Artur Berger
Artur Berger, Arthur Berger, and even after his emigration Artur Semenovic or Semenovich ( born May 27, 1892 in Vienna, † January 11, 1981 in Moscow) was an Austrian art director and production designer. During his creative life in Austria from 1920 to 1936, he worked for some 30 feature films. He then emigrated to Moscow in the Soviet Union, where he continued endowed films up to 1970.
Life and work
Artur Berger in 1892 was the son of Jewish parents Simon, private employee, and Pauline Berger was born in Vienna (nee Beran ). He attended the School of Graphic Arts and Research Institute and from 1911 to 1915, the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where he was trained by the renowned Art Nouveau architect Josef Hoffmann and Oskar Strnad. In 1919 he resigned from the Jewish community.
Artur Berger initially worked with his brother Josef Berger and Martin Ziegler with the housing program of Red Vienna, but moved in 1920 to Sascha film to work as an architect for scenes and Filmbauten. For the directors Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda, he designed there with their epics Prince and the Pauper (1920), The young Medardus (1923 ), Harun al Rashid (1924 ), The Slave Queen (1924 ) and Salammbô ( 1924). He frequently collaborated with Emil Stepanek and Julius von Borsody. However, from the mid- 1920s, he worked almost exclusively for inconsequential melodrame and entertainment films. In 1926, he endowed the Pratermizzi, 1927 he recorded again responsible for the scenes and buildings of a successful production: Café Elektric by Gustav Ucicky.
In 1932, he staged an election commercial for the state election the Social Democrats: The 17er from the house. Was used the Selenophon - Sound Mix. The social utopian film takes place in 2032, in which numerous skyscrapers with glass facades St. Stephen's Cathedral surrounded. In order to prevent this horror vision of a life not worth the city occur should the Vienna act according to the motto at the end of the film: "Be smart! The Red Vienna wins! Selects social democrat ". Besides Rossaks Mr. Pim's trip to Europe this was just a social democratic commercials produced by two of the local cinema operation Agency ( Kiba ) and also the last before the party was banned in the Austrian corporate state.
1933 Berger was a founding member of the Teaching Institute for Sound Film Arts in Vienna, where he also taught. He was also a member of the Austrian Werkbund and the Federal Austrian artists and the art show / Sonderbundskrieg German Austrian artist. 1936, when it was taken over in Austria on economic and political pressure from Nazi Germany whose work prohibition for Jews and Jewish -born people in the film industry, Artur Berger emigrated via Prague and Paris to Moscow, where he under the pseudonym Artur Semenovich has been transferred to the Mezhrabpom film studios continued to work for the film.
Artur Berger had three all working as architects in Austria, Russia and Tashkent sons and a daughter.