De Notenkraker, 12 januari 1907: Von Bülow's Nachtmerrie Possibly 1907

This is a newspaper cover, printed January 12, 1907, by the Dutch artist Albert Hahn. The means of production here are significant. Hahn, working in the tradition of graphic satire, would have created the image as a drawing, which was then translated into a printing plate. Consider the labor involved; from the harvesting of raw materials for paper and ink, to the press operators, distributors and news vendors. The relatively low price of 7 ½ cents made this image accessible to a wide audience, and the messages within it were intended to be even more accessible. The dark lithographic ink gives the image a stark, bold quality, perfect for political commentary. Note how the texture is created; patterns of dots suggest a range of tones, from the sinister face of Von Bulow, to the much smaller figure of a worker hunched over a desk. The statement at the bottom translates to “We have to fight social democracy, otherwise the reaction will become too powerful”. This image is a reminder of how art and labor were intertwined in the political discourse of the early 20th century.