Franzisca Baruch (; 21 November 1901 – 3 September 1989) was a German–Israeli graphic designer. She is known for designing Hebrew fonts, the cover of the first Israeli passport, the emblem of Jerusalem, and the logo of the Ha'aretz newspaper.
Biography
Early life and career in Germany
Franzisca Baruch was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1901. Her father died when she was four; she and her sister Anna then lived with their grandmother; their mother studied in the State Academy of Music in Berlin at that time. At the age of 17 she was admitted to the (State School of Arts and Crafts). Baruch studied decoration, illustration, graphics, and lettering. She attended the graphic and book art class led by Ernst Böhm; she also took private courses in handwriting with Else Marcks-Penzig. In 1920 she won the first prize for designing Christmas plates for the porcelain manufacturer of the Prussian Royal house. A year later, in 1921, she drew the letters for the Passover Haggadah, which was decorated with woodcuts by Jacob Steinhardt. To prepare for that work she studied the medieval Jewish manuscripts and the Prague Haggadah in the library of the Jewish community in Berlin. The Book of Jonah was published in 1953, and the Book of Ruth in 1957, both with lettering done by Baruch and illustrated by Steinhardt.
Together with her teacher Ernst Böhm, Baruch worked for the Berlin publishing house "Rimon", established by Rachel and Mark Wischnitzer, which published a magazine on Jewish art, Rimon–Milgroim. Ishai Mishory of the Columbia University writes that Rachel Wischnitzer saw the magazine as a "recombination of historical and modern material", and ordered Baruch to design the logo as a mix between "modern and medieval in one visual element". Baruch designed the logo in style of the Prague Hagaddah from 1523; "She has retained the text’s most historically prominent feature [...] namely the decorative circular shapes adorning each letter's stalk and the letters' particular "rhythm", as embodied in the relation between the horizontal and vertical strokes but also in the unique way space between letters is rendered [...]. The letters of the masthead are rounder than the letters in the Prague Haggadah source, and the circular decorative adornment of their stalks even more flowery, however her rendering makes the medieval source immediately recognizable." Baruch chose the letters from the medieval manuscripts not because of their liturgical importance, but only because of the visual elements. Baruch also created covers for books by famous Jewish writers and artists, including Hayim Nahman Bialik, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, and Shaul Tchernichovsky. One of the notable works was the design of the cover and letters of Bialik's book from 1923, Ketina Kol-Bo, inspired by a manuscript of the Bible copied in Spain in the 15th century by Moshe Ibn Zabara and the Yosef Ibn Chaim.
In 1926, she began working for the Weimar Republic's Reichskunstwart (Imperial Art Monitor) Edwin Redslob, who was responsible for the state graphic works: designing the symbols and images of the Republic, including stamps, coins, banknotes, certificates, flags, memorial sites, exhibitions and national holidays. One of Baruch's jobs for the government was the graphic and design preparations that accompanied King Amanullah of Afghanistan's visit to Berlin in 1928, the first royal visit to the Republic after the Kaiser. She designed the king's emblem on the festive decor that greeted him and was printed on the porcelain boxes given to him as a gift. She also made a special design of the eagle, the emblem of the Weimar Republic, which corresponded with the emblem of the Afghani king. Woodcuts of the Afghan emblem and the German eagle were found in her estate in Israel.
Baruch was also involved in the preparation of exhibitions in which the government participated. One of them, an international print exhibition called Pressa, was held in Cologne in 1925. Baruch prepared the letters of the German pavilion; before the exhibition was opened the supervisor of the exhibition fell ill, and Franzisca was asked to substitute him. Designers Henri Friedlaender and Gideon Stern, who took an interview with Baruch in 1984, described this episode:
In 1932, on the centenary of Goethe's death, Baruch designed characters and titles for the animated film Goethe is Alive! The critics praised her work, but the name of the Jewish artist was absent from the list of credits.