Marie Marcks

Marie Marcks (25 August 1922 – 7 December 2014) was a German graphic artist and cartoonist. She published numerous books, regular caricatures in widely circulated German publications as well as autobiographical graphic novels on everyday life. A well-known artist since the post-war years in the Federal Republic of Germany, she is considered among the most important caricaturists and has been called "the Grande Dame of political caricature in Germany".

In the late 1940s and 1950s, she created posters for student clubs and jazz bands, including for the US forces in Heidelberg.

In the 1960s, Marcks began creating caricatures. These were first published in the magazine atomzeitalter, where she worked as a permanent cartoonist from 1963 to 1966. Over time, she expanded her drawings to include social, political and feminist causes, with cartoons critical of the education system, nuclear power plants, gender inequality, abortion law and German public servants with a Nazi background, among other issues. She became one of the most important political caricaturists in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Marcks published more than 30 books and numerous caricatures in widely circulated publications. These included German newspapers and magazines, such as Stern, Der Spiegel and Vorwärts. For more than 20 years, she was a regular editorial cartoonist for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Working for the satirical magazines Pardon and Titanic, Marcks collaborated with caricaturists of the New Frankfurt School, such as F. K. Waechter and Chlodwig Poth, with whom she shared a professional and artistic relationship. In terms of her stylistic influences, art historians have mentioned French caricaturists Jean-Marc Reiser and Jean-Jacques Sempé, as well as American cartoonist Saul Steinberg. Her work in turn was followed by younger German female cartoonists Franziska Becker and Katharina Greve. Her images, drawn in black-and-white or with coloured pencils, are often telling their message with additional speech balloons or captions. Richness of detail and ironical word play are typical characteristics of her style.

In her private life, Marcks raised five children as a single mother. She continued her work until shortly before she died, aged 92. A two-volume edition of her work was published in 2022 to mark her 100th birthday. In Heidelberg, where she spent most of her life, the Marie-Marcks-School was named after her.

During her lifetime, Marcks was honoured with several awards, including the German Order of Merit in 1995, the 2004 Caricature Prize of the German Bar Association and the German Caricature Prize in 2008. Her work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, both during her lifetime and for her centenary anniversary at the Mark Twain Center for Transatlantic Relations in Heidelberg.

Selected works Marie, es brennt! Frauenbuchverlag Weismann Verlag, München 1984, ISBN 3-88897-108-X. Sternstunden der Menschheit – von Marie Marcks. Karikaturen der letzten 50 Jahre. Edition Braus im Wachter Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-926318-73-2. Hast du jetzt den Überblick? Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München 2002, ISBN 3-88897-316-3. Niemand welkt so schön wie du! Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München 2005, ISBN 3-88897-409-7. Meister der komischen Kunst: Marie Marcks. Antje Kunstmann, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-88897-717-6. Nichts gegen Männer … Karikaturen und Zeichnungen von Marie Marcks. Catalogue for the exhibition at the Wilhelm Busch Museum, Hannover, 2015. Die große Marie Marcks. Zweibändige Werkausgabe. Antje Kunstmann, Munich 2022, ISBN 978-3-95614-520-9.