Thomas Theodor Heine (German, 1867–1948)

Poster: Simplicissimus, 1896
Lithograph, 29 x 38 1/4” (73.7 x 97.2 cm)

Thomas Theodor Heine (born David Theodor Heine; known as Th. Th. Heine) is remembered for his scathing illustrations for the satirical weekly magazine Simplicissimus (Munich: Albert Langen Verlag, founded 1896). His iconic depiction of a menacing red bulldog with bared fangs and broken chain (above) encapsulates the combative stance of this journal dedicated to the critique of Wilhelmine Germany, as well as the publication’s irreverence toward censorship. Heine used similar iconography in a poster for the weekly journal Die Freistatt (The Sanctuary) (below), in which an allegorical figure representing the artist has likewise broken free of her shackles, but remains enveloped by the wings of the powerful eagle of German state power. “In each of Heine’s forms,” wrote the artist’s contemporary, Felix Poppenberg, “we see reflected our uncertain, grave, confusing and transitional times.”

Beyond his prolific activity as an illustrator, Heine defined himself as a painter and sculptor. Prior to the First World War, he exhibited with significant artists’ groups in Munich, such as the Munich Secession and the Freie Vereiningung (Free Association), and in Berlin, with the Berlin Secession and Deutsche Künstlerbund (German Artists’ Association). His posters for the latter two organizations are seen below. Due to Heine’s paternal Jewish lineage, he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 and survived the Second World War in Oslo and Stockholm.

For texts by Heine and key secondary sources, scroll to the bottom.

Poster: Die Freistatt: Wochenschrift für Politik Literatur und Kunst
(The Sanctuary: Weekly for Politics, Literature and Art), 1904
Lithograph, 31 3/4 x 25 1/8” (80.6 x 63.8 cm)

Poster: Elf Scharfrichter (The Eleven Executioners), Munich (with adhered announcement of guest performances on three days in March), 1901
Lithograph, 44 7/8 x 27 7/8” (114 x 70.8 cm)

Founded in response the 1899 decency law known as the Lex Heinze, the Elf Scharfrichter cabaret (1901–1904), was dedicated to political satire. Among its best-known performers were the playwright Frank Wedekind and the singer Marya Delvard, pictured on this poster in her signature high-necked black dress.

Poster: Ausstellung des Deutschen Künstler-Bunde
(Exhibition of the German Artists’ Association), Berlin, 1905
Lithograph, 27 1/4 x 18 5/8” (69.2 x 47.3 cm)

Kaiser Wilhelm II famously denounced socially conscious art as Rinnsteinkunst (gutter art). In this poster, the allegorical figure of a young woman representing the new art picks a fresh rose from the gutter, while an anachronistically dressed figure behind, signifying officially sanctioned art, haughtily looks down upon her while carrying a withered plant in a golden vessel.

Poster: XV. Kunstausstellung Berliner Secession (Fifteenth Exhibition of the Berlin Secession), 1908 (after a design of 1901)
Lithograph, 27 7/8 x 37 3/8” (70.8 x 94.9 cm)

Heine’s imagery of the black bear—Berlin’s emblem—receiving the kiss of a female figure holding a painter’s palette was introduced on the poster for the Berlin Secession’s third exhibition in 1901 and was used thereafter to announce subsequent exhibitions until 1915.

Poster: Kollektiv-Ausstellung Th. Th. Heine (One Man Exhibition),
Galerie H. O. Miethke, Wien, 1906
Lithograph, 33 1/4 x 11 1/2” (84.4 x 29.1 cm)

Invitation: Die Hölle: Das Fest des Simplicissimus (Hell: Simplicissimus Party), with decorations by Th. Th. Heine,
Deutsches Theater, Munich (January 25, 1929), 1929
Letterpress, 10 1/2 x 7 1/2” (26.6 x 19 cm)

Key References:

Heine, Th. Th. “Randbemerkungen zu meinem Leben” (Notes on My Life), Uhu (Berlin), vol. 3, no. 3 (1926): 36–50.

Heine, Th. Th. Ich warte auf Wunder: Roman. A fictionalized autobiography written in Oslo in 1942, while in exile from the Nazi regime; published in English translation by Clara G. Stillman as I Wait for Miracles (New York: Greenberg, 1947); for New York Times (October 19, 1947) review, click here.

Hiles, Timothy W. Thomas Theodor Heine. Fin-de-Siècle Munich and the Origins of Simplicissimus. Literature and the Visual Arts: New Foundations, vol. 9. New York: Peter Lang, 1996.

Thomas Theodor Heine. 2 vols: Der Biss des Simplicissimus, Das künstlerische Werk (Band 1) and Der Herr der roten Bulldogge, Biographie (Band 2). Leipzig and Munich: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and E.A. Seemann Verlag, 2000.

July 9, 2024