Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1904 Purkersdorf, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)

Died: 1983 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1938

Other name/s: Georg Teltscher Adams, George Adams-Teltscher, Georg Anthony Adams-Teltscher, Georg Teltscher

Biography

Graphic designer George Adams (né Georg Teltscher) was born in Purkersdorf, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) in 1904. His father, Wilhelm Teltscher, was a Jewish trader in mother-of-pearl, his mother, Mary Adams, a protestant from Quincy, Massachusetts, USA. Adams initially enrolled at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna; inspired by Paul Klee, he continued his studies under Walter Gropius (who became a lifelong friend), Johannes Itten and Wassily Kandinsky at the Bauhaus in Weimar (1921–23). Besides attending courses in painting and mural decoration, he also contributed to the establishment of the Bauhaus Theatre, and in particular to the iconic Das Mechanische Ballett (Mechanical Ballet). Following the school's relocation to Dessau, Adams returned to Vienna and took on stage design commissions, later turning to advertising and graphic design in Berlin, Hamburg and Barcelona. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he fought with the Austrian division of the left-wing International Brigade.

Aided by Maggie Bradbury, his former nanny, Adams fled from Spain to London on a tourist visa in 1938; he had begun using his mother's surname to avoid persecution by the Spanish nationalist regime. He swiftly established himself as a successful graphic designer and assisted with the Bauhaus: 1919–1928 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1938. Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, and the introduction of internment for all so-called 'enemy aliens' in June 1940, Adams was among those shipped to Australia on the infamous HMT Dunera and interned for a year in Camp Hay, New South Wales. There he made friends with fellow refugee artist Klaus Friederberger, producing sketches and watercolours, including designs for the banknotes of the special currency ('toy money') briefly used by the internees of Camp Seven (see examples in the British Museum Collection). On his release in 1941, Adams returned to England. Through his connection with renowned art historian and former Bauhaus teacher, Bruno Adler, Adams found employment as a book designer, initially with the firm Diagram. Given his outstanding ability to imitate German regional accents, he also became a voice actor for the BBC's anti-Nazi propaganda radio show which was broadcast in Germany. Adams later joined the British Army, serving on the battlefields, as well as contributing to the war effort in map making and pamphlet design for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Adams became a naturalised British citizen after the end of the war in 1945. He subsequently became art director, consecutively, for the émigré magazines Future and Go. In 1951 he participated in the Festival of Britain, showcasing his posters, Christmas cards and book jackets. The same year he took up a senior teaching post at the London College of Printing which he held for eight years. During this time, he became associated with the émigré publishers, Thames & Hudson, for whom he would design more than 500 book jackets, as well as their signature corporate logo. From 1957 his friends from the Bauhaus invited Adams to take on commissions as a graphic designer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His sketches for Das Mechanische Ballett were featured in the major Bauhaus retrospective held at the Royal Academy, London, during autumn 1968, for which he was also a consultant. During the run of the exhibition, Adams gave a talk at Ben Uri entitled 'My Years as A Student at the Bauhaus' (Ben Uri Archives, 24 October 1968).

In 1973, Adams married Sara Murray, a Nicholas Winton kindertransportee, whom he met at George Rainbird & Co, a commercial publisher in Charlotte Street, London, where he had been sent to sort out the design studio. The couple spent time in Nigeria in the 1970s, where Adams was invited to establish the Art Department at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka and where he held a teaching post between 1973–77. Returning to England, the Adams' settled in Gospel Oak, close to their circle of émigré friends, including Lucie Rie and Jan Tschichold. George Adams died in London in 1983. Throughout his life, Adams remained a promoter of Bauhaus practise and principles. His work is held in numerous public collections including the British Museum, London. Facsimile designs by Adams were included in the exhibition Out of Austria at Ben Uri Gallery in 2018. An exhibition entitled George Adams – Bauhausler in Britain was held at the Isokon Gallery, London in 2019.

Related books

Philip Goad et al., Bauhaus Diaspora and Beyond: Transforming Education through Art, Design and Architecture (Melbourne: The Miegunyah Press/Power Publications, 2019)
Peter Wakelin, Refuge and Renewal: Migration and British Art (Bristol: Sansom and Company, 2019)
Jutta Vinzent, 'List of Refugee Artists (Painters, Sculptors, and Graphic Artists) From Nazi Germany in Britain (1933–1945)', In Identity and Image: Refugee Artists from Nazi Germany in Britain (1933–1945) (Kromsdorf/Weimar: VDG Verlag, 2006) pp. 249-298
George Weibel, Beyond Art: A Third Culture (Vienna: Spring, 2005) pp. 42, 66-67
'Adams, George' In Werner Röder and Herbert A. Strauss eds., Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933–1945, Vol. 2 (Munich: Saur, 1999)
Roger Butler, The Europeans: Emigré Artists in Australia, 1930–1960 (Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1997) p. 15
Walter Herdeg and Walter Amstutz eds., Graphis, vol. 6, no. 32, 1950, p.339

Public collections

Related organisations

Kunstgewerbeschule, Vienna (student)
Bauhaus (student)
London College of Printing (teacher)
Thames & Hudson (designer)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (graphic designer)
University of Nigeria (lecturer)
Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (fellow)
Festival of Britain (exhibitor)

Selected exhibitions

George Adams – Bauhausler in Britain, Isokon Gallery, London (2019)
Out of Austria, Ben Uri Gallery, London (2018)
DYNAMIK! Kubismus / Futurismus / KINETISMUS, Belvedere, Universität für angewandte Kunst, Vienna (2011)
The Europeans: emigré artists in Australia, 1930–1960, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (1997)
50 Years Bauhaus, Royal Academy, London (1968)
Bauhaus: 1919–1928, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1938)
Bauhaus Ausstellung, Weimar (1923)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [George Adams]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

George Adams artist