Elkan (Otto)

c.1945.
a rare and unusually large selection of seven dental caricatures, from a series of a dozen or more, all individually cut out by hand (as confirmed by subtle variations and occasional reverse orientation from other examples found of the same scenes). Otto Elkan (1884-1967) was born in Budapest, Hungary, but emigrated to France in 1935. Thought to date from just after the Second World War, during which he had been interned for a while, the series satirises the changing face of dentistry, from enduring pain, resorting to traditional, homespun, amateur remedies, to more modern professional, and expensive practices. An article posted on the website of the US National Library of Medicine regarding these and other, more conventionally pictorial, dental cartoons by Elkan, notes the close similarity of the dentist’s chair to the Weber Model D, patented in the United States in 1931, and widely exported to Europe.
210 by 280mm (8¼ by 11 inches).