Erich Schmitt (caricaturist)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Schmitt (born March 11, 1924 in Berlin ; † December 29, 1984 there ) was a German press illustrator , caricaturist , cartoonist , comic artist and book illustrator . His picture stories were very popular in the GDR, to which the unmistakable representation of the characters also contributed.

life and career

The son of a postman was born in Berlin in the area near the old Schlesischer Bahnhof, today's Ostbahnhof . As a four-year-old, he is said to have been talented drawing a horse with chalk on the floor of his house. From 1930 he attended elementary school in Berlin-Charlottenburg - coincidentally together with Hans Joachim Stenzel , who later became a well-known caricaturist in West Berlin. Then he learned the trade of a machinist.

During the Second World War he was drafted into the Navy on the Baltic Sea. He became a prisoner of war and was released in Schleswig-Holstein in 1946 , where he met his future wife Katharina. In 1947 he returned to Berlin, initially working as a locksmith again and starting to build a life as a cartoonist. As an autodidact , he publishes caricatures in the magazine Start, an illustrated sheet of the young generation.

From 1948 to 1950 he attended courses at the private institute for press draftsmen founded by AS Skid (actually Fritz Albrecht) in Berlin-Halensee. As such, he was permanently employed by the Berliner Zeitung from 1948 , in which a political caricature of him was soon to appear every day and whose face he had helped to create in an original way for decades.

In addition, he drew numerous humorous cartoons and picture stories from the beginning of the 1950s, which were not only published in the Berliner Zeitung, but also in the Fresh Wind , its successor Eulenspiegel , the Wochenpost , the Freie Welt u. a. appear. In doing so, he cheerfully takes on curiosities and critical moments of everyday life in the GDR and with Berlin wit and nose. The stories with the characters Archenchef Noah , Kuno Wimmerzahn, sister Monika, mermaid Nixi, Adam and Evchen, robot colleague Blech, space adventurer Karl Gabel , Tierpark-Ede, but also his colored series for children like Benjamin and Benjamin achieved a high level of popularity - and degree of awareness and are also published again and again in book form. The anthology Das Dicke-Schmitt-Buch , published in 1968 , was also repeatedly reissued until the end of the 1990s.

Schmitt also works as an illustrator for a number of GDR book editions . In total, over 10,000 drawings are created. The stocky man with a round stomach and mustache - that's how he caricatures himself - never changes his distinctive style. He himself describes his characters as "Mannekens". He is enthusiastic about space topics and prefers to stay in the Berlin zoo .

In 1960 he was awarded the Franz Mehring Badge of Honor. This was followed in 1969 by the Orden Banner der Arbeit and in 1971 by the Goethe Prize of the City of Berlin . In 1981 his work was honored with the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver, which he had received in bronze in 1965. He was a member of the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR .

Schmitt died in Berlin in 1984 at the age of only 60. His sons Thomas Schmitt and Ulrich Sturm are also cartoonists.

Publications (selection)

  • Schmitt's caterpillar collection. Berliner Verlag, Berlin 1951.
  • Noah's Ark. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1953.
  • Nixi. The life story of a mermaid. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1954.
  • Kuno Wimmerzahn. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1955.
  • Sister monika. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1956, new edition 2011: ISBN 978-3-359-02308-1 .
  • Focus Berlin. 70 questions and 70 answers on the Berlin problem / Alexander Martin. [Ill .: Erich Schmitt]. Kongress-Verlag, Berlin 1959.
  • Head nurse Monika. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1960.
  • Ede, the zoo apprentice. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1964.
  • Adam and Eve. Colleague sheet metal. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1965.
  • Erich Schmitt's vocational lexicon. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1966.
  • The thick Schmitt book. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1968.
  • Circus Alberto. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1970.
  • 200x Schmitt. Berliner Verlag, Berlin 1970.
  • Sister Monika. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1972.
  • Karl Fabel's space adventure. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1973, new edition 2011: ISBN 978-3-359-02309-8 .
  • Melted animal park. Berlin Information, Berlin 1976.
  • Miscarried Berlin. Berlin Information, Berlin 1979.
  • Karl Gabel's all space adventures. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1980.
  • Erich Schmitt's Freizeitlexikon. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1982.
  • Ede the animal catcher and other picture stories. Children's book publisher, Berlin 1982.
  • A planet is being sought. The children's book publisher, Berlin 1984.
  • Benjamin and Benjamin. The children's book publisher, Berlin 1988.
  • Erich Schmitt's animal lexicon. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1989.

literature

  • Entry to Erich Schmitt in the general artist lexicon , volume 102 Schleime-Seitter. De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, 2019

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article "Heart, Humor and Schnauze - The Berlin cartoonist Erich Schmitt died 25 years ago" by Annerose Kirchner in the Ostthüringer Zeitung of December 29, 2009, page culture; also reported by Cobra (Achim Dittrich) in his introduction to Erich Schmitt, Da biste flat !. Eulenspiegel Verlag, Berlin 1960.
  2. ↑ “I don't paint in vinegar and oil, I can't do portraits either. I'm just doing Manneks. ”This is how quoted in the obituary in Neues Deutschland from January 3, 1985
  3. ↑ see e.g. B. his illustration of a contribution about the proposal of the Soviet engineer Valentin Cherenkov to build a huge ring around the earth in the "Freiheit" from August 2nd 1960
  4. ↑ Frank Burkhard: Erich's stick figure. 80 years ago today, Erich Schmitt was born in Berlin . In: New Germany . March 11, 2004 ( online ).
  5. ↑ The Schmitt Brothers: that's Ulrich Sturm & Thomas Schmitt , at comicmuseum-neubrandenburg.de, accessed on July 22, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Schmitt, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1984
Place of death Berlin