This is a major coup for the collection of the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt: after the newly created purchase budget by the head of the department of culture Hartwig made it possible for the museum to acquire artworks for its own collection for the first time and thus to expand it, a bundle of 400 drawings with the thematic focus on daily politics and German history by Greser & Lenz has now been purchased. This was presented by the head of the Department of Culture together with the director of the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt, Achim Frenz, on Friday, 19 February. Greser & Lenz have been drawing together regularly for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 1996 and over the past 25 years a very extensive Œuvre has emerged.
"The work of Greser & Lenz is of the utmost importance for the collection of the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt, as both cartoonists still worked with the members of the New Frankfurt School and brought their spirit to daily political caricature like no others. For the museum, the purchase is a very special event, because we can now complement the collection in an ideal way," explains Hartwig.
Museum director Frenz adds: "25 years ago, Greser & Lenz revolutionized this genre in the FAZ. With this acquisition, we are giving the next generation of Germany's best cartoonists a home in our museum. The Caricatura Museum Frankfurt is extremely pleased that the head of department has managed to establish an acquisition budget again. The acquisition budget is important for the municipal museums and I am pleased that we can make a start with Greser & Lenz." Greser & Lenz's drawings can be classified as political daily newspaper caricature. It is not so much the politicians themselves who are caricatured, but in one picture politics are commented on with a story from the everyday life of ordinary people.
In2019, the acquisition budget for the municipal museums in Frankfurt was introduced by Kulturdezernentin Hartwig. Annually, the municipal museums now have 1.1 million euros at their disposal for purchases of works of art. "This magnificent purchase for the Caricatura Museum is only possible because Frankfurt finally has a budget for this again. As state players, our public museums must be able to act on the private art market and need funds to successively expand their collections. After all, the collections are the cultural memory of the city and increase its assets."
More info on the Caricatura can also be found at: https://caricatura-museum.en/
