Fritz Busse: More Cities
An artist who blended ink, watercolor and restlessness to create expressive urban scenes
I wrote about German illustrator Fritz Busse (1903 -1979) before, but he requires another look, particularly at his evocative cityscapes, that capture the dynamic energy of urban environments.
From childhood, Busse was uprooted. He was born in Luxembourg, studied in Hamburg and Munich, Germany, moved to Austria for a time, before settling in California. He always carried a sketchbook.
In 1952, Busse published his first sketches in the book, Stuttgarter Skizzen (Stuttgart Glossary) with publisher Hatje Cantz Verlag, which earned him some recognition.
More of his European sketchbooks were published, until 1956, when Dr. Basil Vlavianos, the Greek-American publisher of the National Herald (Ethnikos Kēryx) newspaper hired him to create a series of sketchbooks of various American cities.
Busse had the ability to capture what was unique about New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, New Orleans and San Francisco. The line work in his gritty art of urban scenes have a delicacy and immediacy. There’s variety in how he arranges his books; with full page paintings, vignettes and black and white spots. He would shift the time of day, the season and the occasion. He’d vary his subject matter with diverse narratives of urban life.
Fritz Busse found a home in cities. This love for places is what made him a unique and successful reportage artist. Here's a selection of his books about cities:
Stuttgart:
New York:
Washington, D.C.:
Boston:
Fritz Busse published sketchbooks of five more cities. Consider becoming a paid subscriber. Illustrated Journalism will make you more worldly.
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