The year 2020 in cartoons: what do cartoonists do when Trump leaves? – Culture

Corona, Trump and climate youth: An exhibition in Bern shows what moved cartoonists in 2020.

Jesus sits alone at the sacrament table and talks to his disciples via Skype. This image by Felix Schaad, the cartoonist from Tages-Anzeiger, brought the year 2020 very well, says Silvan Wegmann. Under the artist name Swen he draws for the Aargauer Zeitung, among others, and has now “drawn” the exhibition at the Museum of Communication in Bern.

Legend:

Jesus in the head office: caricature of Felix Schaad in the Tages-Anzeiger.

Felix schaad

“During the celebrations, at Easter and Christmas, you could tell that some people were really alone.” As a cartoonist, he’s used to working from home, Wegmann says: “But now a lot of people have been forced to work from home. Many didn’t get along either. “

This loneliness is also shown by Ruedi Widmer in his drawing, which he, loosely based on Max Frisch, called “The man appears in quarantine.”

Legend:

Cartoonists like Ruedi Widmer were particularly busy this year in the Corona era.

Ruedi Widmer

“It’s a classic Ruedi Widmer cartoon,” says Wegmann. “It is the one of us that still takes a crazier step.”

Yogi Koch and Kochferatu

Many images show “Señor Corona” Daniel Koch. Sometimes like a gloomy Nosferatu, sometimes like a deeply relaxed yogi hovering over the ground and murmuring his mantra: “Stay home. Keep your distance. “

Legend:

Daniel Koch was the face of the Corona year. This is a boon for artists like Michel Streun.

Michael Streun

For illustrators, someone like Daniel Koch is a grateful figure, Wegmann says: “With his bald head and manners, we could use him very well for cartoons.”

There walter

One of Silvan Wegmann’s favorites comes from Stephan Lütolf aka Cic: “In the children’s book ‘Where’s Walter?’, The children have to search for Walter in huge hidden objects. Stephan Lütolf did just that: an empty image, only Walter can be seen. I really enjoyed filming this shot like this. “

Legend:

The Corona year from the point of view of the cartoonist Stephan Lütolf alias Cic.

Stephan Lütolf

The exhibition “Drawn” shows much to laugh, smile and think. Politicians and authorities are rarely criticized with a pointed pen.

It’s just a tightrope walk, Wegmann says, to provoke something to laugh at about a serious topic without poking fun at the suffering of many people. “Seriously ill people and corona deaths have been left out. Instead, the general situation was analyzed: How is the economy, the cultural scene, the gastronomy?

Trump and the climate youth

Besides Corona, other songs had a bad time. Bénédicte Sambo from French-speaking Switzerland juxtaposes past and present: there’s a punk spraying “No Future” on the wall, here a climate-conscious sprinkler writing “oui au futur”.

Sambo captured this generation very well, says Wegmann: “It doesn’t show the negative, but we have to move now. That we have to do something now. “

Silvan Wegmann himself is represented in the exhibition with a drawing in which Donald Trump grabs the Statue of Liberty by the apron and carries it away. Trump was a welcome subject for cartoonists.

Now you have to adapt to Joe Biden: “I like Joe Biden to draw. He has a very special way of laughing. A huge white beam and it’s still lifting the right corner of the mouth. He has a lot for a cartoonist “.

At first he was concerned about what he should do in the future without Trump. But one thing is clear to cartoonists: they won’t be out of work in the New Year either.