Stephen Roth was a prolific Czech Jewish artist whose cartoons lampooned fascist dictators and put a wry spin on political events during the Second World War. Prior to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, Roth immigrated to London where he remained the rest of his life contributing pieces to English newspapers. Roth’s striking pen and ink style was so instantly recognisable that he rapidly gained a cult following. Working under the pen name ‘Stephen’, Roth published several books of cartoons.
The Wiener Library’s unique art collection includes several Roth originals, complete with corrections and captions written in the artists’ hand. These remarkable drawings were given pride of place in this exhibition, alongside Roth’s books and artwork by some of his contemporaries.
