Klemke, Werner

Born Mar. 12, 1917, in Berlin. German graphic artist (German Democratic Republic). Member of the German Academy of Arts (1961).

From 1937 to 1939, Klemke worked as an animated cartoon artist. Between 1947 and 1950 he became a successful book, newspaper, and magazine illustrator. In 1951 he began teaching at the Advanced School of Fine and Applied Art in Berlin (Weissensee) and received a professorship there in 1956. Klemke’s work is distinguished by its breadth of interests, its diversity of themes, genres, and technical devices, and the expressiveness of its style and graphic language. His works include illustrations for the Grimms’ fairy tales (1962) and for Mayakovsky’s poem All Right! (1957). Klemke was awarded the National Prize of the German Democratic Republic in 1962 and 1969.