Anna Haifisch

Anna Haifisch (born 1986) Her webcomic The Artist was published by Vice magazine as Today's comic between September 2015 and December 2016. This series of comics featured a conceited artist, changing between self-pity and overconfidence, who wants to make it in the world of art. As Haifisch commented, the story is not closely inspired by her own life, "but the protagonist does have a lot in common with me in terms of temperament."

In 2018, Haifisch was a featured guest artist at the MoCCA Arts Festival, Manhattan's largest independent comics, cartoon and animation festival. Celebrating International Women's Day 2018, Google chose Haifisch as one of 12 international graphic artists to design a doodle. In 2020, the New York Museum of Modern Art commissioned her work for their series Drawn to MoMA.

Haifisch, whose name means shark in German, often uses graphic versions of human-like "funny animals" as main characters of her stories. These animal figures are experiencing the absurdities of daily life. In particular, her bird-like character The Artist reflects the challenges of being an artist in an ironical way. Her work is further characterized by thin lines drawn with an ink pen and expressive yellow and orange colours. In her large-size book Drifter, she was said to "bend[...] the rules of comics." Her style has been described as a combination of "dark" melancholy and "silly" elements, influenced by the graphic styles and colours of past decades.

Having grown up and studied in Leipzig, an important cultural centre in the Eastern part of Germany, during the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Haifisch named Czech and Russian graphic art as influences. As a child, she was attracted to American culture, which included comics by Walt Disney and other elements of the American way of life. The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Le Monde diplomatique In 2020, Haifisch was distinguished with the international Max-und-Moritz-Preis as Best Comic Artist in German language publications.

Awards and recognition

2016: e.o.plauen Prize 2017: nominated for Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2018: Sondermann-Preis 2020: Max-und-Moritz-Preis as Best Comic Artist in German language 2021: Art Prize of the Leipziger Volkszeitung 2022: Grant by Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades, USA

Selected publications

Von Spatz. Kassel: Rotopolpress, 2015, ISBN 978-3-940304-97-1. The Artist. Berlin: Reprodukt, 2016, ISBN 978-3-95640-032-2. The Artist. (French edition) Misma Editions, 2016, ISBN 978-2-916254-54-8 The Artist – Der Schnabelprinz. Reprodukt, 2017, ISBN 978-3-95640-123-7. Drifter. Chicago: Perfectly Acceptable Press, 2017. The Artist 2 – Le cycle éternel. Misma Editions, 2018, ISBN 978-2-916254-66-1 The Artist. The Circle of Life. Fantagraphics, 2019, ISBN 978-1-911081-07-4. Residenz Fahrenbühl. Leipzig: Spector Books, 2021, ISBN 978-3-95905-434-8. Schappi. (French edition) Misma Editions, 2021, ISBN 978-2-916254-87-6. Mouse in Residence (English edition), Leipzig: Spector Books, 2021, ISBN 9783959055031. Schappi (English edition), Fantagraphics, 2022, ISBN 9781683965268. Chez Schnabel (German / English), Leipzig: Spector Books, 2022, ISBN 9783959056038. Ready America (English edition), Fantagraphics, 2024, ISBN 9781683969426.

Selected exhibitions

2024 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany 2023 The Artist at Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany 2022/23 HOMI, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany 2018/2019 Fuji-san, Museumsquartier Vienna, Austria 2017 The Artist, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany

General and cited references

Moster-Hoos, Jutta, Kristina Gerigk (2018). Die neunte Kunst. Aktuelle deutsche Graphic Novels. Hans Hillmann, Max Baitinger, Anke Feuchtenberger, Anna Haifisch, Jakob Hinrichs, Lukas Jüliger, Reinhard Kleist, Isabel Kreitz, Olivier Kugler, Ulli Lust, Felix Pestemer, Simon Schwartz, Birgit Weyhe, Barbara Yelin. Oldenburg, Germany: Horst-Janssen-Museum Oldenburg.