HEINE, THOMAS THEODOR

HEINE, THOMAS THEODOR (1867–1947), German graphic artist and cartoonist. Born in Leipzig of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother as David Theodor Heine, he studied art at Duesseldorf, and later made his home in Munich. Though he started as a painter, he became known as a poster designer and illustrator. He worked for Fliegende Blaetter and Jugend, Munich magazines, developing a varied technique and acuteness of expression. He was one of the founders of the satirical review Simplicissimus (1896) and its best known political caricaturist for 37 years. His biting caricatures satirizing the Prussian officer class, the German student corps and officialdom, spared no one. A cartoon satirizing Kaiser William ii led to Heine's detention for a term. In 1926 Heine published his autobiography as a collection of essays, Randbemerkungen zu meinem Leben, in the monthly Uhu published in Berlin. When Simplicissimus aligned itself with the Nazis in 1933, Heine fled to Prague, where he published Das spannende Buch in 1935, a collection of his non-political drawings. Later Heine escaped to Oslo, where he remained in hiding for nine months. Finally he reached Stockholm and settled there. In addition to collections of his drawings, he published a short satirical novel Ich warte auf Wunder (1945; I Wait for Miracles, 1947). In 1947 the National Museum of Stockholm organized a comprehensive retrospective of the work that Heine had created during emigration.

add. bibliography:

T.W. Hiles, Thomas Theodor Heine. Fin-de-siècle Munich and the Origins of Simplicissimus (1996); M. Peschken-Eilsberger, T. Raff, Thomas Theodor Heine. Das künstlerlische Werk und Biographie, 2 Bde. Exhibition catalogue (Helmut Friedel ed.) Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München (2000); E. Stüwe, Der "Simplicissimus" – Karikaturist Thomas Theodor Heine als Maler. Aspekte seiner Malerei. Mit einem kritischen Katalog der Gemälde (1978).