The Kurt Löb Collection at Our Library
Works, Exhibition Catalogs, and Essays by and about the Book Illustrator
Kurt Löb illustrated books by Balzac, Flaubert and Maupassant, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Gogol and Tolstoy, Anna Seghers, Joseph Roth and Stefan Zweig, Christopher Isherwood, and Imre Kertész, and after 2008 also stories of his own. We acquired a collection about his work in 2006 and have supplemented it with targeted acquisitions.
Our Collection
Some of the collector’s editions are signed and most were published by Dutch publishers. In addition, the collection includes catalogs of exhibitions, essays published in magazines by and about Kurt Löb, and his dissertation Exil-Gestalten. Deutsche Buchgestalter in den Niederlanden 1932–1950 (Exile Designs: German Book Designers in the Netherlands, 1932–1950) published in 1995.
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy, Library
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Kurt Löb’s Life Story
The book illustrator Kurt Löb was born in Berlin in 1926 and, like our founding director W. Michael Blumenthal, attended the Kaliski Jewish Forest School before fleeing to Amsterdam with his family in 1939. There, aged 16, he began his art studies at the Rijksakademie and then trained as a commercial artist at an Amsterdam type foundry.
“Back on Berlin Cobbles”
Kurt Löb had his first trip back to Berlin in 1971:
“I arrived at the same Zoo train station where we once departed into exile. And I went out of there with my heavy suitcase, turning right on Hardenbergstraße. I was back on Berlin cobbles, unique the whole world over, composed with Prussian diligence of numerous small stones which were so good for throwing during riots... And I felt a little at home again, although I could never again feel completely at home here.” (“Berlin und ich.” In.: Exhibition catalog for “Kurt Löb – Bild + Buch.” Berlin: Kunstamt Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 1972. Also printed in Aktuell 76 [2005]).
Kurt Löb died in Amsterdam in 2015.
Kurt Löb: De schilder en andere verhalen. Amstelveen: Uitgeverij Tienstuks 2011; Jewish Museum Berlin
Kurt Löb: De schilder en andere verhalen. Amstelveen: Uitgeverij Tienstuks 2011; Jewish Museum Berlin
How can I conduct research using the museum’s archive, collections, and library?
Our Reading Room is open to the public. You can also research using our library’s holdings and some of our collection’s holdings online. To view additional holdings, please contact the responsible curators.
I would like to depict or borrow an object from your collections. Who should I contact?
Your contacts for photo permissions are Valeska Wolfgram and Birgit Maurer-Porat (T +49 (0)30 259 93 433, email: fotodoku@jmberlin.de). Loan requests must be made at least six months in advance. For questions regarding administrative processes, please contact Katrin Strube (T +49 (0)30 259 93 417, email: k.strube@jmberlin.de).
Special Collections: On Jewish Art and Culture (6)
-
On Jewish Art and Culture
Some of our Library’s most important collections include the volumes printed by the Soncino Society of Friends of Jewish Books (founded in 1924), the publications of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, and special collections on Jewish art and visual culture.
-
The William L. Gross Collection
The 400-book collection includes Judaica, documents, and literature on Jewish art and culture.
-
The Ulrich von Kritter Collection
The collection comprises around sixty illustrated works of German-Jewish and Yiddish Literature (1920–1990).
-
The Kurt Löb Collection
The collection includes signed and unsigned works by the book illustrator, exhibition catalogs, essays by and about him, and his dissertation.
-
The Soncino Society Collection
With eighty Society publications from 1924 to 1937, our collection – a bequest from Hermann Meyer – is complete.
-
The John F. and Hertha Oppenheimer Collection
Publications of the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith, other writings from the interwar period, and books published in the US after 1945
-
Collection Hebrew Printing in Berlin
The collection contains about 400 Hebrew and Yiddish titles from the eighteenth century to 1933
