Joseph Floch Collection

Collection

Identifier: AR 7218

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The materials in this collection extensively document the career of Joseph Floch from the mid-twenties until the late seventies. The bulk of the materials is in the form or journal articles and exhibition catalogues. A biography of Floch written by his wife in 1980 after his death is included in Series II. There are a large number of Hermine’s school reports and design patterns and notebooks from Design School. Along with this are personal papers belonging to Elsa Floch, Joseph Floch’s sister, and Hermine. Also included are a certificate and memoirs of Bela Fränkl, Hermine’s father. There is a set of National Academy of Design catalogues from 1948-1978; Floch was an academician at the NAD and also sat on a board of juries there.

Dates

Creation: 1911-1980
Creation: Majority of material found within 1929-1960

Creator

Elfand, Jenny Floch (Person)

Language of Materials

The collection is in English, German, French and Hebrew.

Access Restrictions

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Joseph Floch was born in Vienna, Austria in 1895. He showed signs of artistic talent at an early age and became successful as a painter throughout Europe and the United States. He spent the First World War in Holland studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, and until later on in the war managed to evade military service. When eventually he was conscripted he convinced the military that he was unable to fight for medical reasons and was placed in an office. After the war he worked in Vienna until 1924 when he moved to Paris. There he remained for the following 17 years working in his own studio; he enjoyed great success in Paris. He married Hermine née Fränkl in 1925; she was a close family friend who was ten years his junior. In 1941, Floch and his family immigrated to the United States in order to escape Nazi persecution. He lived and worked in New York until his death in 1977. He was survived by Hermine and their children, Jenny, Arthur and David.

Floch's painting is in the Expressionist style. His subjects are diverse, but the most popular amongst his paintings are interiors with female figures.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection extensively documents the career of Joseph Floch, a painter, mostly through articles and exhibition catalogues, along with personal documents and textile workings of his wife, Hermine Floch.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into two series:

Related Material

The LBI Library has several books on Joseph Floch and his artwork.

Separated Material

Books removed to the LBI Library:

Technologie, Bindungslehre, Dekomposition und Kalkulation der Jacquard-Weberei, Franz Donat (A. Hartlebens Verlag, Wien und Leipzig, 1912).
Kars: La Vie et l’Oeuvre de Georges Kars, Joseph Jolinon (Editions, Imp. Gle du Sud-Est, Lyon, Undated)
Drawing, Eds: Bruce Duff Hooton, Daniel Brown and David Johnson, Volume 1, No. 1, (Broadaxe Press, New York, 1957)

The Art and Objects Collection holds two of Floch’s paintings:

Studio with Dark Green Shade (1958)
The Artist (1955)

The archives hold the following items related to Floch:

Memories by Joseph Floch (ME 761)
Photographs from the Joseph Floch Collection (F AR 7218)

Processing Information

Two series were formed separating printed material from personal material. Whole journals were separated leaving only the relevant parts of them in the collection. Four original journals have remained in the collection due to their age and superior quality, however they will not be microfilmed in full.

Two art journals were removed.