?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000
THOMAS THEODOR HEINE (1867-1948) SIMPLICISSIMUS. 1896. 31 1/4x22 1/2 inches, 79 1/2x78 1/4 cm. Albert Langen's Verlag, Munich. Condition B: losses in upper right corner; tears and repaired tears at edges; sharp creases and abrasions at edges and in image. Framed. Unexamined out of frame. Thomas Heine was a genius caricaturist and designer. Along with author Ludwig Thomas and publisher Albert Langen, Heine helped found the influential German satiric magazine Simplicissimus. Based on the French satiric magazines of the era (such as Gil Blas), Simplicissimus was a revolution in Germany where artistic censorship was prevalent. Its strength was in its visual impact, relying far more on cartoons than other German magazines of the time. The magazine, which employed brilliant illustrators such as Olaf Gulbranson, Bruno Paul and Albert Weisgerber, was an instant success. Heine designed the cover image for each issue, as well as four advertising posters. For this image, Heine breaks through the prevailing sense of Bavarian Puritanism and succeeds in incorporating art, sin, sex and humor, a combination bound to excite new readership. Totally engrossed in his magazine, the devil is paying no attention to his lovely abductee, or to the demeaning fact that she is using his tail as a paintbrush. Judging by her smile, not only does she seem to enjoy toying with the devil, but also seems rather pleased to be in his clutches. Wember 396, DFP-III 1209, Reims 1109, Art Nouveau p. 17.
