Stefan Slater and David Macfadyen talk to Julia Secklehner about the how they are reviving interest in Aloïs Derso and Emery Kelèn, whose career as caricaturists to the League and United Nations was launched by a chance meeting at Lausanne.
Events in and around the negotiations as Lausanne regularly featured in the popular press around the world, attracting some of the period’s finest journalists to the Swiss resort – including, of course, Ernest Hemingway and Clare Sheridan. Yet no-one brought the negotiations to life in quite the same way as Aloïs Derso and Emery Kelèn, whose output in 1922-3 ranged from the limited edition album Guignol à Lausanne to individual caricatures carried in major French, Egyptian, British and other newspapers. In this podcast, recorded on February 2, 2023, Stefan and David introduce the two Hungarian caricaturists and explain why their take on political cartooning was so unusual – and how it helped set them on a life-long career as “picture journalists” to the United Nations.
Following distinguished careers in medicine, Stefan Slater and David Macfadyen have pursued independent historical research on the inter-war period, particularly the work of the League of Nations and the foundation of the United Nations. This naturally led them to Derso and Kelèn, who form the focus of their new book The Political Cartoons of Derso and Kelen: Years of Hope and Despair (Lund Humphries). To purchase a copy at 20% off, please click on the link and quote the code Derso20 at checkout.
Episode 31 – Heads of State
Podcasts are published by TLP for the purpose of encouraging informed debate on the legacies of the events surrounding the Lausanne Conference. The views expressed by participants do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TLP, its partners, convenors or members.
FEATURE IMAGE:: ON FERME (DETAIL), FROM ALOÏS DERSO AND EMERY KELÈN, GUIGNOL À LAUSANNE (LAUSANNE: “LITHOS” A. MARSENS, 1923).
The Lausanne Project 