Georg Alexander Mathéy

Biography

Books, illustration. German-Greek. Born 13 September 1884 in Hermannstadt, Siebenbürgen (now Sibiu, Romania). First trained as an architect at the Technische Hochschule, Budapest, then was an actor and set painter. 1910-15: studied at the Berlin Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule under Bruno Paul (and was later his assistant), and master student (Meisterschüler) of Emil Rudolf Weiss. 1915-18: designed the art/literary journal Wieland. 1917: worked on the ‘Klingspor-Cards’ project for the Klingspor typefoundry (which published his illustrated Greek Year 45 years later). Worked at Count Harry Kessler’s Cranach Press, Weimar, and designed for Insel Verlag. 1921-9: head of the department of typography, book- and lithography printing at the Leipzig Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe. 1924: editor at the Berlin publisher Dietrich Reimer. 1926: wall-paintings for Max Kuhn house, Leipzig. 1927: decorations for ‘the book-lover’s room’, International Book Art exhibition, Leipzig. By 1931: member of the Verein deutsche Buchkünstler (VDB). To 1933: designed bookbindings for the Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft, Berlin. From 1945: lived in Offenbach a.M. 1953-7: involved with the creation of the Klingspor Museum at Offenbach a.M.: he was its first director. He had illustrated books for the Cranach Press. Painted and designed the frescoes and mosaics at Casa d’Italia and the German Church , Athens. Died 1 January 1968 in Buchendorf near Munich.