Walter Trier (1890–1951) Biographical Data

1890	*June 25, Prague, five older siblings
1900-1904	Nikolander secondary school, Prague
1905-1906	School of Arts and Crafts, Academy of Arts, both in Prague
1907	Private Art School Heinrich Knirr, Munich
1908	Enrollment at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts
1909	Graduation, first drawing published in Simplicissimus
1910	First drawing published in magazine Jugend, move to Berlin, first time illustration in print media: cover sleeve of Allgemeine Heiterkeit. Der Reichstag im Lichte der Karikatur.
1911	Starts taking part in the annual "Große Berliner Kunstausstellung" (Great Berlin Art Exhibition), Trier listed as "Illustrator" in Dresslers Kunstjahrbuch (Dressler's Art Annual), membership in VDI (Association of German Illustrators)
1913	Marries Helene Mathews, further illustrations of print publications
1914	Birth of daugther: Margarete, illustrates serveral magazines, humoristic war picture galleries, postcards for soldiers
1916	Great Berlin Art Exhibition: featured in category "political caricature and war humor"
1917	First illustrations of children's literature: Kränzchen Bilderbuch
1919	Screening of Trier's first cartoon movie
1921	Dressler's Art Annual now lists Trier as "draftsman" instead of "illustrator"
1923	Publications in magazines Lustige Blätter and Die Dame, drawings increasingly address the dangers of rightwing politics
1927	France, Spain, Northern Africa
1929	Erich Kästner's Emil und die Detektive, illustrated by Walter Trier
1933	Erich Kästner's Das fliegende Klassenzimmer, last official release of book by Kästner and Trier in Germany
1936	Flees Nazi Germany, exile in England
1937	Starts illustrating montlhy covers of Lilliput - The Pocket Magazine for Everyone in London, meets Erich Kästner in Salzburg, Austria to discuss and prepare further porjects
1938	Featured in "Twentieth Century German Art" exhibition in London, "Free German Art" in Paris
1939	Offer to work for Walt Disney declined by Trier
1940	British Ministry of Information: Trier illustrates leaflets against Nazi-Germany
1941	Move to Hertfordshire, caricatures in Die Zeitung (newspaper of German emigrants), Trier illustrates children's book Blitz Kids by Elionor Mordaunt
1942	Political drawings in American Life magazine, also in The New York Times
1944-1946	Illustrates magazines, books, postcards
1947	Trier and his wife are granted British citizenship, emigration to Canada
1949	Erich Kästner's Die Konferenz der Tiere (illustrated by Trier) published in Zurich, Vienna, Konstanz
1951	First exhibition of oil and watercolor paintings in Toronto, illustrations in New Liberty, July 8: Cardiac arrest, sudden death

Source: Neuner-Warthorst, Antje. Walter Trier: Eine Bilderbuch-Karriere. Nicolai, 2014.