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Cartoon of Mickey and Minnie Mouse created prewar by a Romanian high school student

Object | Accession Number: 2004.436.2

Cartoon belonging to Ladislaus Farkas drawn by Kalman Wavrek depicting Mickey and Minnie Mouse. In 1922, Wavrek graduated from the Oradea Gymnasium in Romania with classmate Ladislaus Farkas. Ladislaus later received a Ph.D in chemistry and worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut fur Physikalische Chemie in Berlin, Germany. On April 7, 1933, a law was enacted forbidding Jewish civil servants from holding public positions. Farkas lost his job. He went to work in England, and then in 1935, emigrated to Palestine after accepting an offer from Chaim Weizmann to teach at Hebrew University. During the war, Farkas developed chemical applications used by the military. His parents, Istvan and Anna, and niece, Kati, were murdered at Auschwitz.

Artwork Title
Mickey and Minnie Take a Ride
Date
approximately 1922  (received)
Geography
creation : Oradea (Romania)
received : Oradea (Romania)
Classification
Art
Category
Drawings
Object Type
Cartoons (lcsh)
Credit Line
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Leorah Kroyanker
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About This Object

Physical Description
Ink and watercolor drawing on offwhite rectangular cardstock depicting a smiling Mickey Mouse driving a vintage car with a waving Minnie riding in a backwards facing seat. The square, vented, engine block has a conical yellow hood ornament and an oval sign with APJAT. Candles in holders sit on the front fenders. Mickey wears red shorts, and Minnie a blue skirt and blue shoes. Both wear yellow gloves. In front of the windshield Mickey’s tail curls up and holds an upward facing red arrow. The reverse has pencil and orange watercolor marks. The artist’s signature is in the front lower right corner.
Dimensions
overall : 3.500 x 5.375 in. (8.89 x 13.653 cm.)
Materials
overall : cardboard, ink, watercolor, graphite
Inscription
front, lower right corner, black ink : K. v. Wavrek
Contributor
Artist: Kalman V. Wavrek
Subject: Kalman V. Wavrek
Subject: Ladislaus Farkas
Biography
Kalman Wavrek graduated in 1922 from the Oradea Gymnasium, in Oradea, Romania. It was directed by the Premonstratensian Order of France, but had many Jewish students. He had artistic talents and drew cartoons and caricatures, including one of his graduating class, which included Ladislaus Farkas, a chemist who became the first professor of physical chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1935.

Keywords and Subjects

Administrative History

Legal Status
Permanent Collection
Provenance
The cartoon drawing was donated to the United States Holocaust Museum in 2004 by Leorah Kroyanker, the daughter of Ladislaus Farkas.
Funding Note
The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Rights and Restrictions

Conditions on Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions on Use
Restrictions on use
 
Record last modified: 2018-01-11 14:25:47
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn522130

Also in Ladislaus Farkas collection

The collection consists of a drawing and photographs relating to the experiences of the Farkas family in Romania and of Ladislaus Farkas in Germany prior to the Holocaust.

Date: 1922-approximately 1935

Leorah Kroyanker photograph collection

Document

One of the photographs depicts a man in a horse-drawn wagon, and the other photograph depicts two men sitting in a car.

View Collection