Alfred Beier-Red

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Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0107-307, Alfred Beier-Red.jpg

Alfred Beier-Red (eigtl .: Alfred Beier) (born November 1, 1902 in Berlin ; † February 3, 2001 in Berlin) was a German socially critical press illustrator and caricaturist .

Alfred Beier-Red grew up in a working-class family in Berlin. After school he began an apprenticeship as a printer and was a union member. In 1923 he joined the KPD . From 1927 to 1929 he studied at the Berlin School of Applied Arts. From 1924 he was a freelance draftsman. He mainly worked for the communist press (Die Rote Post, Die Rote Fahne , Roter Pfeffer, Der Gummiküppel and Eulenspiegel ). To protect against political reprisals, he usually signed with the pseudonym “Red”. In 1928 he was one of the founders of the Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists (Asso). After the Nazis came to power, he worked in advertising. In 1942 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and became a prisoner of war. From 1945 he was again a freelance press illustrator, including for the “Daily Rundschau” and from 1946 primarily for “New Germany”. He also designed a number of political posters. In 1946 he joined the SED. Beier-Red was a member of the "Working Group of Socialist Artists" founded by communist artists in 1946, which in 1949 merged with the Association of Visual Artists.

Beier-Red was one of the most important German political cartoonists.

Fonts (selection)

  • With the political brush . Berlin, Dietz-Verlag, Berlin, 1953
  • 1st German Caricature Exhibition 1954. Ed. Association of Visual Artists of Germany , 1954 (including a contribution by Alfred Beier-Red)
  • Political picture book. Dietz-Verlag, Berlin, 1959

Literature (selection)

  • Short biography for:  Beier-Red, Alfred . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Harald Kretzschmar and Klaus Vonderwerth: Top cartoons and caricatures by 26 illustrators from the GDR. Eulenspiegel Verlag Berlin, 1983
  • Ulrich Schnakenberg: German History in Caricatures: A Visual History of Our Democracy. From 1949 to the present. Wochenschau Verlag, Frankfurt, 2019

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Image index of art & architecture
  2. ^ Lothar Lang: Painting and Graphics in the GDR. Publishing house Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig, 1983; P. 13
personal data
SURNAME Beier-Red, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German press illustrator and caricaturist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 2001
Place of death Berlin