Paul Scheurich

Biography

Posters, packaging, illustration, interior decoration, stage sets, porcelain. Born 24 October 1883 in New York of German parents. Childhood and youth spent in Hirschberg/Schlesien. 1901-4: studied sculpture at the Berlin Akademie der Bildenden Künste. 1904-11: worked on posters and as printmaker and book illustrator. 1911-13: worked for the Schwarzburger Werkstätten, Unterweissbach, and 1912-13 for Meissen. His early work influenced by Jugendstil . Illustrated for the weekly journal Simplicissimus. 1913-17: porcelain modelmaker for manufacturers. 1917-33: worked for Meissen and other manufacturers, and for film and theatre. Early 1930s: with Herbert Thannhaeuser, designer of packaging and publicity for Lohse (perfumes). Illustrated covers for the journals Die Dame and Sport im Bild. 1935: designs for the new Opera House, Charlottenburg. 1936-7: designed for Meissen. 1937: awarded Grand Prix, Paris International Exhibition, 1937. Designer of fine baroque porcelain figures, and collector; designer of drop for Berlin Opera. 1940: Scheurich’s son Kaspar dies on military service. During the war his studio was destroyed by bombs . 1943: moved to Eichow. April 1945: fled in horsecart to Brandenburg to escape Russians. Died 19 September 1945 [ or 18 November: BDE] in Berlin. ‘…[ T]he most universal of the six great pre-war [WWI] poster artists of Germany.’ (Frenzel, 1932)

Writings by

    ‘Meine Porzellan-Plastik’, Sport im Bild, 37/14, 1931, pp. 812-14 (repr. in Rafael, 1995
  • see below).

Writings about

  • Paul Westheim, ‘Paul Scheurich’, Kunstgewerbeblatt, 1908-9, pp. 33-5
  • work in Das Plakat, April 1911
  • posters in Das Plakat, Oct. 1911, pp. 130-32
  • Julius Klinger, ‘Paul Scheurich’, Das Plakat, Jan. 1912, pp. 49-55 (and cover) (and frequent appearances thereafter)
  • Franz von Volto, Paul Scheurich Porzellane, Berlin: Rembrandt, 1928
  • Arthur Rümann, ‘Die deutsche Buchillustration’, Imprimatur, 1939/40, pp. 129-44
  • Max Adolf Pfeiffer, ‘Schönheit in Porzellan. Zu dem Tafelschmuck: “Die Geburt der Schönheit” von Paul Scheurich’, Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich, June 1941, pp. 164-73
  • W.B. Honey, German Porcelain, London: Faber and Faber, 1947
  • Vollmer, 1958 (bibliography)
  • GKS, 1963, p. 212
  • Meissner Porzellan von 1710 bis zur Gegenwart (exh. cat.), Cologne: Kunstgewerbemuseum, 1983
  • Wilhelm M. Busch, ‘Erinnerungen an Berliner Pressezeichner Scheurich – Matejko – Koch-Gota’, Illustration 63, Nov. 1984, pp. 98-104
  • Johannes Rafael, Paul Scheurich 1883-1945/Porzellane für die Meissener Manufaktur (exh. cat.), Meissen: Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, 1995 (bibliography, chronological biography)
  • Günter Meier, ‘Paul Scheurich als Illustrator’ Illustration 63, Nov. 1996, pp. 88-92
  • G. Meier, ‘Bibliographie der von Paul Scheurich illustrierten Bücher’, Illustration 63, April 1997, pp. 13-15 (bibliography 1908-37)
  • Benezit, 2006.
  • H.K. Frenzel, ‘Back to twenty years ago’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Jan. 1934, pp. 17-32, esp. pp. 21, 30
  • Eberhard Hölscher, ‘Prof. Paul Scheurich’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., Feb. 1936, pp. 14-29
  • Archiv für Buchgewerbe und Gebrauchsgraphik, Leipzig: Deutsche Buchgewerbeverein., 1939, p. 611 (poster, 1912)
  • novum, Jan. 1979, p. 10 (poster, 1925)
  • Michael Fehr and Gerhard Storck, Deutsches Museum für Kunst in Handel und Gewerbe 1909-1919 (exh. cat.), Kaiser Wilhelm Museum Krefeld and Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum der Stadt Hagen, publisher: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon, Ghent, 1997., 1997 (see ‘Plakate’ index)
  • Hellmut Rademacher, Deutsche Plakatkunst und ihre Meister, Hanau: Verlag Werner Dausien, 1965., 1965, pp. 21-2 and illust.
  • Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie, Munich, London, New Providence: K.G. Saur 1995- (from 1997: Munich only)., 1998
  • H.K. Frenzel, ‘Prof. Paul Scheurich’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., June 1932, pp. 8-25
  • W. Puttkammer, ‘Parfumerie Lohse Berlin’, Gebrauchsgraphik (International Advertising Art), Berlin: Phönix Illustrationsdruck und Verlag GmbH (later: ‘Gebrauchsgraphik’ Druck und Verlag GmbH), 1933-71. Published from Munich from 1950., July 1935, pp. 2-11

Exhibitions

  • Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen, Sept. 1995-Jan. 1996.