Did you know that Hannes Hegen, born as Johannes Hegenbarth, significantly shaped East German comics? Hannes Hegen also was a cartoonist, painter, and illustrator. Let’s explore the world of Hannes Hegen. He created the Digedags in the mid-1950s. These characters became the most popular comic figures in East Germany. Hannes Hegen rose to prominence. He became a key figure in what was known as the Ninth Art in the GDR.
Before comics, Hannes Hegen worked as a cartoonist from 1950. He contributed to various magazines. He was one of the most important cartoonists in post-war East Germany. Hannes Hegen also produced numerous independent drawings and sketches.
Hannes Hegen’s family had roots in glassmaking in Bohemia. This fostered an appreciation for drawing. His second cousin, Josef Hegenbarth, was a painter and graphic artist in Dresden. Josef Hegenbarth gained fame as an illustrator in both East and West Germany during the 1950s. The Josef Hegenbarth Archive in Dresden preserves much of his artistic legacy.
The name Hannes Hegen came from an agreement with Josef Hegenbarth. Since Josef and Emanuel Hegenbarth were artists, this avoided confusion. Hannes Hegen was born in Böhmisch-Kamnitz, Czechoslovakia, in 1925. He studied at the State School for Glass Refinement in Steinschönau. Later, he attended the Reich Academy for Applied Arts in Vienna. During World War II, he served as a soldier in France. After the war, he found work as a designer in various places before studying at the Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Art in Leipzig.
In 1950, Hannes Hegen moved to Berlin. From 1948 to 1955, he worked as a cartoonist for magazines like Frischer Wind and Neue Berliner Illustrierte. His first comic appeared in Mosaik von Hannes Hegen in 1955. In 1957, Hannes Hegen established a studio in Berlin-Karlshorst. Here, artists worked under his direction to create the monthly Mosaik comic. The series Ritter Runkel, which ran from 1964 to 1969, was a notable part of Mosaik. The adventures took characters from Germany to the Orient. The Amerika series, set during the American Civil War, appeared from 1969 to 1974.
In June 1975, the last of 223 Mosaik comics was published. Afterwards, Hannes Hegen focused on free drawing. He created cycles of paintings. Two of these, depicting historical Dresden and the Spreewald, were released as dia roll films in 1982.
All Mosaik comics were republished as books between 1992 and 2007. Hannes Hegen created new covers and vignettes for these editions. Hannes Hegen received the German Comic Prize Max and Moritz in 2008. The jury recognized his pioneering work in German comics.
Hannes Hegen gifted a large portion of his and his wife’s work to the Foundation House of History of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2009. He received the Federal Cross of Merit in 2010. Hannes Hegen passed away in Berlin in 2014. Hannes Hegen’s Mosaik is gradually recognized and understood as an art form. Even before he became famous for Mosaik, he significantly worked as a caricaturist from Berlin. As a draftsman, he worked until old age. Hannes Hegen’s legacy remains significant in German comic art.