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Clément Moreau

• German-born Clément Moreau had to exile to Buenos Aires due to his political activism. There, he was well integrated into the artistic milieu and published his caricatures in many publications.
• Given name
  Clément
• Last name
  Moreau
• Alternative names

  Carl Meffert

• Date of Birth
  26-03-1903
• Place of Birth
  Koblentz (DE)
• Date of Death
  27-12-1988
• Place of Death
  Sirnach (CH)
• Profession
  Graphic Artist
• Introduction

  German-born Clément Moreau had to exile to Buenos Aires due to his political activism. There, he was well integrated into the artistic milieu and published his caricatures in many publications.

  Word Count: 31

• Signature Image

  

  Photo of Clément Moreau, “Truppe 38” in Argentina, 1938 (© Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv).

• Content

  Clément Moreau was born Carl Meffert in Koblenz (Germany) in 1903. Due to his political activism he had to leave Europe. In Buenos Aires, he was well integrated into the artistic milieu. He published his caricatures in many German –and Spanish– language publications.
  From his native Koblenz, Moreau moved to Berlin where he worked as a graphic artist for left-wing publishers from 1926. There he met artists such as Käthe Kollwitz with whom he formed a deep friendship. In 1933, Moreau was forced to flee to Switzerland. He stayed at the Z-Haus in Zurich, a house that hosted emigrants, and there met his future wife, Nelly Guggenbühl. His continued political activism, conducted through Vorwärts, a journal based in Basel, obliged him to change his name to avoid being sent back to Germany. His choice of name –Clément Moreau– used  the same initials with which he already signed his work. But danger still lurked. With the help of Guggenbühl's family, he obtained a passport and in 1935 sailed from the port of Marseille to Buenos Aires. His wife followed soon after. Once in Argentina, he started to teach drawing at the Cangallo and Pestalozzi schools. In the same year, 1935, he became a member of the Argentine AIAPE group and worked as a political caricaturist for several magazines: German-language journals as well as Argentinian ones, such as Argentinisches Tageblatt, Crítica, La Vanguardia, Noticias Gráficas, Fastrás, Argentina Libre and Nervio. Until he was able to master Spanish, his drawings filled the void created by his inability to write in that language. In 1937, he was one of the founders of the Das Andere Deutschland (The Other Germany) aid organisation. He produced satirical works about Hitler in a series of engravings titled La comedia humana (The Human Comedy). In 1938, he founded a theatre group, which he called Truppe 38. In 1962,  Moreau and Guggenbühl travelled to Zurich looking for professors to teach at the Universidad de Resistencia (Chaco, Argentina) where Clément Moreau had previously taught. A military coup in Argentina convinced them to stay in Zurich for good.

  Word Count: 348

• Media

  

  Clément Moreau, Logo in Das Andere Deutschland, no. 45, December 1941.

  

  Clément Moreau, engraving printed in Lamarque, Nydia. "Mitin de Frente Unico en París." Unidad por la Defensa de la Cultura, no. 1, January 1936.

  

  Clément Moreau, engraving printed in Lamarque, Nydia. "Mitin de Frente Unico en París." Unidad por la Defensa de la Cultura, no. 1, January 1936.

  

  Photo of Clément Moreau, “Truppe 38” in Ramos Mejía, Argentina, 1939 (© Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv).

• Bibliography (selected)

  Engelbert, Beate L., editor. Clément Moreau: con el lápiz contra el fascismo. Goethe-Institut, 1994.

  Word Count: 15

• Archives and Sources

  Schweizerisches Sozialarchiv, Zürich

  Stiftung Clément Moreau, Zürich.

  Word Count: 9

• Author
  Laura Karp Lugo
• Exile

  Berlin, Germany (1926–1933); Zurich, Switzerland (1933–1935); Buenos Aires, Argentina (1935); Zurich, Switzerland

• Known addresses in Metromod cities

  Escuela Cangallo, Pres. Tte. Gral. Juan Domingo Perón 2169, Buenos Aires (place of work); Colegio Pestalozzi, Cap. Gral. Ramón Freire 1882, Buenos Aires (place of work).

• Metropolis
  Buenos Aires
• Laura Karp Lugo. "Clément Moreau." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2950/object/5138-7556038, last modified: 27-09-2021.
• Gyula Kosice

  SculptorPoet

  Buenos Aires

  Born in Kosice (Slovakia), the four-year-old future artist Gyula Kosice reached Buenos Aires by ship in 1928. He forged ties of friendship with Grete Stern, Horacio Coppola and other artists.

  Word Count: 29

  Gertrudis Chale

  Painter

  Buenos Aires

  Gertrudis Chale was an Austrian painter based in Buenos Aires, where she achieved integration into the local art scene and spent years travelling throughout the region.

  Word Count: 26

  Grete Stern

  Photographer

  Buenos Aires

  Grete Stern is one of the photographers that represent modern photography in Argentina. Her house in Ramos Mejía was a meeting place for local and foreign artists and intellectuals.

  Word Count: 30

  Luis Seoane

  PainterMuralistIllustratorLawyer

  Buenos Aires

  Luis Seoane is an artist mainly known for his murals, paintings and illustrations. He spent his childhood and youth in Galicia, before settling in Buenos Aires in 1936.

  Word Count: 27

  Unidad

  Magazine

  Buenos Aires

  From 1936, the anti-fascist movement in Argentina found one of its most consistent opinion platforms in the magazine Unidad, organ of the Association of Intellectuals, Artists, Journalists and Writers (AIAPE).

  Word Count: 29

  Das Andere Deutschland

  Association

  Buenos Aires

  Das Andere Deutschland was founded by German exiles. Opposed to the Nazi regime, it sought to represent ‘the other’ Germany, a tolerant, peaceful and humanist one.

  Word Count: 26

  Agrupación de Intelectuales, Artistas, Periodistas y Escritores (AIAPE)

  Association

  Buenos Aires

  The Agrupación de Intelectuales, Artistas, Periodistas y Escritores – AIAPE (Association of Intellectuals, Artists, Journalists and Writers) was a main association that helped migrants integrate into Buenos Aires’ cultural life.

  Word Count: 30

  Truppe 38

  Theatre

  Buenos Aires

  German exile networks were very strong in Buenos Aires. From this community, Clément Moreau, a German caricaturist and anti-fascist militant, created the theatre group Truppe 38.

  Word Count: 26