| | Dr. Fritz Kahn and his adventurous journey through the human bodyTalk on a forgotten genius who escaped Nazi Germany by the support of his friend Albert Einstein and lived in New York after his emigration
Per chance, German designer Thilo von Debschitz came across an image dating from 1926: The illustrated graphic aid “Man as an industrial palace” allows viewers to look into the human body depicted as a vibrant enterprise with floors for offices and manufacturing. The author of this fascinating infographic was Dr. Fritz Kahn, a once well-known writer of popular science books who had faded from view since due to Nazi censorship. Accordingly, the internet did not generate any further information on Kahn. Coincidentally, however, von Debschitz had been friends with Kahn’s son in Brooklyn for over twenty years – which is not to say that they had ever discussed the father in question. As a result of that friendship, von Debschitz and his sister Uta were then in a position to delve into the family’s estate as well as international archives. Which is how they succeeded in recovering the graphic oeuvre of a man who was able to convey complex scientific issues in an understandable manner, mainly with the help of sophisticated ideas for illustrations. The monograph “Fritz Kahn” came out at the Bibliotheca Universalis of international publishing house TASCHEN. In an entertaining Zoom presentation, Thilo von Debschitz – member of RC Wiesbaden-Kochbrunnen and Paul Harris Fellow – will speak about selected methods used by Kahn as a means of visualizing information.
About me:
Thilo von Debschitz (*1966) is an educated graphic designer who lives and works in Wiesbaden, Germany. He is head of the design studio Q and teaches as a lecturer at the RheinMain University. The Paul Harris Fellow is a board member in his Rotary Club Wiesbaden-Kochbrunnen, curating its weekly program for four years. Debschitz has published various books with visual topics.
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