Cartoon from Vicky to his wife Inge • Hull History Centre

This charming treasure from ca1960 is a cartoon from a letter by celebrated cartoonist Victor ‘Vicky’ Weisz to his fourth wife Inge. It depicts the couple sitting nude in what appears to be a colourful Garden of Eden scene. They are surrounded by butterflies and foliage, sat next to a palm tree and a house. Victor sits in discontent, his mouth area coloured in blue, whilst Inge engages happily with a butterfly. The whole scene is depicted within the base of a table lamp with a bright yellow shade. Victor writes to Inge thanking her for her last note and says how much this garden illustration depicts how he would like to spend his time with her. On the reverse, Victor writes “For Inge”.

Victor Weisz, 1913-1966 was a Berlin-born political cartoonist who fled Nazi Germany in 1935 and found refuge in Britain. By the 1940s, Weisz, using the pseudonym “Vicky”, was one of the leading British left-wing cartoonists, becoming The Daily Mirror‘s chief political cartoonist in 1954. He invented the soubriquet ‘Supermac’ for Harold Macmillan.

Vicky suffered from insomnia and depression and committed suicide in February 1966, four years after this letter.

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