'Stefekove Pustolovine'.
Oto Reisinger was a Croatian cartoonist and caricaturist. For more than 60 years, he made both political cartoons and more straightforward one-panel cartoons. His witty political cartoons were widespread in his home country, but were also printed abroad. As a comic artist, he is best known for his common man character 'Pero' (1961) and the children's comic 'Štefekove Pustolovine' (1964–1966). Reisinger was also active as an animator and album cover designer.
Early life and career
Oton Antun Reisinger was born in 1927 in Murska Sobota, at that time still part of the Kingdom of Serbians, Croatians and Slovenes. He had his first work published in Šilo in 1942. In 1944, he joined field marshal Josip Broz Tito's partisan army, who were driving out the Nazis. In between military activities, Reisinger made gouache drawings of his fellow recruits. After World War II, Tito established the Communist Republic Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, Reisinger studied architecture. He kept drawing several caricatures for various magazines, like Ilustrirane Fizkulture Novine, the student magazine Studentski List and, between 1946 and 1950, the weekly Communist humor magazine Kerempuh. Reisinger's graphic style was strongly influenced by Ronald Searle. In 1948, he also met a Dutch commander, Fritz Behrendt, who worked for the local Communist youth league, the Algemeen Nederlands Jeugd Verbond. Behrendt was in Zagreb to help rebuild the war-torn city, while simultaneously studying at the local Academy and publishing cartoons in Kerempuh too. They struck a lifelong friendship, even after Behrendt returned to The Netherlands to become a professional political cartoonist.
Cartoon by Oto Reisinger.
Political cartooning career
After his graduation in 1950, Reisinger became house cartoonist of the magazine Vjesnik. His cartoons freely ridiculed politicians from the West and the East. Although he had to operate under a Communist regime, Reisinger was somewhat lucky that he lived in Yugoslavia, where field marshal Tito followed a more independent course, not always obeying orders from the Soviet Union. As such, the cartoonist had a certain sense on how far he could go with his commentary. Reisinger once said: "I think most people regarded me as some kind of court jester." Indeed, by sprinkling witty comedy through his satirical commentary, people (in power) didn't take him all that seriously. And his editors were careful enough to censor any cartoon that was too risqué. Yet he knew he would never be permanently banned, since too many readers would complain about his absence.
From 1953 on, Reisinger's cartoons also appeared in the weekly VUS, from 1959 on in Arena and from 1969 on in Start. In VUS, his cartoons were political in nature, while in Arena he focused more on film, television, theatre and daily life. In Start, he drew erotic cartoons. Through his friendship with Dutch cartoonist Fritz Behrendt, his work also found an audience behind the Iron Curtain. Behrendt helped Behrendt's work inside the pages of the Swiss weekly Nebelspalter (1971-1990). He also wrote the foreword for Reisinger's compilation book 'Amor... Amor' (1973), which was printed in The Netherlands, as a compantion to a solo exhibition in Amsterdam. Between 1974 and 1985, Reisinger's cartoons ran in Quick (1974-1985) and Pardon in West Germany, Panorama (1975-1986) in The Netherlands and the UK magazine Punch.
Although Reisinger officially retired from cartooning in 1986, he remained productive until his death. When Yugoslavia succombed into a civil war (1991-1995), he felt it was his responsibility to comment on the way his country was torn apart by nationalist groups. In the book 'War and Peace' (Zagreb, 1995), he presented a satirical chronicle of the War in Former Yugoslavia.
Controversy
In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the Yugoslavian capital Zagreb, where he saw a cartoon by Reisinger which offended him. The drawing in question depicted Khrushchev visiting a hairdresser, who asks: "Should I trim your mustache like last time?", while a portrait of Stalin can be seen in the background, implying that Khrushchev's policies were basically not that different from Stalinism. The Soviet leader asked for the cartoon to be banned and Reisinger was summoned to court. But the judge let him off with just a warning.
'Štefekove Pustolovine'.
Early comics career
With scriptwriter Nikša Fulgosi, Reisinger created a historical adventure comic, 'Propast Kamen' (1952) in the magazine Vjesnik. Some of his earlier cartoons sometimes made use of comic strip-style narratives too.
Pero
In 1961, Reisinger created his common man character 'Pero', also scripted by Nikša Fulgosi. Pero is an anti-hero. A simple man who, in many cartoons, often gives in to his recognizable human vices. Pero is married to Klara, with whom he has a son, Štefek. The boy was also featured in a spin-off comic, 'Štefekove Pustolovine' (1964-1966), featuring Štefek and a gang of children. Five narratives were serialized in Plavi Vjesnik at the time. 'Pero' was very beloved with Croatian readers. Interviewed by Nina Ožegović for Nacional (18 August 2008), Reisinger explained: "You know, 99 percent of people isn't interested in politics, because they know they can't change anything. They are more interested in the struggle for survival. (...) It used to impossible to criticize the government in public, so I commented on problems and serious topics through Pero or his son, giving it a more light-weight tone."
Animation career
Reisinger wrote the script of the animated short 'Generali, vojskovodje, admirali' (1978) by Branko Ranitovic and was a development artist for another animated short, 'Tisucu Devetsto Devedeset Prva' (1991) by Stjepan Bartolic, Darko Bucan, Ivan Cacic, Darko Cesar, Stiv Cinik, Dunja Crnkovic, Zvonimir Delac, Radovan Devlic, Darko Krec and Ivan Pahernik.
Cartoon by Oto Reisinger.
Album cover designs
Reisinger also designed album covers for artists like Mile Bogunović ('Džo', 1964), the Trio Savinja ('Veseli Šoferi', 1964), Ljubiša Pavić, Mirko Vojković and Stevo Vujatović ('Doživljaji Detektiva Hari-Lajma', 1964), Nela Eržišnik (Predavanje O Modi /Prenos Nogometne Utakmice', 1964), Branka Veselinović ('Ravnopravnost U Braku' /'Parodija Na Naše Pevače', 1965) and Nela Eržišnik ('Tetka Ika I Huligani'/'Marica - Muzički Stručnjak', 1970).
Other graphic contributions
In the 1980s, Reisinger also drew advertisements for British Telecom. One day, he received a phone call from London, with the request to meet with representatives of the company in London next Tuesday. Reisinger first thought it was a joke, but later that day he received a telegram from British Telecom with exact instructions on how to travel to London, what metro to take and where his hotel was located. When he arrived in the British capital, Reisinger was asked to design an advertising poster, directed at foreign tourists. He made a few sketches, worked them out and was paid 4.500 British pounds. Although he was glad to receive such a large paycheck, Reisinger requested to exchange it into smaller banknotes. The delivery boy went to a bank, while Reisinger waited for more than an hour, afraid he wouldn't return. But he did, visibly sweating from trying to rush back and forth from the bank to his hotel, handing him the requested and redivided sum.
Recognition
In 1984, Reisinger received the Vladimir Nazor Lifetime Achievement Award. 30 years later, on 18 November 2014, he was also bestowed with the Andrija Maurović Lifetime Achievement Award for Croatian Comics, on behalf of the Art 9 organisation. His cartoons were subject of a 2008 retrospective in Klovićevi dvori,
Death and legacy
Reisinger died in Zagreb on 6 April 2016 at the age of 89. During his lifetime, he has produced over 70.000 cartoons. On 23 March 2024, his son Marko Reisinger, opened a museum in Zagreb, dedicated to his father and the work of other cartoonists: the Oto Reisinger House of Caricature. The museum harbors Reisinger's private collection, from his awards to his memorabilia.
Self-portrait.