De Notenkraker, 26 januari 1907 / De Zedelijke Gemeenschap Possibly 1907

This is Albert Hahn’s front cover of ‘De Notenkraker’ from January 26, 1907, a satirical cartoon made with black ink. Just look at all the hatching and cross-hatching creating different areas of tone! It’s almost like a kind of pointillism, but not using colour, just line. The use of a single colour really flattens the image. It creates an immediate political point, like propaganda, black and white, good and bad. The image is divided into a clear foreground and background. In the middle ground a crowd gathers within an archway, its dark, scribbled line contrasting the two guards who stand either side of a stone block with a message carved into it. And the lines above the arch. It's like they’ve been built up, layer upon layer, giving the whole piece a real weight and substance. The satirical subject matter of Hahn's practice recalls the work of Honoré Daumier, another artist interested in printmaking as a form of political intervention. Like any good cartoon, it's funny and serious all at once. This work embraces ambiguity; there are no easy answers here.