Ann and Herman Hecht: graphic and textile designers : papers

Herman Hecht: mounted design work (ca.1960-1974); un-mounted design work (ca.1960-1974); Croydon College of Art teaching material (ca.1966- 1980). Ann Hecht: design work (ca.1985-2011).

Herman Hecht (1923-1985) was born into a Jewish family on 11th April 1923 in Bingen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Hecht came to England in 1939 and was briefly interned in 1940 as a category C enemy alien. After studying at Leeds and Chelsea schools of art he worked for many years as personal assistant to Hans Schleger and in advertising and design studios. He married Ann Cave in 1957 after meeting at a graphics studio where both worked. Hecht ran his own design studio from 1958-1964. In 1964 he took up a position as a graphic design lecturer at Croydon College of Art, later becoming the Senior Lecturer and Course Director for the College's Department of Graphic Design. Hecht continued to produce work on a freelance basis as well as writing and lecturing on design. A magic lantern and slide collector and writer and early cinema enthusiast, Hecht undertook extensive research in preparation for a reference volume on pre-cinema history and inventions to 1896. His work was nearing completion when he died suddenly in 1985, aged 62.

Ann Hecht (née Cave) (1929- ) was born in Reading, Berkshire on 15 January 1929. She trained in London as a graphic designer. She married Hermann Hecht in 1957 after meeting at a graphics studio where both worked. After marriage she became a weaver and expert in Guatemalan textiles. She taught weaving, spinning and dyeing in adult education for a number of years and produced several books on the subject, as well as designing and producing the Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. After Hermann Hecht's sudden death in 1985 she completed and edited the volume he had been working on, Pre-Cinema History: an Encyclopaedia and Annotated Bibliography of the Moving Image before 1896 , which was published in 1993.

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Gift of Ann Hecht, 2011

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The archive was acquired as a group by the donor