Martial Leiter (born 1952 in Fleurier) is not only one of Switzerland’s most distinguished political cartoonists, but also an independent artist whose work has won him international renown. Since 1974 Leiter has published his meticulously hatched drawings in newspapers such as the “NZZ”, “Tages-Anzeiger”, “Weltwoche”, “Wochenzeitung”, “Die Zeit” and “Le Monde”. His pointed commentaries have a timeless quality and succeed in transporting daily events to a universal level. His earlier work remains fresh and compelling, thanks not only to its outstanding artistic quality, but also to Leiter’s continual search for the correlations that hide in the background of current events.The absence of colour is a key feature in Leiter’s work, where neat and controlled hatching is replaced by wild and forceful strokes of the pen. A large contemporary Dance of Death, especially created by Leiter for the exhibition in the Cartoonmuseum Basel, exemplifies the current work of this original and dedicated artist. “Totentanz und Weltenlauf” is the first exhibition in Basel to pay tribute to Martial Leiter with a comprehensive presentation of his work.
Curator: Anette Gehrig