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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The Wilhelm Busch Museum for Caricature and the Art of Drawing has auctioned a self-portrait of the creator of the world-famous rascals Max and Moritz.
The pen drawing was privately owned for more than a hundred years and will soon be available to the public for the first time, as director Gisela Vetter-Liebenow said on Thursday.
The private museum in Hanover's Georgengarten manages the estate of the draftsman who died in 1908 and is considered the forefather of modern comics.
The small-format picture is perhaps the most famous, or at least the most widespread self-portrait of Wilhelm Busch, she emphasized.
The artist, born in Wiedensahl in 1832, caricatured the philistines from his village surroundings with bitter humor. The self-portrait that has now been purchased dates from 1894, i.e. from his last creative phase. Busch consciously staged his picture for the public, said the museum director. The bearded artist presents himself with a big hat, a cigarette and a penetrating look. "It has a certain puzzling character, an aura of the unapproachable," said the museum director.
Busch's 14th self-portrait in the museum's collection cost 50,300 euros.
The sum was raised with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Art Foundation and private sponsors.
At the Dorotheum auction in Vienna last autumn, other Busch collectors also bid.
The Wilhelm Busch Museum is currently closed due to the pandemic.
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