F. W. Bernstein (born Fritz Weigle; 4 March 1938 – 20 December 2018) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

, and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He worked for the satirical biweekly ''

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

''. After teaching at schools, he was professor of

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

and

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

at the

Berlin Academy of the Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts () was a state arts academy first established in 1694 by prince-elector Frederick III of Brandenburg in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List ...

from 1984 to 1999. He was one of the founding members of the

Neue Frankfurter Schule Neue Frankfurter Schule (NFS, New Frankfurt School) is a group of writers and artists which was founded by former members of the editorial staff of the German satirical magazine ''Pardon (magazine), pardon''. They have published the magazine ''Tita ...

, which published the satirical magazine ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''.

Career

Born in

Göppingen Göppingen (; or ) is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the Goeppingen (district), district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the birthplace ...

on 4 March 1938, Fritz Weigle was the only son of Anna (''née'' Krathwohl) and Friedrich Weigle. He attended the gymnasium in Göppingen, where he was known by the nickname ''Bernstein''. He studied from 1957 at the Stuttgarter Kunstakademie where he met

Robert Gernhardt Robert Gernhardt (13 December 1937 – 30 June 2006) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist and poet. Life Robert Gernhardt was born the son of a judge and a chemist in Tallinn, where his family was part of the Baltic German minority. In ...

. In 1958, they both moved to the

. Weigle returned to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

where he took the exam to be an art teacher in 1961. Later in 1961, he studied graphics in Berlin, and simultaneously German at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

, completing in 1964. He began work as a teacher in 1966 in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen at the , followed by a post in

Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (, ) is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg ...

from 1968. He taught at the in

Bad Vilbel Bad Vilbel () is a spa town in Hesse (Hessen), Germany, famous for its many mineral water springs. Bad Vilbel is the largest town in the Wetteraukreis district and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area with its city center being located 8&n ...

from 1970 to 1972, and moved then to the

School of education In the United States and Canada, a school of education (or college of education; ed school) is a division within a university that is devoted to scholarship in the field of education, which is an interdisciplinary branch of the social sciences e ...

(''Pädagogische Hochschule'') in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. He was appointed professor of

and

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

s at the Berlin Academy of the Arts in 1984, the only such chair, and held the post until he retired in 1999. In April 1964, he began work for the satirical biweekly magazine ''

''. He founded together with Gernhardt and F. K. Waechter its appendix ' (World in the mirror), published until 1976. Elchkritiker FWB Leinwandhaus 1

Together with Gernhardt, , Waechter, , , , and , Bernstein founded the group

, publishing the satirical magazine ''

'' from 1979. F. W. Bernstein lived and worked in

Berlin-Steglitz Steglitz () is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in Southwestern Berlin, the capital of Germany. is derived from the Slavic name for the European goldfinch, similar to the German . Steglitz was also a borough from 1920 to 2000. It ...

. He and his wife Sabine had two children. He died on 20 December 2018, aged 80.

Work

His works are held by the German National Library, including: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ''Frische Gedichte.'' Verlag Antje Kunstmann, München 2017, .

Exhibitions

* 2011 ''F. W. Bernstein: Den Rest können Sie sich denken!''

Mathematikum The Mathematikum is a science museum, located in Gießen, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south ...

* 2013 ''F. W. Bernstein zum 75. Geburtstag.'' Wilhelm Busch – Deutsches Museum für Karikatur & Zeichenkunst * 2013 ''F. W. Bernstein – Zeichenzausels Werkschau.'' Museum für Komische Kunst, Frankfurt am Main

Awards

Bernstein received several awards, including: * 2003: * 2003: * 2008:

Kassel Literary Prize The Kassel Literary Prize for Grotesque Humor (''Kasseler Literaturpreis für grotesken Humor''), established 1985, is an annual prize awarded by the city of Kassel and the Brückner-Kühner foundation in recognition of "grotesque and comic work" ...

for grotesque humour * 2008:

Wilhelm Busch Prize The Wilhelm Busch Prize is an biennial poetry award for 10,000 €, for humorous and satirical verse, administered by the '' Schaumburger Landschaft'', named after Wilhelm Busch. An additional award by the organization is the Hans Huckebein Prize, ...

* 2011: * 2018: Ludwig Emil Grimm-Preis for caricature

Notes

References

External links

* *
Der Göttinger Elch

rbb24.de 21 December 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, F. W. 1938 births 2018 deaths People from Göppingen People from the Free People's State of Württemberg 20th-century German poets German male poets Writers from Baden-Württemberg German editorial cartoonists German-language poets German caricaturists German satirists German satirical poets Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart alumni