Graphic designer, set designer. After serving in the army during World War I, studied painting and graphic design in Berlin, then designed posters for political and cultural programs, some produced in his father’s printing shop. Tapped by Erich Pommer, who produced many Expressionist films, as a set designer for Decla Films in 1919. In 1926 appointed head of publicity at Universum-Film AG (UFA); designed sets, advertising, and decorations for film premieres, transforming the lobbies, facades, and streets around movie theaters into total works of art using color and lighting to capture the mood of Expressionist filmmaking.

In 1933, after Nazi seizure of power, lost his position at UFA because he was a Jew. Emigrated to Palestine via France in 1936. Then settled in Hollywood, where his brother Fritz was a film actor. Worked first as a draftsman for MGM and later as a designer for television and film.

Selected Bibliography

Kamps, Johannes. “Rudi Feld.” In UFA Film Posters, 1918–1943, edited by Peter Mänz and Christian Maryška, p. 131. Exh. cat., Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin, and Austrian National Library, Vienna. Heidelberg: Umschau Braus, 1998.

Ward, Janet. Weimar Surfaces: Urban Visual Culture in 1920s Germany. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.