Miriam Friedman Morris' request
Miriam Friedman Morris has made the following request to the KWA:
"I am the daughter of the artist David Friedmann (1893-1980) and I am documenting his art and also searching for portfolios of his portraits of famous chess masters. ... I am hoping you or your membership may have seen portraits by Dav. Friedmann, possibly even published in books.
To see the 14 David Friedmann lithograph portraits that comprise a portfolio, check out: http://www.kb.nl/... and click on "Köpfe berühmter Schachmeister". The article will explain the differences between the two portfolio sets and you can also link to a biography of the artist.
In 1923 Julius Kittls was advertising for sale in the newspaper 50 Portfolios entitled, "Das Schachmeister-Turnier in Mährisch Ostrau, Juli 1923". One portfolio was found in the archive of the Ostrava Museum.
Here are some notes for further research:
My father liked to vary his signature. He signed his name D. Friedmann, Dav. Friedmann, DaFrie or just Friedmann. I also found Fried and DF. He changed the appearance of the letter "F".
It is my theory that he gave each chess master their portrait and possibly a portfolio. Thus, there may be a single portrait or portfolio in the estates of the chess masters he portrayed. The portrait of Akiba Rubinstein was found at the Brussels Jewish Museum. Portfolio No. 27, the Emanuel Lasker set of "Köpfe berühmter Schachmeister", was sold as part of his estate in the 1970’s, and is now in the collection of the Chess Library of David DeLucia.
The portraits published in the Berlin newspapers were mostly "drawings" and not lithographs and produced simultaneously with events printed in the newspapers. I found the 1923 Euwe and Réti lithograph portraits published at later dates. When Réti died, a signed portrait for his obituary notice was published in several newspapers throughout Germany. Attached is the portrait of Richard Réti, published in the B. Z. am Mittag June 6, 1929.
I expect there to be numerous unknown portraits that possibly were published in chess books. It would be fascinating to discover these portraits and the surviving portfolios."
Further links:
University of Minnesota: Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies
Lexikon: Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf / Stolpersteine