Like no other magazine in Germany, the stern cultivates humor and satire in each of its issues. This institutionalization began at stern as early as the 1950s, when humor and satire found a place in the magazine landscape only marginally as a joke page - if at all. To this day, a restrained approach to humor and satire can often be observed in the media. With the exhibition "Sternbilder" (Constellations), the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt pays tribute to the commitment and attitude of the stern to giving humour and satire a permanent forum. In addition to classics, the exhibition shows above all the cartoonists and artists currently represented in stern.
Humour and satire, that has been a hallmark of stern for decades. The magazine employs its own humour editorial team with permanently employed cartoonists and artists, most of whom have worked for the magazine for decades. The drawings do not hide in the miscellaneous, they are a self-confident institution.
This outstanding handling of comic art is due to the founder of stern Henri Nannen. He recognized the potential and high value of satirical drawings as early as the 1950s. Nannen engaged artists who remained loyal to the magazine for many years. Beloved by an audience of millions, they included Fritz Wolf, Markus, Papan, Loriot and Peter Neugebauer.
To this day, the stern's artists publish in their own sections, currently the pages Haderer, Til Mette and Tetsche. The most recent section, "Ein Quantum Trost," was added in 2013.
In 2014, longtime humor editor Rolf Dieckmann acknowledged the department's significant position in "Finden Sie das etwa komisch?" by saying, "In the past, you bought picture jokes from agencies and some layout artist somewhere put them in the paper. In the fifties, the stern suddenly had a department that worked with illustrators and authors to produce articles that would make the reader laugh. (.) The new stern humor was unusually cheeky and irreverent."
The exhibition
The exhibition "Constellations" of the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt shows, in addition to some drawings of the classics Loriot, Fritz Wolf, Markus, Peter Neugebauer and Papan, especially the three major comic artists currently represented in the stern Gerhard Haderer, Til Mette and Tetsche.
Tobias Schülert, youngest member of the humor editorial team and the column "Ein Quantum Trost" receive their own focus. Here, in addition to his drawings, a variety of other cartoonists find their place: BeCK, Bettina Bexte, Henning Christiansen, Felmy, Katharina Greve, Kamagurka, Kittihawk, Dorthe Landschulz, Piero Masztalerz, Mock, Oliver Ottitsch, Ari Plikat, Hannes Richert, Leo Riegel, Holga Rosen, Schilling & Blum, Freimut Wössner and Miriam Wurster. The textual contributions of this section will be shown to advantage in the exhibition by means of a listening station as well as a reading in the supporting programme with the poet Thomas Gsella. Nel, who draws a weekly political cartoon for the "Kosmos" section, will be represented with his own series of pictures. Finally, "bubbles" by former humor editor Rolf Dieckmann will be on display.
The exhibition is accompanied by the book "Finden Sie das etwa komisch?". Stern humor by Dieckmann, Haderer, Mette, Schülert and Tetsche."
"Humor and satire have a long tradition in stern, dating back to the 1950s. And even today it is the only German magazine that produces its own humor section week after week. So this volume is unique in that it contains a collection of the works of all the current stern cartoonists. A must for all lovers of fine humor!" (Lappan Verlag 2014)
