German political satire
My brother’s girlfriend also presented me (Jill) with a gift from exotic lands this Christmas – if you consider Germany exotic. The focus of it is the drunken, debauched well-to-do from the era of the early 20th Century, as drawn for political satirical magazine Simplicissimus, a weekly from the last century. I don’t understand German so this is partly guess work. I am fluent in pictures however and can definitely recognise the signs of drunk and debauched.
Susan said the women selling the papers didn’t really want to sell them – and having bunged some of this website text into google translate, I now think it’s probably because the magazines are seen as important records of the time. Perhaps she had issues with entrusting them to a Scottish arty ex pat. Or perhaps she’s like that guy from Glasgow I once saw on tv who has a shop rammed full of antiquities that he can’t bear to sell (we can all identify).
The seller also said that the artists behind the images are viewed as being far superior to magazine work. Anyway, knowing all of this is making me pause before framing individual pages – the intended use of this gift – thought it’s pretty tempting. A gallery wall of 1930’s drunks? Yes please.
Find more titles here – and if you’re German, do please enlighten me further.
Aren’t they fabulous? Love the ladies fashions, and you don’t get a gentleman’s parting like that these days!
It’s true you don’t! Heard about your lovely gift too – hope you had a nice Christmas. x
I’ve been enjoying your blog for some time especially since i moved to Margate earlier this year. I really love those images from Simplicissimus and I wonder would you let me photograph them in order to make a set of paintings from them. The website I’ve included will show you some paintings I’ve done over the years and you can see for yourself how they relate.
All the best,
Anne