Pinakothek der Moderne

Karl Arnold (1883-1953) was not only a famous political caricaturist for the magazine Simplicissimus - unlike almost any other artist of his generation; he was an astute observer, capturing the character and characters of his age in pencil. Although he no longer occupies as prominent a position as a draughtsman as his somewhat younger contemporaries, Otto Dix and George Grosz, our image of life in the 1920s and 30s was nonetheless decisively shaped by his observations and pictorial ideas, his depictions of glamour and the rifts in society.

After studying painting at the Munich academy, in 1907 his first drawings appeared in Simplicissimus and Die Jugend. From 1917 onwards, Arnold¿s work was a regular feature in Simplicissimus, alongside that of his colleagues Olaf Gulbransson and Thomas Theodor Heine. There has never been a retrospective presenting all of Arnold ́s work until now. The exhibition will for the first time see some 260 sheets gathered together to form a faithful overview of his work, placing the draughtsman in the context of the art of his day.