Authors

Julia Secklehner¹;  ¹ Constructor University, Germany

Discussion

Research on caricature in Central Europe has long focused on its political potential and aggressive nature. However, while providing essential insights into the functions of caricature in politics, this approach also risks excluding alternative modes of caricature that illuminate the medium’s multi-faceted roles in interwar Central Europe. Specifically, the emphasis on modernist political caricature has favoured men as the main commentators on socio-political developments in the region. Challenging this focus, my paper traces the contributions of young women caricaturists active in Vienna from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, offering a different perspective on modernist caricature in Central Europe. It highlights their light-hearted yet equally socio-critical work, which mediated between modern womanhood, modernist artistic expression, and the socio-cultural heritage of the Habsburg Empire. Focusing on figures such as Lisl Weil (1910–2006), the ‘wunderkind’ caricaturist who began contributing to the society magazine Die Bühne as a teenager, the paper not only introduces little-known women caricaturists who were immensely popular in their time but also argues that such ‘rediscoveries’ provide a fresh perspective on the medium, centring on women’s experiences and commentary, which offer a complementary view of social issues in caricature in the turbulent interwar years.