Steffi David was born in Berlin in 1925 — a century ago, next year.
Her idyllic childhoood — visiting museums with her dentist father, skiing in Czechoslovakia, summering in Switzerland — ended abruptly when Hitler gained power.
In 1937, she and her fellow Jewish classmates were banned from German schools.
The next year — 2 weeks before Kristallnach — 13-year-old Steffi, her father, mother and sister escaped by train to Amsterdam. They had transient visas.
They moved on, penniless, to Panama. At 15 Steffi moved once again, this time — alone — to live with an aunt and uncle in Queens. Within 2 months, she was fluent in English.
Encouraged by a teacher, Steffi earned a scholarship to the Art Students League in Manhattan. She took night classes at the Pratt Institute. During the day, she worked.
Her first job was as a graphic artist. She gave half her salary to her parents, who had finally joined her in America.
After marrying Bridgeport native Al Friedman, and building a home on Yankee Hill Road in Westport, she gave up her career to raise 3 children.
Steffi Friedman
When the youngest was in junior high, Steffi began studying sculpture at the Silvermine School of Art. Her teacher and mentor, Stenley Bleifeld, was later named International Sculptor of the Year.
After 8 years as a student, Steffi became a teacher herself — first at Fairfield University, then for 30 years in her home studio.
She also volunteered, working with talented inner city youth through Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County.
For 19 years she ran Camp Terra Cotta, teaching people from around the world in Vermont.
Steffi worked into her 80s. She was prolific in terra cotta, bronze and stone.
Her work is now part of over 100 private collections. It was shown in galleries throughout the US.
It lives on in Westport too. Temple Israel commissioned several pieces, including one of Golda Meir.
Steffi Friedman, with her Golda Meir sculpture.
“Never Again” hangs on an outside wall. Dedicated in 2004 as part of the temple’s “Tolerance Center,” Steffi considered it her most important work.
“Never Again,” at Temple Israel.
Steffi’s “Pas de Deux” ballet has a place of honor in the Staples High School courtyard. Earthplace features a large piece — “Free to Be Me” — in the atrium, and another smaller work. She also donated 2 sculptures to the Westport Library’s children’s section.
“Pas de Deux,” in the Staples High School courtyard.
“Her art was how she expressed her emotions,” Steffi’s daughter Margie says. “She was so pleased these pieces are all over town.”
Steffi Friedman died in 2019, after complications of a stroke and dementia. She was 94.
Margie Friedman
When her daughter emptied the home her mother had lived in for 67 years, she found hundreds of photos and slides of Steffi’s work. Worried they might be lost — but unsure what to do with them — Margie shipped them to her home in Santa Monica, California.
Soon, she realized she had enough material for a book.
Maggie scanned the images, cleaned them up, found a self-publishing company, wrote text, and created layouts
It took 2 years. Margie — a 1972 Staples graduate — worked around her full-time job, as a TV producer.
The result is “Steffi Friedman: Sculpture.” The 118-page book, printed handsomely on glossy paper, includes dozens of photos of the artist’s work, along with her compelling, first-person bio.
In one section, Margie explains the importance of Jewish themes to her mother’s work. Other sections include figurative sculptures, ballet dancers, children, portraits, fairies and nymphs, stone, abstracts, nature, commemorations and illustrations.
The audience is both local (Steffi’s friends, fans and former students in Fairfield County) and global. Margie has sent copies to Holocaust and Jewish museums and organizations worldwide — including one in Berlin, which holds her mother’s family’s artifacts and writings.
Feedback has been gratifying.
“People love the breadth and depth of the artwork,” Margie says.
“A lot of people didn’t know her story. She didn’t talk about it for years.
“She would have loved this.”
(“Steffi Friedman: Sculpture” is available at the Westport Barnes & Noble. It can also be ordered from Maggie. Email wgwmargie@aol.com for details.)
Steffi Friedman’s “Free To Be Me” is now on view at Earthplace.
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Marvelous tribute and legacy! TU for the book, and the story!
What’s terrifying is one misstep back in 1937 could have ended up in tragedy. However, the misstep never happened and thus she lived a beautiful and productive life.
1937 should have been 1939 when they left by train two weeks before Kristallnach. That one decision by her father to leave on that train, rather than stay in Germany, was a decision that will reverberate for centuries.
I had the pleasure to know Steffi from my 29 years at Max’s Art Supplies. When her daughter cleaned out her home, I worked with Margie and I had the honor to frame, in acrylic cases, several of her sculptures of children which were displayed at the library.
Steffi was such a wonderful person!