While living in London in 1948, John Heartfield receives an offer to be a professor of satirical graphics at Humboldt University in East Germany. With the aid of his brother, Wieland and old friend Berrolt Brecht, arrangements are made to allow Heartfield along with Gertrude to return to Leipzig in East Germany. Once there, Heartfield taught while also collaborating on projects with his brother and founding their own publishing company, "Werkstatt: H & H."
Due to a resolution by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, all "Western emigrants" were suspected of "treasonable connections." This included Heartfield and Wieland. Luckily, Heartfield had enough contacts to be overlooked and was not charged with any crimes. Later that year, he suffered his first heart attack while traveling on a train and an exhibition that had been scheduled for the date of Johannes R. Becher had to be cancelled. A year later, Heartfield would finally marry his long time companion Gertrude, making her his third wife. Unfortunately, later that year, he would also suffer his second heart attack.
In 1954, after many decades had passed, Stefan Heym calls for public recognition of Heartfield's life's work. Heym's pleas did not go unheard. Political changes throughout Europe have at least some effect on the state of Germany and the GDR. In October of 1956, Heartfield was elected a full member of the Deutsche Akademie der Künste and his party membership is regarded as being uninterrupted.
The first GDR exhibition for Heartfield was titled John Heartfield und die Künst der Fotomontage (John Heartfield and the Art of Photomontage) and took place at the Akademie in 1957. Later that year, he and his wife moved to Berlin and Heartfield was given the National Award Second Class.
Heartfield remained active in the next few years despite health problems, traveling to China and making his first film, an autobiographical piece. Finally in 1960, he was given the title of professor. In 1964, nearly 50 years after the fact, his name change to John Heartfield was officially recognized.
For the next few years, he participated in numerous art exhibits all across the continent of Europe until in 1968, John Heartfield succumbed to severe illness and passed away at the age of 77.
Click to Enlarge
