Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens

After completing his training as an illustrator in a silverware factory, Friedrich Wilhelm Kleukens visited the Kunst­gewerbes­chule (school of applied arts) in Berlin. Subsequently, he specialized in modern commercial graphic art. From 1903 to 1906 he taught at the Akademie für Graphische Künste (academy for graphic arts) in Leipzig. In the autumn of 1906 he was appointed to the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony. Here, Kleukens designed posters, invitations, menu cards and concert programs. From 1907 he taught “Flächen­kunst” at the Groß­­herzoglichen Lehr­ateliers für angewandte Kunst (Grand Ducal Studios for Applied Art). Together with his brother Christian Heinrich Kleukens, he took over the direction of the “Ernst Ludwig-Presse” (Ernst Ludwig press) in the autumn of 1907, producing elaborately designed books. For the Artists’ Colony exhibition in 1914, he designed mosaics and ornaments to embellish the Wedding Tower.