AVIVA-BERLIN.de im April 2024 - Beitrag vom 17.07.2003


Kisses from New York
Gerlinde Behrendt

An orthodox Hassidic Jew kisses an Afro-American - a controversial illustration which began Spiegelman´s career with "The New Yorker" magazine

After a series of ethnically-motivated riots in New York Spiegelman felt the need to express a visual reconcilliation for Valentine´s Day and created a cover illustration titled "Kiss". Art Spiegelman´s cover illustrations for the Jewish culture magazine "The New Yorker" are the main focus of his current exhibition in the Martin-Gropius Bau. From 1993 to 2003 he produced a series of illustrations which not only stated his political views but which were also often extremely controversial.

Spiegelman became internationally recognized after his comic strip "Maus - A Survivor´s Tale" was published. "Maus" depicted the persecution of the Jews using animal cartoon characters and succeeded in showing grotesque situations of the atrociticies that were commited during the Holocaust. In 1992 Spiegelman was the first comic book artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

"Im Schatten keiner Türme", Speigelman´s comic strip published in "Die Zeit", depicts the absurdity of life in New York City after the bombing of the World Trade Center on 11 September, 2001, and is also presented in the exhibition.

The exhibition which is part of the International Berlin Comic Festival can be seen at the:
Martin-Gropius Bau
Niederkirchner Straße 7
10963 Berlin

Wednesday to Monday: 10.00 - 20.00 (Closed on Tuesdays)
from 13 July to 17 September, 2003