Few artists have immortalised Berlin as beautifully as graphic novelist Jason Lutes — although many have tried. Now, the illustrator has designed a new screen print exclusively for tip Berlin to mark 30 years since the fall of the Wall.
The wide blue sky opens up above a section of the Wall. It’s unmistakable, with its grey concrete slabs and green lawn. But here it’s already broken through, and we can see Berlin’s heart, complete with city hall and the famous TV tower. Birds drift across the sky, and there’s a silence to the scene. But it’s not uncomfortable. Quite the contrary; it’s a moment of calm, of reflection. In an understated way, the vista touches on details that have impacted Berlin, Europe and the world to this day. The divided city has become one, peacefully, and the Wall has become a symbol of unity and the slow triumph of justice.
A chain of events that caused each other
Few illustrators have grappled with Berlin as intensely as Jason Lutes, who himself hails from New Jersey. He’s spent the past twenty years on his Berlin trilogy, a historically accurate graphic novel about the end of the Weimar era and emerging Nazi regime. Now, he concludes his famous work with this print, the fallen Wall at its centre. Weimar, Nazi Germany, WWII, division, the Wall, and, finally, reunification. Berlin’s history is a chain of events that caused each other.
Lutes is the first artist to design a screen print for us who doesn’t live in Berlin. We’ve produced 99 prints of City of Signs – Berlin Wall, signed and numbered, available for €99. It honours the fall of the Wall and is a rare collector’s item, far from the usual tourist tat.
Translated by Aida Baghernejad
You can purchase the print from our web shop: shop.tip-berlin.de
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