Peterburi tüüpe (Types of Petersburg)

This ink drawing depicts two figures in conversation: a portly man in checkered trousers and a bowler hat, and a taller man in a long coat and fedora. The work exemplifies the European caricature tradition—descended from Hogarth and Gillray through 19th-century satirists like Daumier and Nast—that exaggerated physiognomy to depict social types and urban characters. Signed by Erik Obermann, the print captures Petersburg's diverse population using period caricature conventions and costume detail. Such type-sheets (bilderbogen tradition) documented social hierarchies visually, making them readable to mass audiences. This image records early Estonian graphic culture and influenced emerging comic narratives.