De Notenkraker, 20 april 1907 / Vorsten van deze tijd Possibly 1907

This lithograph, printed on April 20, 1907, comes from the Dutch satirical magazine 'De Notenkraker' – meaning "The Nutcracker" and was made by Albert Hahn. You can see the artist's signature in the top left of the cartoon panel. It looks like the artist worked with lithographic crayon to make this image. Hahn created a sort of shadow play of dark and light by manipulating the darkness of the crayon. It can be challenging to make an image this way, so he probably made many drawings to get to the final version. Hahn must have been very sure of his drawing. I wonder what it was like to live in the Netherlands during that time? What was it like to make political cartoons? Did artists talk to one another about their work? I am sure they were looking at German artists like Kathe Kollwitz. Artists are always in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time.