Nicolas Mahler | |
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![]() Nicolas Mahler (2014) | |
Born | 1969 (age 54–55) Vienna, Austria |
Occupation | Cartoonist |
Notable work | Flaschko, Kratochvil |
Awards |
Nicolas Mahler (born 1969) is an Austrian cartoonist and illustrator. Die Zeit, NZZ am Sonntag, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung and Titanic print his comics.[1] He is known for his comics Flaschko and Kratochvil and for his literary adaptations in comic form. His comics have been adapted into films and theatre plays. He was awarded the Max & Moritz Prize and the Preis der Literaturhäuser.
Mahler was born in Vienna.[2] He is an autodidact, and started working as an illustrator soon after leaving school.[3] Mahler draws for Austrian, German and Swiss newspapers, magazines and anthologies.[4] He has published over twenty books, including in France and Canada.[5][6][7] His Flaschko-comics were adapted as animated films and screened at various short film festivals in Europe.[8][9] His comic Kratochvil[10] was performed as a puppet play in Switzerland, Austria and France.[11][4] In 2003, together with Rudi Klein and Heinz Wolf , he founded the Kabinett für Wort und Bild in Vienna Museumsquartier.[12]
Mahler produced several literary adaptations in comic form, including Alte Meister (after Thomas Bernhard's novel),[13] Alice in Sussex (based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)[13] and Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (after Robert Musil's novel)[12] as well as adaptations in 2020 of James Joyce's Ulysses[13] and Finnegans Wake.[13] In addition to his fictional stories, Mahler published Kunsttheorie versus Frau Goldgruber (Art Theory vs. Mrs. Goldgruber), Die Zumutungen der Moderne (The Impositions of Modernity), Pornographie und Selbstmord (Pornography and suicide), as well as Franz Kafkas Nonstop Lachmaschine (Franz Kafka's Nonstop Laughing Machine), as autobiographical comics in which he processes his sometimes absurd experiences in everyday life and in the comic scene.[14]
Mahler has been known to German readers through his publications in the satirical magazine Titanic.[1] From 2014 to 2016, he also published in the monthly magazine Chrismon.[15]
Mahler's style is characterised by an extremely reduced stroke[16] with which he captures cranky characters.[17] The award citation for the Max & Moritz Prize states: