Wilhelm Busch (15 April 1832 – 9 January 1908) was a German caricaturist, painter, and poet who is famed for his satirical picture stories with rhymed texts.
When I was young, growing up in Germany, I enjoyed reading the stories of Wilhelm Busch, especially the shenanigans of Max and Moritz (pictured above.)
(self-portrait)Wilhelm Busch, painter, early cartoonist, and most beloved of all German poets, was born April 15, 1832, in the village of Wiedensahl near Hannover in Lower Saxony, Germany. His greatest ambition was to emulate the Dutch and Flemish masters - Rubens, Hals, Brouwer, Ostade. Instead, he "stumbled into immortality", as the first German Federal President, Theodor Heuss, once put it, through a few caricatures he was asked to do for the satirical magazine "Fliegende Blaetter" (Flying Pages) that was founded in Munich in 1848.
He soon started to add his own humorous verses, and his cartoons became longer and more elaborate; he can be regarded as the father of the modern comic strip, and wherever an Englishman would quote Lewis Carroll's "Alice", a German is likely to quote Busch.
Although famous in his later years, he lived quite withdrawn and despised the fuss he thought was made about him. The "Hermit of Wiedensahl" died a confirmed bachelor on January 9, 1908, but his slapstick humour and his unforgettable characters live on forever.
My Papa, who also enjoys reading his works, sent me this now 50-year old book back in 1992. I "found" it again today whilst rummaging through my closet for some yarn. I look forward to re-reading it and reminiscing about my youth in Germany.
You can see the words Weihnachten 1960 (meaning Christmas 1960) and on the right side Anni Bathelt, my dad's aunt - my great aunt, that gave it to him and now it's mine.
Ein luftig Tanzvergnügen.
Der Frosch, der denkt: Nur munter!
Ihr kommt schon noch herunter!
Translated:
The flies are dancing high above
The frog thinks: Make merry!
You'll be down here soon enough!
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