Martin Perscheid (16 February 1966 – 31 July 2021) was a German

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. He created a main character in 1994, who appeared from 1998 under the title ''Perscheids Abgründe'' (Perscheid's abysses). More than 4,300 strips appeared in several German newspapers and magazines. He is known for his "fearless glimpses into human abysses of sexism, racism, ignorance, corruption and stupidity, captured with black humour."

Life

Perscheid was born in

Wesseling Wesseling () is an industrial German city on the Rhine bordering Cologne city on the south. With three chemical plants and a petroleum refinery within its city limits, it has an important place in the international petrochemical industry. Histor ...

on 16 February 1966, where he lived and worked until his death. He was trained as a lithograph designer. Perscheid was married and had two children but at the time of his death he was in a relationship with fellow cartoonist Nadia Menze. Perscheid died on 31 July 2021 after a long battle with cancer. Born to a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family, Perscheid soon became an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

which influenced his work significantly. From 2020 to his death, he was a member of the board of advisers of the

Giordano Bruno Foundation The Giordano Bruno Foundation (german: Giordano-Bruno-Stiftung, abbreviated: gbs) is a Germany-based non-profit foundation under public law that promotes evolutionary humanism and the enlightenment. It was founded by entrepreneur Herbert Steffe ...

, a German non-profit organization that promotes

evolutionary humanism Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality ...

and enlightenment.

Cartoons

Perscheid's drawing style has been compared to that of

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist, environmentalist, and former musician. He is the creator of ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fif ...

. His themes are usually satirical, not avoiding taboo subjects, and often including

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

. His series were in an unchanged upright format framed black, drawn with sparse lines and unerring punch line delivery ("mit zielsicherer Pointenführung"). His works have been published in various German newspapers and magazines. In 1994, he joined the Lappan Verlag, and remained with the house until his death. He then created his main character, a bald, bespectacled man, and a stand-in for Perscheid himself. His series around the character was named ''Perscheids Abgründe'' (''Perscheid's Abysses'') in 1996. He created over 4,300 strips. He published his first book in 1995. In his career, he published over 25 books with cartoons.

Awards and legacy

Perscheid's cartoons have been presented in museums, including a show of the Caricatura museum in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

and the Museum der niederrheinischen Seele in 2017. He received many awards for his work, including the

Max & Moritz Prize The Max & Moritz Prize is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials which has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comics Shows of Erlangen since 1984. It is open to all material published in Germany. 1984 ...

2002 for the best Cartoon Series in German, as well as the "''Kulturplakette''" (Culture Award) from his hometown of Wesseling. The Caricatura museum honoured him by a sculpture of his cartoon character, named ''Der unbekannte Idiot'' (The unknown idiot). His publisher, Carlsen Verlag, wrote in an obituary: "His fearlessness of glimpses into human abysses of sexism, racism, ignorance, corruption and stupidity, and how he captured all this in cartoons with biting derision and black humour, was unique."

References

External links

*
Perscheids Abgründe, History

Cartoonisten nehmen Abschied von Martin Perscheid / "Er hätte es lustig gefunden"
(cartoons by colleagues reflecting his death) ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' 8 August 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Perscheid, Martin 1966 births 2021 deaths Deaths from cancer in Germany German cartoonists People from Rhein-Erft-Kreis Former Roman Catholics German atheists German humanists