Illustrated letters and postcards, the majority autograph and signed (‘Max’) to family members, Germany and Italy, 1912-1958

Max Schwimmer (1895-1960)
Illustrated letters and postcards, the majority autograph and signed (‘Max’) to family members, Germany and Italy, 1912-1958
In German. Together 33 documents including 23 hand-illustrated and inscribed postcards, 2 hand-illustrated blank postcards, 4 printed illustrated autograph postcards, various sizes (140 x 90mm to 191 x 124mm). Provenance: J.A. Stargardt, 26 & 27 November 1985, lot 686.

A record of the artist Max Schwimmer’s close relationship with his parents and sister, for whom he often drew sketches to accompany his messages. Schwimmer corresponds with his family during his period as a teacher, during the Third Reich, and after the war. For example, in 1913 Schwimmer writes to his father to wish him a happy 48^th birthday, including a sketch of a man pointing at a 50,000 mark note captioned ‘Dies wünsch’ ich Dir!’ Many of the messages are to his sister, Hanne. In one example from 1920 he writes simply to inform her that he will return to Leipzig next week, with a sketch of a juggler captioned ‘Variété im Tauenzien Palast’, a Weimar-era cinema near the Kaufhaus des Westens.