Sindbad the Sailor

STEFAN MART - HOMAGE TO AN UNKNOWN ARTIST

Stefan Mart was the narrator and illustrator of the picture book Tales of the Nations, published in Hamburg in 1933 by the "Cigarettenbilderdienst Hamburg-Bahrenfeld" ("Cigarette Picture Service"). It won the hearts of innumerable children and grown-ups in the course of the six years that it was in print. This was due above all to the 150 colour illustrations: they were small in size, but strong in expression, each a microcosm packed with action, each a feast for the eyes like a beautifully set jewel; everything was finely-drawn and clear, indeed with the exaggerated clarity of the caricature; they all radiated the shining, flaming colourfulness of modern painting. These pictures stimulated the imagination and the emotions, moved to laughter and to tears, could frighten and warn. But above all, they gave rise to astonishment - and they have continued to do so to this day.