Franziska Becker (born 10 July 1949) is a German cartoonist.

Biography

Franziska Becker was born in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

in 1949. After finishing secondary school, she professionally trained as a technical medical assistant. Between 1972 and 1976 she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, where she was taught by

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

, among others. In 1973 she became involved in the feminist movement in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, where she met

Alice Schwarzer Alice Sophie Schwarzer (born 3 December 1942) is a German journalist and prominent feminist. She is founder and publisher of the German feminist journal '' EMMA''. Beginning in France, she became a forerunner of feminist positions against anti-ab ...

, the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the feminist magazine EMMA. Becker's first published cartoon appeared in the first issue of this magazine. Since then Becker's cartoons, caricatures and illustrations have appeared in numerous German magazines and journals. Further, she also has published twenty books. Her work has been seen in the tradition of caricaturist Marie Marcks, "the ''Grande Dame'' of political caricature in Germany". In 1988 Becker was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize for best comic artist. In 2010, a solo exhibition was shown at the

Caricatura Museum Frankfurt The Caricatura Museum, official name Caricatura Museum für Komische Kunst, is a museum for comic art in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It shows a in a permanent exhibition works by the artists of the Neue Frankfurter Schule, and additionally exhibi ...

, consisting of some 300 works. In 2019 she was honoured with the Hedwig-Dohm-Award by the German Union of Women Journalists.

Controversy

Following the award, some of her cartoons showing Muslim women in headscarves and burqas were criticized on social media and by German journalists Sibel Schick and

Teresa Bücker Teresa Maria Bücker (born 13 March 1984 in Meschede) is a German journalist, author and blogger. She writes from a feminist perspective on contemporary socio-political issues. From 2017 to 2019, she was editor-in-chief of the online magazine Ed ...

as racist stereotypes. In an interview Becker commented about these accusations. She stated that

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

should be allowed to be critical and that her caricatures of some Muslim women were meant to criticize Islamist attitudes and the obligatory

headscarf A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...

. On the other hand, German activist

Zana Ramadani Zana Ramadani (born 1984) is a German politician, feminist activist, and author of Albanian descent. She was born in Skopje, but fled to West Germany as a child. She was chair of the Junge Union, the youth organization of the CDU (Conservative Pa ...

, of Albanian Muslim descent, defended Becker's caricatures on the grounds of her own experience and opposition towards obligatory headscarfs.

Awards

* 1988:

Max & Moritz Prize The Max und Moritz Award (German language, German:Max und Moritz-Preis), also known as the Max & Moritz Prize , is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials. It has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comi ...

* 2012: ''Göttinger Elch'' * 2013: Wilhelm Busch Prize * 2019: Hedwig-Dohm-Urkunde

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Franziska German comic strip cartoonists German women comic strip cartoonists German feminists German editorial cartoonists German women editorial cartoonists German women illustrators German caricaturists German women caricaturists German comics artists German female comics artists Artists from Mannheim 1949 births Living people