Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1905 Levin, New Zealand

Died: 1932 Cambridge, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1930

Other name/s: Friedrich Weitzel

Biography

Artist Frank Weitzel was born to German parents in Levin, New Zealand, on 22 November 1905. Brought up in a politically active family, his early years were shaped by the socialist and anti-militarist ideologies of his parents. The household in Wellington became a hub for socialists, militants, and anti-militarists during the First World War, which often put them at odds with the local authorities and made them targets of public hostility. Their open support for anti-conscription movements led to increased scrutiny and harassment by the authorities, and the internment of Weitzel's father as an enemy alien and his subsequent death in 1917 further compounded the family's sense of persecution.

In 1921, seeking a fresh start, the family relocated to San Francisco, USA, where Weitzel began his formal art education, attending high school and later earning a scholarship to the California School of Fine Arts. There, he studied sculpture under Bert Mangard, explored textile design and drawing, and was influenced by Eric Spencer Macky, who likely encouraged his interest in printmaking. By 1925, Weitzel was exhibiting sculptures with the San Francisco Artists Association. He received a national scholarship for sculpture, leading him to study at the New York Art Students’ League in 1926 and the Munich Academy in 1927. These experiences broadened his artistic horizons, allowing him to travel extensively across Europe before relocating to Sydney, Australia, in 1928.

Upon settling in Sydney, Weitzel quickly integrated into the vibrant contemporary art scene. He produced a diverse range of work, including sculpture, linocuts, and decorative Arts and Crafts items, such as lampshades, bookends, wall hangings, and batik shawls. His participation in the 1928 Burdekin House exhibition, where he co-designed an interior with Henry Pynor, showcased his Bauhaus-influenced furniture designs and textiles. Weitzel's abstract linocuts, emphasising geometric patterns and abstract design, such as Tram Lines (c.1928) and Sydney Bridge (c.1929), reflected his fascination with urban life and modernist aesthetics. His role within Sydney's avant-garde was compounded through exhibitions with the Society of Artists and the Group of Seven at the Macquarie Galleries.

In 1930, disillusioned by the slow public acceptance of his modernist work in Sydney, Weitzel decided to move to London, England. With support from Australian artist, Dorrit Black, who had previously studied linocut printmaking with Claude Flight at the Grosvenor School of Art, and who facilitated connections to the British art world, he raised funds through exhibitions at the Modern Art Centre and Macquarie Galleries, showcasing prints, sculptures, and his signature linocut batik scarves and shawls. His arrival in London marked a new chapter, as he connected with influential artists and modernists, including Jacob Epstein, Duncan Grant, and the brothers, Paul and John Nash. David Garnett, a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group, played a crucial role in Weitzel's life in England. Garnett initially met Weitzel when he sought work as an illustrator at the Nonesuch Press, co-founded by Garnett. Although Garnett was initially unimpressed with Weitzel’s drawings, he recognised his potential after seeing his sculptural work. Garnett subsequently commissioned Weitzel to create heads of his wife and son and introduced him to influential artists in his circle, significantly boosting Weitzel's visibility and opportunities. Weitzel’s affiliation with Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School saw him participate in major exhibitions of British linocuts in 1930 and 1931. Alongside the work of other exhibitors, including Eileen Mayo, his linocut Design with Leaves was singled out in the Western Morning News (18 July 1931, p. 8), and Lilies in the Times (13 July 1931, p. 10). Weitzel’s works, celebrated for their originality and formal strength, included vibrant multiple block prints and figurative pieces. Under Flight’s mentorship, Weitzel's work evolved, incorporating vibrant colours and dynamic compositions that resonated with themes of modern life.

Tragically, however, Weitzel’s promising career was cut short. Frank Weitzel died in Cambridge, England on 22 February 1932, of tetanus, when he was renting a carpenter’s shop as his studio and preparing work for his first solo exhibition in London. Garnett, who was living nearby, rushed Weitzel to hospital when it was discovered he had been infected but, by that stage, it was too late and he died within a few hours. Posthumous tributes to Weitzel’s work included a memorial exhibition organised by Dorrit Black at the Modern Art Centre in Sydney in 1933, which showcased examples of Weitzel's sculpture, linocut prints, drawings, and his poster designs for the Empire Marketing Board, London Underground Railways, and Shell Motor Spirit, among others, alongside recognition in publications such as Art in Australia. Claude Flight honoured Weitzel by featuring his linocut entitled Carnival in the 1934 publication Lino Cutting and Printing. Frank Weitzel’s work is not represented in UK public collections, although his linocuts were part of a collection of several hundred prints donated by Rex Nan Kivell, the New Zealand-born director of the Redfern Gallery, to public art galleries in New Zealand in 1953.

Related books

Deborah Edwards, Denise Mimmocchi, Daniel Thomas, Sydney Moderns: Art for a New World, exhibition catalogue (Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2013)
Stephen Coppel, Claude Flight and his Followers: the Colour Linocut Movement between the Wars, exhibition catalogue (Canberra: Australian National Gallery, 1992)
Claude Flight, Lino Cutting and Printing (London: B.T. Batsford, 1934)
Colin Simpson, 'Fame - Then Death. Weitzel and his Work. Artist, Sculptor', The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 12 March 1932, p. 3
‘The Lino-Cut’, Western Morning News, 18 July 1931, p. 8
‘Lino-Cuts’, The Times, 13 July 1931, p. 10
Colin Simpson, 'Six Painters and a Sculptor', The Daily Guardian (Sydney), 27 March 1930, p. 13.

Selected exhibitions

Third Exhibition of British Lino-Cuts, Redfern Gallery, London (1931)
Second Exhibition of British Lino-Cuts, Redfern Gallery, London (1930)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Frank Weitzel]

Ben Uri Research Unit

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

Frank Weitzel artist