Humorous, melancholic, somber, enigmatic, witty, sarcastic, enigmatic, amusing - these are just a selection of the adjectives with which Paul Flora's (1922 to 2009) drawings were recently described in the Austrian press.

The first occasion was an exhibition in the Albertina last autumn, which was intended to set the mood for the anniversary year that has now begun.

It ended at the end of January, and now the ball is in the field of the caricature museum in Krems, which is also positioning itself with a show for the centenary of the cartoonist.

After all, as older visitors still know, Flora enjoyed world fame as a caricaturist at times.

However, that was six decades ago.

But since he – another attribution – worked in a timeless manner, it will depend on how a younger audience reacts to his pictures.

Hannes Hintermeier

Feuilleton correspondent for Bavaria and Austria.

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Krems adds two further attributions, "angry and tongue-in-cheek", according to the subtitle of the show, which calls itself a "comprehensive retrospective".

One hundred and seventy pictures on four hundred square meters are of course only a small part of Flora's work, which can hardly be overseen - albeit a top-class one.

The show was curated by Flora's son-in-law and estate administrator Thomas Seywald and by Gottfried Gusenbauer, head of the caricature museum.

Most of the exhibits come from family property and from the holdings of the State Collections of Lower Austria.

It begins with drawings from the mid-1930s for the school newspaper in Innsbruck, where Flora had come to as a five-year-old.

Artistic attempts by the high school student that demonstrate talent for drawing and writing – and political instinct.

The fact that both talents are fed by a satirical streak will become increasingly evident over the years.

“Short Existence of a Ball Head” (1951), in which Flora lets a man appear and disappear in nine stations from left to right, demonstrates Flora's sense of picture stories, which also characterizes the series “Mr. Huber in the Wild West”.

Does Flora have what Kubin was missing?

Stylistic role model: Alfred Kubin.

Flora visited him in Zwickledt after the end of the Second World War, and the two were friends until Kubin's death in 1959.

Flora has long since freed herself from her father and found her own line.

"Flora had what Kubin lacked - a satirical view of humanity," says Gottfried Gusenbauer.

It goes without saying that the focus of the caricature museum is on the satirist Flora.

These are works from his time as a caricaturist, which in view of a creative phase of more than seventy years seems almost short.

From 1957 to 1971 Flora drew for "Die Zeit" in Hamburg, recruited by Marion Gräfin Dönhoff.

Three thousand leaves are created in these years.

Some could still be used today, such as "Olympic Parade" from January 1964. A flag-bearer leads the way, followed by a small group of athletes with the "Victory" flag, followed by many fat men in hats under the "Win" flag. march.

After saying goodbye to Die Zeit, Flora wanted to get rid of the label caricaturist, he called himself a draftsman from then on and had his picture taken in 1980 burning his work.

It is not known whether there were actually drawings in the box, only around eight hundred caricatures have been found so far.