Mezinárodní výstava karikatur a humoru | Databáze uměleckých výstav v českých zemích 1820

Commentary

This exhibition was a direct response to the political situation in Europe that escalated in 1933 when Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and the Nazis gained absolute power in Germany. In reaction to these events, Adolf Hoffmeister began to rethink the mission and purpose of contemporary caricature. Although in the 1920s, he already perceived caricature as a revolutionary tool, his own works from that period were more humorous than satirical. In 1933, however, he sidelined the humorous aspect evoking laughter and amusement and emphasized the critical aspect of caricature. The contentious, satirical caricature was meant to not only highlight the caricatured person's comical features, but also emphasize their evil nature, rottenness and condemnation in the eyes of the public. Caricature, in Hoffmeister's words, loses its "humorous function and takes on the function of a weapon... it can even be a tragedy, a razor edge of revenge and rebellion" [Hoffmeister 1933, p. 163]. Hoffmeister saw its main mission in the fight against fascism.

This was reflected in the character of artworks at the exhibition, selected by Hoffmeister, Alois Wachsman and Emil Filla. All three were members of the committee of the Mánes Fine Arts Association, which organized the exhibition as a way of publicly manifesting its members' political attitude.

Although Bohemia had had a tradition of exhibiting humorist drawings and caricatures as an art form in its own right since the turn of the century, the 1934 exhibition surpassed the previous shows in both the number of works and represented artists. In addition to Hoffmeister's work, the most topical examples of antifascist caricature included drawings by Otakar Mrkvička, Josef Novák, Antonín Pelc and Bedřich Taussig. The exhibition was simultaneously a retrospective, presenting a chronological overview of artists who can be regarded as founders of modern Czech caricature: František Kupka, František Gellner, V. H. Brunner, Zdeněk Kratochvíl and Josef Lada. It also featured the key figures in the field of humorist and satirical drawing that emerged in the 1920s, such as Josef Čapek, Hugo Boettinger, Vlastimil Rada, Ondřej Sekora, František Muzika and František Bidlo. Works by F. T. Neumann represented caricature in sculpture. The exhibition offered a representative overview of Czech humorist drawing and caricature from the turn of the century to the early 1930s, although some artists were missing (for example Emil Filla and his caricatures from the First World War, which, however, he himself considered occasional works of little significance).

International caricaturists were a significant presence at the exhibition. In addition to French artists (a group of artists from Le Rire), the show featured Germans who, except for Otto Dix, lived in emigration, where they had taken refuge from the Hitler regime. Soviet Union was represented by both artists in emigration and those who stayed in the country and became part of the official canon. Their works are not listed in the catalogue and were only added to the exhibition after it had been opened (they figured anonymously as a group of Soviet caricaturists). Of particular importance were the German artists who emigrated to Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazi regime, namely Th. Heine, John Heartfield, Erich Godal and the Hungarian-born Josef Jusztusz who published under the pseudonym Bert [Rokytová 2017, p. 157]. Their works caused an uproar in the German press and later even official protests coming from various sides. John Heartfield's photomontages mercilessly taunting the representatives of Nazi Germany made the strongest impression. Karel Teige saw them as the apex of “modern revolutionary caricature” and “the most valuable contribution from the entire set of international caricature” [Teige 1934, p. 140]. Heartfield's montage Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk attracted particular attention – it was exhibited in the display widow facing the street.

Immediately after the exhibition had been opened, the German ambassador Walter Koch informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin about the artworks slandering German politicians. On April 13, both German and Czech newspapers published the official German letter of protest which Koch had delivered to the Czech government. The text stated that the Reich's citizens and German politics were subjected to unacceptable mockery in the caricatures presented at the exhibition, particularly protesting against the deformed images of Hindenburg, Hitler, Göring, Goebbels, Röhm and other German politicians. Further on, the letter complained that the German national symbols were disgraced and demanded that the caricatures be removed from the exhibition. Following negotiations between the Mánes Association and Kamil Krofta who represented the Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs Edvard Beneš in his absence, the police removed seven artworks: five by Heartfield and two by Vasily Shukhaev, a Russian artist living in Paris. However, the protests did not stop and the embassies of Austria and Italy now joined in. The Archbishop's Consistory in Prague and the Papal Nuncio Giovanni Panico also complained, objecting to the anti-religious content in some of the works and the inappropriate caricatures of the Pope. The situation culminated on April 27 when five more works were taken down, namely caricatures by Heine, Georg Grosz and N. Kohut, a Soviet artist who was not listed in the catalogue.

The censorship brought more publicity and increased the audience's interest in the exhibition. The show was extended twice and instead of May 6 it ended on June 3. According to Hoffmeister, it was attended by 60,000 visitors, although the actual number was likely lower [Hoffmeister 1964, p. 202]. Moreover, the artists themselves reacted to the censorship and made it a topic of their caricatures. On May 9, the Left Front organized a discussion evening in defence of artistic freedom. Most of the artists did not compromise, maintaining their anti-German and antifascist position, but when the Second World War broke out, they were no longer able to mobilize and organize an exhibition of similar focus and scope. They presented their works in smaller shows or at larger group exhibitions that did not focus on satire as the main subject (for example, Heartfield's photomontages appeared at the International Photography Exhibition in 1936).

Tomáš Winter

Works Cited

Hoffmeister 1933: Adolf Hoffmeister, Karikatura a krize, Žijeme II, 1932–1933, p. 163

Hoffmeister 1964: Adolf Hoffmeister, Dadamonteur Jon Heartfield (1964), in: idem, Čas se nevrací, Praha 1965, pp. 183–206

Rokytová 2017: Bronislava Rokytová, Hannes Beckmann (1909–1977): Desava – Praha – New York, Praha 2017

Teige 1934: Karel Teige, Svobodné umění? Mezinárodní výstava karikatur, Doba I, 1934–1935, no. 9, 24. 5., pp. 139–142

Archival sources

Prague City Archives, Fonds Spolek výtvarných umělců Mánes, Výstavní činnost [Exhibitions], 4182, Mezinárodní výstava karikatur a humoru [International Exhibition of Caricature and Humor], 1934 (6. 4. – 6. 5.)