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Born April 3 1907 died 1991
Born April 3 1907 in Czestochowa Poland, where he spent his childhood.
After completing his schooling he travelled for three years in Europe and
the Middle East. He then began work as a self-taught graphic artist and
designer. He picked up art, so he claimed, "while trying to make a living
in thirteen different occupations, among them as a worker in machine building,
in soap manufacturing, in a distillery, as a bricklayer, farm worker, compositor,
architects's draftsman and art director." (1) In 1925
he designed the first modern Hebrew Typeface Chaim. In 1933 he met
George Him and they formed the Lewitt-Him partnership.
In 1954 the partnership came to an end when Jan Lewitt decided to devote
himself full-time to painting.
Lewitt was a graphic artist as well as an illustrator. He exhibited
widely in Europe and the US. He designed costumes and scenery for the Sadler's
Wells Ballet. He produced tapestries and worked in glass.
Notes about Jan Lewitt
(1) Quoted in Illustrators of Children's Books 1744-1945
by Bertha E Mackay et al. The Horn Book Inc Boston 1947, reprinted 1961.
Books illustrated
Alina Lewitt Blue Peter (with George Him 1943), Five Silly
Cats (with George Him 1945)
Jan Lewitt The Vegetabull (1956)
Jan Lewitt and George Him The Football's Revolt (1939)
Diana Ross The Little Red Engine gets a Name (1942)
Julien Tuwim The Locomotive, The Turnip, The Bird's Broadcast
(with George Him 1939) [English version of Lokomotywa published in
Poland in 1934]