Mario Armengol. Credit score: Por Lindah Kiddey – http://marioarmengol.com/index.html, CC BY-SA 4.0
A Spanish cartoonist as soon as suspected of being a wartime spy is at the moment being honoured in a significant exhibition in Barcelona till January 2026.
Mario Armengol, initially from Catalonia, secretly produced hundreds of anti-Nazi cartoons that poked enjoyable at Hitler for the British authorities throughout World Warfare II – proper from a small village in Nottinghamshire.
The story of artist Mario Armengol
Born in 1909 in Sant Joan de les Abadesses close to the Pyrenees, Mario Armengol was blacklisted in the course of the Spanish Civil Warfare for his political views. Pressured to flee Spain in 1938, he crossed into France the place he was arrested and later joined the French International Legion. By 1940, he had made it to Britain and was granted permission to remain.
He ultimately moved to the village of Laneham in Nottinghamshire, the place he started drawing propaganda cartoons for the British Ministry of Data. These works mocked Hitler and the Axis powers and had been distributed internationally.
Locals thought Mario Armengol was a spy
Armengol’s sudden arrival and weird life-style sparked suspicion in Laneham. Lindah Kiddey, whose mom had an in depth relationship with Armengol, recalled:
“They’d by no means seen a international individual earlier than, not to mention a person with a powerful accent, sporting a beret, who was sending these giant parcels weekly to His Majesty’s authorities… so that they thought he have to be a spy,” she informed BBC Information.
Regardless of preliminary distrust, the charismatic artist ultimately gained the villagers over. Kiddey mentioned he grew to become “a kind of folks hero,” particularly amongst native youngsters.
From 1941 to 1945, Armengol created round 2,000 satirical illustrations – many now recognised as a few of the best political artwork of the time. In keeping with curators of an exhibition titled Tinta Catalana contra Hitler, his work deserves to be seen alongside famed British cartoonists like David Low and Illingworth.
The exhibition, held on the Nationwide Artwork Museum of Catalonia till January 11, 2026, showcases a big choice of unique artworks, many preserved by Armengol’s household. These items not solely lampooned main WWII figures and battles but in addition drew on Catalan traditions of satire and caricature.
“His advantageous artwork is magnificent and his industrial and business design can be fantastic,” mentioned Kiddey, who hopes the renewed curiosity – fuelled by a deliberate 2026 documentary – will lastly convey his work the eye it deserves.
At the moment marks the eightieth anniversary of VE Day.
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