Bruno Paul's Illustrations

Bruno Paul (1874-1968) was an artistic all-rounder, something seldom seen in today's world of specialization.  According to his Wikipedia entry, he was an architect, interior and furniture designer, as well as an illustrator -- his illustrations being the subject of this post.

Wikipedia mentions: "Trained as a painter in the [Bavarian] royal academy just as the Munich Secession developed against academic art, he first came to prominence as a cartoonist and illustrator in the German fin de siècle magazine Jugend, and in the satirical Simplicissimus from 1897 through 1906, in the years where its criticism of Wilhelm II brought prosecutions from the government."

From that, it isn't hard to guess that Paul's satirical illustrations were largely anti-bourgeoisie and anti-military.

Paul's style is very much of his time, with an Expressionist feeling touched with Art Nouveau.  I find these drawings ugly, but that might have been one of Paul's intentions.

Images below are presented in no particular order.  Many have captions containing dialog, but as found on the Internet, most were in small German type and were largely unreadable.  In some cases, I've translated the cartoon's title.

Gallery

Simplicissimus cover illustrated by Paul.  The title is "Art in Wiesbaden."

"High Season."

"Munich Spring Picture."

"English Civilization."

"Power on Places" - Pleitze is an obscure word not found in my large German-English dictionary, so the true meaning might differ.

This title is obscure to me.

"The New Volunteer Firemen's Commander."

Another tricky title that seems to refer to a painter of a wife.  Or maybe a wife who kibitzes the painter.  That unreadable caption might makes things clear.

"Noble Worldview."

"From Good Family."

"Out of Hamburg."  This refers to emigrants leaving Germany.