Dorrit Dekk, born Dorothy Karoline Fuhrmann, (18 May 1917 – 29 December 2014) was a Czech-born British graphic designer, printmaker and painter.

Early life

Dekk was born in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

Margraviate of Moravia The Margraviate of Moravia ( cs, Markrabství moravské; german: Markgrafschaft Mähren) was one of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire existing from 1182 to 1918. It was officially administrated by a margrave in cooperat ...

and trained at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna from 1936 to 1938. There she was taught by Otto Niedermoser, the stage designer, and contributed to designs for the theatre and for film director

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

. Following the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

in 1938, Dekk escaped to London, where she took up a place at the

Reimann School The Reimann School of Art and Design was a private art school which was founded in Berlin in 1902 by Albert Reimann, and re-established in Regency Street, Pimlico, London in January 1937 after persecution by the Nazis. It was the first commercia ...

through a scholarship arranged by Niedermoser and specialised in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

Career

Following the closure of the Reimann School in 1939, Dekk joined the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

(WRNS) and as a linguist became a radio intelligence officer listening to

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

communications. As a

Y-station The "Y" service was a network of British signals intelligence collection sites, the Y-stations. The service was established during the First World War and used again during the Second World War. The sites were operated by a range of agencies inc ...

'listener', she intercepted coded messages sent to German naval forces with her hand-written transcripts then being sent to

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...

for deciphering. At the end of the war, she joined the design studio of what was to become the Central Office of Information, working under

Reginald Mount Reginald Mount (1906–1979) was a British graphic designer. Mount was born Edward Reginald Mount, on 4 July 1906. He worked as a designer for various advertising agencies in London in the 1930s, then joined the Ministry of Information at the ou ...

. During her two and a half years, she designed numerous government posters, including the iconic Ministry of Health's poster ''Trap the Germs in Your Handkerchief''.Artmonsky, 96. Dekk also designed posters for the Ministry of Works post-war re-building programme and for the Polish Resettlement Corps. Dekk left the Central Office of Information in 1948 to spend a year in Cape Town, where she worked as a stage designer and illustrator. Dekk returned to London in 1950 and established herself as a freelance designer. Her clients included

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

, the Orient Shipping Line (latterly P&O Orient Line), the

Post Office Savings Bank Post Office Savings Bank is a name used by postal savings systems in several countries, including: * New Zealand, later renamed the PostBank * United Kingdom, later renamed the National Savings and Investments * Singapore, later renamed POSB Bank * ...

, Trust House Forte,

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, The Tatler and London Transport. She also worked as a designer for the Travelling Section of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

, creating the mural 'British Sports and Games'.Dorrit Dekk
on the London Transport Museum's website. Date accessed: 4 February 2014. In 1956, she became a Fellow of the

Society of Industrial Artists The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) is a professional body for designers. It is the only Royal Chartered body of experienced designers. Its membership is multi-disciplinary – representing designers in all design, disciplines including ...

. Dekk came to be regarded as among the most successful commercial artists of the post-war period in Britain. She retired from her graphic design practice in 1982, but continued to work as a painter and printmaker right up until her death in December 2014.

Personal life

In 1940, Dekk married Leonard Klatzow, a South African physicist. He had a key role in the invention of the cathode-ray tube and infrared night vision for the navy. He died in 1942, following a plane crash. In 1968, she married Kurt Epstein and they remained together until his death in 1990.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dekk, Dorrit 1917 births 2014 deaths Artists from Brno People from the Margraviate of Moravia Alumni of Reimann School (London) British graphic designers British poster artists Czech designers Fellows of the Society of Industrial Artists Bletchley Park people Czech poster artists University of Applied Arts Vienna alumni University of Vienna alumni Women's Royal Naval Service ratings Bletchley Park women Czechoslovak emigrants to the United Kingdom Women's Royal Naval Service personnel of World War II

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links