Description

Admin History:

Victor Weisz was born in Berlin, Germany in 1913 of Hungarian Jewish parents and studied at the Berlin School of Art.

At the age of fifteen he was producing caricatures and his work began to appear in German newspapers. Weisz adopted a strong anti-Nazi position and for this reason came to Britain in 1935, becoming a British citizen in 1947.

He worked on a number of newspapers and built a reputation as an incisive commentator on political events. He became a cartoonist at the News Chronicle in 1941 and subsequently at the Daily Mirror, Evening Standard and New Statesman. By the 1940s he adopted the pseudonym 'Vicky' and became the chief political cartoonist at the Daily Mirror in 1954. He famously portrayed Harold Macmillan as 'Supermac'; although intended as a slur it actually helped Macmillan increase his majority in 1959.

Weisz was married four times and had no children; Ingeborg Lew was his fourth wife. He suffered from depression and insomnia and died by suicide in February 1966.

Description:

This collection contains 269 handwritten notes with illustrations from Victor 'Vicky' Weisz to his wife Inge Lew. The notes are generally of a personal nature and often in response to a note left by Inge for Weisz. Many are simple expressions of love for Inge from Victor, messages of birthday wishes or celebrations of other events such as anniversaries, the couple's wedding and Valentine's Day. The illustrations are usually comic depictions of Weisz and/or Inge in different situations and settings. Several notes refer to Weisz's health, others are thank you notes to Inge for a wonderful evening or weekend, and many also contain basic details and a related illustration of the day's weather.