Representations of the human body in the illustrations of Fritz Kahn ’s publications during the period of the Weimar Republic

The text deals with representations of the human body in the illustrations of Fritz Kahn’s publications – an important popularizer of science during the years of the Weimar Republic. Associated with the publishing house Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, Kahn was the author of numerous books on popular science, the most important being the five-volume Das Leben des Menschen, with successive parts published from 1922–1931. The book contained more than 1,000 illustrations, executed by a group of about 20 graphic designers. The author of the present article analyzes the images from Kahn’s publications in a broader context. He demonstrates the specific nature of the publisher Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, and reconstructs for us the circle of graphic designers and their way of working on the visual aspect of Das Leben des Menschen. He analyzes the various types of representations of the human body found in Kahn’s publications, and then places them within the tradition of depicting the human body (Wolfgang van Kempelem, nineteenth century productivists), as well as on the artistic map of the Weimar Republic (among others medical atlases, DADA, Bauhaus, Cologne Progressives)