I have some wonderful full-page cartoons from the German interwar monthly UHU, that seem to capture our present predicament. I'll share one each day (please feel free to add others!). This one, from February 1930, is by UHU's staff illustrator Charles Girod (a forgotten genius!), and it's typical of his melancholy, alienated romanticism.
If you know anything more about Charles Girod, I would be fascinated to hear. He stayed with UHU right through to its closure, as principal illustrator and cartoonist. So he must have been well known, and prestigious? But he appears to be completely absent from the literature - not even a Wikipedia entry. It's a mystery.
Nice - but look at this one!
Girod is a genius, but fortunately not completely forgotten: Some of the most striking political and anti-fascist caricatures were published by him in the magazines of the left-wing movement (Der Knueppel, Eulenspiegel, Lachen links! etc.), as well as many other cartoons in the mainstream press. His nickname was the "nightmare drawer" - easy to tell why...
Not so much of a mystery: look into Detelf Lorenz' commendable "Bilder in der Presse" (2019) for more information and sources!
Thank you, Patrick! I will do so.
More UHU cartoons to follow over the next few days. Would anyone like to post cartoons from other parts of the world?
The cartoon for today is Erich Godal's terrifying vision, from September 1931, of the machine age run riot...
"Die Maschine läuft schneller als die Zeit", (The machine runs faster than the times), UHU, September 1931; illustration by Erich Godal
Solitary figures are a constant theme in Girod's cartoons and illustrations. Here is one of my favourites:
"The love letter", illustration by Charles Girod, UHU, August 1928
A bleakly brilliant offering from the winter of 1930:
"The misanthrope," cartoon by Charles Girod, UHU, December 1930
