Gustav Brandt was born in Germany in 1861. He began working for Kladderadatsch in 1884. Over the next few years Brandt and Wilhelm Scholz became the most popular cartoonists working for the journal. Brandt's dramatic and bold cartoons have been compared to those of Olaf Gulbranssonin the rival magazine Simplicissimus. Brandt continued to contribute to Kladderadatsch until his death in 1919.