Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1893 Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)

Died: 1970 London, England

Year of Migration to the UK: 1937

Other name/s: Fritz Löwensohn, Fritz Lowen, Fritz Lowensohn, Lucien Lindsay Lowen, Friedrich Löwensohn, Lowen, Friedrich Löwen, Lucien Lowen

Biography

Graphic artist Fritz Löwen was born into a Jewish family, son of Max and Olga Löwensohn in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria), on 12 December 1893. He belonged to the talented circle of illustrators who worked for Ullstein Verlag, Berlin, one of the largest (and Jewish-owned) publishers in Weimar Germany, producing book illustrations, magazine covers and publicity posters, including for Die Muskete , Die Dame and UHU in the 1920s and early 1930s. These images often featured glamourous women. He also illustrated children's books and contemporary novels, including Lion Feuchtwanger's Der Jüdische Krieg [Josephus. A Historical Romance] (Berlin: Propyläen 1932). In 1933, in the bilingual publication, International Advertising Art [Gebrauchsgraphik], writer Dr Hans Sahl observed: ‘The original and most elastic manner in which this artist adapts himself to the continually changing needs of book and magazine propaganda, evidences once again how indispensable and important such talented men can be.’

With the rise of Nazi Germany, Löwen fled to London around the end of 1935. Like many German refugees, he changed his name, becoming 'Lucien Lowen' (inspired by the Stendhal novel, Lucien Leuwen) and signing his work ‘Lucien’ or ‘Lowen’. Early on, society magazine The Bystander featured his portrait of actress Viven Leigh, painted while she was filming at Denham Studios for MGM in 1937. He also painted Peggy Ashcroft, Lili Palmer and Clare Luce. He is recorded as boarding with Palmer's mother and at a Mrs Peiser’s house in Parsifal Road, West Hampstead, NW6 (Tate archives), an area popular with refugees from Mitteleuropa, before moving nearby to 41 Compayne Gardens. Other commissions included a portrait for the Royal Family of the young Princess Elizabeth on horseback (c. 1937, based on a photograph, whereabouts unconfirmed; Roland Jaeger) and a mural design, featuring puppets, for Berlin émigré, Gerhard Kempinski’s eponymous restaurant in Swallow Street, opened in 1941. During the war Lowen served in the Pioneer Corps. He also unsuccessfully applied to join the War Artists Advisory Committee and may have worked as a graphic designer for the Foreign Office.

Alongside his magazine work, Lowen continued to illustrate children’s books, including several featuring a young lad, ‘Gipsy’, written by Victor Becker, translated into English by Shelagh Fraser. Gipsy’s Great Adventure is even compared on the flyleaf to Emil and the Detectives, Erich Kästner’s iconic children’s book, well-known for its illustrations by émigré artist, Walter Trier. Lowen was also proposed as a replacement for Trier, but was rejected by Kästner. Like Trier, Lowen also produced his own textless children’s book, 8192 Crazy Circus Stars (Atrium Press, 1951), where each image is sliced horizontally into three, enabling the ‘reader’ to flip segments to create multiple ‘crazy’ circus characters – and where ‘8192’ references the number of permutations. Atrium Press in the UK was the continuation of Atrium Verlag, established in Germany by Kurt Maschler (1896-1986), father of émigré publisher, Thomas Maschler, following the transfer of the rights of Williams Verlag in 1933. Williams Verlag had been a preeminent children's book publisher, which was Aryanised. Atrium continued publishing Williams’ authors such as Kästner, banned in Nazi Germany. In 1937, Maschler himself fled to London, from where he (and then his son) ran Atrium.

Beyond Atrium, Lowen provided illustrations for many well-known English publishers, including Methuen, William Heinemann, and George G. Harrap & Co. He also illustrated classics such as Lorna Doone (abbreviated edition, Heirloom Library, 1955) and Hans Christian Anderson’s The Tinder Box, retold by Joan Cherry (Polytint Ltd, London, 1954). Although many authors for whom Lowen provided illustrations are not among the first rank of writers, it is evident that he, nevertheless, carved out a successful niche in the postwar period. Lowen was naturalised in 1946, alongside his wife, Margarete. Lowen also produced posters for travel agent Erna Low (herself, a Viennese émigré) who offered ski trips to British holidaymakers. He also contributed images to the in-house journal for grocers, J. Sainsbury. Beyond his commercial work, Lowen was a skilled flower painter, demonstrating a high level of botanical accuracy; his paintings featured in The Sphere magazine during the 1960s, for which he also designed numerous covers.

Lucien Lowen died in London, England on 24 May 1970, reportedly from a heart attack at Euston station. His work is not represented in UK public collections. Posthumously, in 1999, the John Denham Gallery in north London held an exhibition of Lowen's drawings, paintings and poster designs. The gallery was a committed supporter of neglected refugee artists and designers, and the catalogue provides a valuable source of scant biographical details (Tate archive). More recently, in 2022, his art featured in The Lost Generation at Berado’s Bacalhôa Adega Museu, Vila Nova de Azeitão in Setúbal, Portugal, which highlighted three artists who fled Nazi Germany, and which holds his estate. In 2024 Roland Jaeger presented a paper on Lowen as a forgotten émigré graphic designer at the International Feuchtwanger Society conference in London.