Joseph Carl was born in Vienna and studied at the Vienna Academy of Art under the architect and designer Oskar Strnad. He subsequently designed sets for the opera, theatre and political cabarets in Vienna until forced to flee to England in 1938. He settled in Hampstead and between 1939 and 1947, worked as a stage designer on more than forty productions for venues including Drury Lane, the Hippodrome, the London Palladium, the Palace Theatre and Glyndebourne Opera. He also painted landscapes, his palette softening under the English influence, and executed innumerable drawings, often of local Hampstead scenes. It is not known when Carl visited Dublin, but his street scenes and portraits documenting his years in Britain are viewed from an outsider’s perspective.