaender und Paul Koch, Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1992, pp. 309–318 • Tamari, I.J. Nachruf auf Henri Friedlaender (obituary), Wolfenbütteler Notizen zur Buchgeschichte, Jg. 22, H. 1 (?1997) • Zahler, Ernst. Über das niederländische Buchschaffen, Schweizer Graphische Mitteilungen (journal), to 1951. See also Typographische Monatsblätter. Feb. 1949, pp. 85–92
Writings and published texts
Catalogued output
Writings and published texts
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The run opens with Zijn einde and closes with The making of Hadassah Hebrew. The 1940s are the densest part of the run, with 3 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
8 editions carry dates between 1945 and 1975
The entries follow Open Library
Zijn einde
1945
De overweldiger
1945
Der Knecht Gottes
1947
Iets over het grafisch onderwijs in Israël
1956
3000 שנה לאות העברית
1963
Die Entstehung meiner Hadaesah-Hebräisch
1967
The making of Hadassah Hebrew
1975
Teaching
The work is documented at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
reference work
- “Henri Friedlaender”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q691860: Henri Friedlaender
General reference · Wikidata
Prizes and awards
• 1937 - Silver medal: Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne • 1950 - Buchpreis (Duwaer-Prijs) der Stadt Amsterdam • 1954 - La Triennale di Milano • 1959 - Internationale Buchkunst Ausstellung in Leipzig • 1971 - Gutenberg Prize.
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Archived copy.
- 2.Fuks-Mansfeld, R. G. (1999). German literature in Dutch exile, 1933–1940: an inventory.
- 3.For her participation in the resistance movement and saving lives she was recognized as Righteous Among The Nations on 7 July 1997.http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/righteous-sportsmen/friedlander.asp
- 4.National Library of the Netherlands. Exil editions.
- 5.Toledo, S. (2001). An Annotated Bibliography of Hebrew Typesetting.
- 6.Dartmouth College Library Bulletin.
- 7.Editor. (1971). News and Notes. Quaerendo. 1(4): 308-315.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Skolnik. Calligraphy, Modern Hebrew. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Granite Hill. 4. 369. 2007. 978-0-02-865932-9.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the heading Henri Friedländer. His recorded languages were German and Hebrew. He was the child of Theodor Friedlaender and Rose Calman. Friedlaender worked in typography and graphic design. He was employed by Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. He worked at The Hague, Wassenaar and Jerusalem. Recorded as typesetter, university teacher, designer, graphic artist and draftsperson.
Identity and origins
Career and activity
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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