Moses Bahelfer

Moses Bahelfer , maiden name Moshe Bagelferyches (born June 29, 1908 in Vilnius , died 1995 in Paris as Moses Bagel ) was a Lithuanian advertising artist and set designer who studied at the State Bauhaus .

Life

Moses Bahelfer completed an apprenticeship as a decorator and painter at the commercial school in Vilnius. He then took a graphics semester at the arts and crafts school. He became a member of the “Young Wilna” group, which included young artists, writers and Yiddish-speaking poets and participated in their exhibitions. Bahelfer began studying at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1928 , where, after completing the preliminary course, he belonged to the printing and advertising workshop and the plastic workshop under Joost Schmidt . From 1929 Bahelfer received lessons in the free painting class from Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky . Since Bahelfer was penniless, the Bauhaus waived his school fees . He lived with his penniless fellow student Isaak Butkow , who also came from Vilnius, as a sublet, and the landlords fed both of them. At the beginning of 1932, the work of Moses Bahelfer was exhibited at the Bauhaus. Shortly afterwards he received his diploma from the Bauhaus and emigrated to France in 1932.

Family grave of Moses Bahelfer in Paris

He went to Paris with his wife Gitel Golde, who had studied at the Bauhaus since 1930. There he called himself Moses Bagel and worked as a graphic designer and illustrator. He worked for the literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Française , illustrated children's books and produced photo reports. In 1939 he went to the Foreign Legion or the French Army, but was released from service. During the German occupation of France , he stayed in Toulouse . There he worked for an architect, joined a resistance group and forged personal documents. After the liberation he illustrated books in Paris and worked for Jewish newspapers. Bahelfer designed sets and costumes for the “Yiddish Theater” as a Yiddish theater in Paris. He was also head of the 20th Century Fox advertising workshop in Paris from 1947 to 1968 . In 1972 and 1973, Bahelfer gave drawing courses at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris .

He was buried in the Paris Père Lachaise cemetery under the name Moses Bagel-Feryches next to his wife Ginettte Bagel-Feryches (1907–1973) and his son Amos Bagel-Feryches (1931–1958).

literature

• Bagel, Moses in: Biographisches Lexikon der Theaterkünstler , Munich, 1999, Volume 2, A – K.

Web links

• Moses Bahelfer. 1928–1932 Bauhaus student at bauhaus100.de
• Moses Bagel (Lithuanian, 1908-1995) at Bureau d'Art (English)