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The Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig will be awarded to Leipzig-based illustrator and artist Anna Haifisch in 2025. "I'm so terribly uninspired" is what Anna Haifisch (*1986) has her artist character say about herself. But this is not the case with the much-admired Leipzig comic artist. Born in Leipzig in 1986, she is one of the "stars of the German alternative comic scene" (Karoline Bofinger).
After studying graphic design and book art at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, she went on to study with Thomas M. Müller as a Meisterschülerin. In 2013, she co-founded the comic festival "The Millionaires Club", which offered comics an international stage in Leipzig.
In autumn 2015, she published her webcomic "The Artist" on Vice.com, which helped her achieve her international breakthrough. At the same time, her first book "Von Spatz" was published by Rotopolpress. In 2020, the New York Museum of Modern Art commissioned Anna Haifisch as a comic artist for the series "Drawn to MoMA". Anna Haifisch also draws for the Guardian, ZEIT and Le monde diplomatique. In 2023, the Musée Tomi Ungerer, Centre international d'illustration in Strasbourg presented a highly acclaimed exhibition of drawings by Anna Haifisch, and in 2024 she exhibited at the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe.
Rodents are Haifisch's métier and her internationally acclaimed works are a veritable "ratatouille" - Anna Haifisch's works are characterised by a broad spectrum of media and formats: In addition to comics, illustrations and free prints, her work also includes posters. However, she has a particular preference for the book medium: "I always think in terms of double pages when I draw!". Haifisch's pictorial inventions combine "American fascination with European wit" (Andreas Platthaus) and are characterised by clear lines and colouring as well as the use of the ink pen. She interweaves melancholic and humorous elements and picks up on current social issues as well as scenes from everyday life. Her best-known character, "The Artist", ironically reflects the challenges of being an artist in an existence characterised by political division, everyday worries and bizarre encounters.
Since 1959, the Gutenberg Prize of the City of Leipzig has honoured personalities and institutions in memory of Johannes Gutenberg who, according to the statutes, "have rendered outstanding, exemplary services to the promotion of the book arts". Since 1993, the prize has been awarded annually, alternating with the City of Mainz prize of the same name. The German Museum of Books and Writing is a member of the jury. Special artistic, technical or scientific achievements in the fields of typography, book illustration, book art editions, book production and merits in the dissemination of the free word are honoured. Anna Haifisch is the first comic artist to receive the Gutenberg Prize.
The city of Leipzig is awarding her the Gutenberg Prize in the 2025 theme year, which is focussing on the book city of Leipzig under the motto "More than (a) story". In doing so, it is not only honouring the exceptional artistic quality of her work, but also Anna Haifisch's role as an international ambassador for the city.
