Benedikt Fred Dolbin, real name: Fred Pollack, was a member of Vienna’s art and coffeehouse circles. Although he initially trained and qualified as an engineer, Dolbin went on to study composition with Arnold Schönberg and was active as a member of the Vienna art group Die Bewegung. From around 1917 onwards, Dolbin began to devote himself to the art of drawing, which he taught himself, producing portraits of famous poets, literati and artists for a number of Viennese newspapers. After moving to Berlin, Dolbin started working as a cartoonist for the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper and the prestigious monthly magazine Querschnitt, while also lending his services to the literary journal Die Literarische Welt, which was founded by Willy Haas.

With the Nazi takeover of power Dolbin could scarcely continue his activities as a cartoonist: he was not granted a work permit on account of his Jewish heritage. Forced into making a dramatic change, Dolbin emigrated to the USA in 1935, accompanied by his third wife, who held American citizenship. Despite receiving recognition in artist circles, he failed to achieve success in the USA due to the disparity between his style and the US-press standard. As a result, Dolbin created mostly personal portraits during his period of exile, working on the projects of his exiled friends, among them Max Reinhardt, Franz Werfel and Kurt Weill. After the war, Dolbin’s art was slowly rediscovered giving rise to exhibitions and publications of his work.

Further reading:
Will Schaber: B.F. Dolbin: Der Zeichner als Reporter. München: Verlag Dokumentation 1976