Monday, April 28, 2008

Humour Art in Seoul - Korea -

In February 2008 there was the 1th Seoul exhibition of the Humour Art Group. This group is made up of 6 professional Korean cartoonists and illustrators: Kang Tae-Young, Kim Yun-Jo, Nam Myeong-Lae, Lee Jong-Gyun, Oh Young-Sik and Jung In-Sung. Their goal is to show Korean public some different ways of making cartoons and develop cartoon art in Korea. Cartoon exhibitions are still very rare and the artists want to promote the art of cartoon in their country. An international theme 'Environmental Pollution' and 'Global Warming' could help to gain interest from all over the world. Graphic humour can be a strong weapon to fight for a peaceful and non-polluted world.


The full-colored catalogue of this exhibition (40 pages) is made with skill and is an attractive appearance. The 6 Korean artists present their cartoons. For this first exhibiton, they also invited some professional cartoonists to support the action and theme of the Art Group: Alessandro Gatto (Italy), Jurij Kosobukin (Ukraine), Marlene Pohle, Veleri Kurtu(Germany), Muhittin Koroglu (Turkey), Marcin Bondarowicz, Pawel Kuczynski (Poland), Rumen Dragostinov (Bulgaria), Mihail Zlatkovsky (Russia), Julian Pena-Pai (Romania), Vladimir Kazanevsky (Ukraine), Musa Gumus (Turkey).

I express my gratitude to mr Young Sik Oh, President General of Humour Art, for his kind permission and contribution to this article.
I hope the Humour Art Group will succeed and I wish them all the best and a great future in making cartoons.

Learn more:
Humour Art Cartoon Blog
[Cartoonbook file of the catalogue]

Some pics of the exhibition.




The 6 artists:






Saturday, April 26, 2008

Boekenfestijn Kortrijk 2008

This week I went to Boekenfestijn , a giant book fair in Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium. Of course I was looking for some cartoon books.
The 'boekenfestijn' has been more than 25 years of uninterrupted success and with reason: the entrance is free and you can find thousands of books, multimedia and some other articles to sharp prices. . The price of these books is sometimes up to 90% lower than original prices. Unfortunately I didn't find as much cartoon books I hoped to find. The Press cartoon Belgium 2006 book was in promotion: 1,99 eur (normal price 12,50 euro) and The New Yorker Book of Cartoon Puzzles and Games book I bought there last year for 4,95 eur, was priced this year at 1,95 eur! (normal price: 17,95 USD). I bought a second specimen. This time to fill up the answers to the puzzles and games. For that price, I couldn't resist. Another nice book I found was 'Funny Ladies', The New Yorker's Greatest Woman Cartoonists and Their Cartoons. (4,95 eur, normal price 32 USD). Later on I'll place a review of these books: I'll 'read' them first.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Contempory Cartoon of Azerbaijan






When you are collecting cartoonbooks from all over the world, don't forget Azerbaijan! Yes, probably you haven't heard much of this country, as I did before, ... but you should have!

Rudy Gheysens, president of the ECC Kruishoutem has good contacts with Azerbaijan cartoonists. When he gave me this nice book of Contempory Cartoon of Azerbaijan (by Bayram Hajizadeh), I understand why he loves this countries' cartoons and its dedicated cartoonists.
I fully agree with Peter Nieuwendijk, at that time Secretary General of FECO, when he writes in his introduction word: "I recently read an impressive history about the making of a hundred years cartoons in Azerbaijan by Bayram Hajizadeh. It is a collection of master-pieces! They need no explanation, they speak for themselves. I am very happy to notice tha Azerbaijan Cartoonists take active part in international
cartoon contests and exhibitions. They won already prizes and special awards and have been published in international catalogues many times. Before that I had never heard nor seen cartoons from Azerbaijan cartoonists. Of course my fault...
... This book of Bayram Hajizadeh, which is presented to cartoon lovers, gives us an opportunity of getting acquainted with works and activities of Azerbaijan cartoonists... From now on we all can communicate with our Azerbaijan friends 'cause they speak the international language of humour fluently."

Although the cartoon world is often called a masculin world, I was happy to see that almost one third of the about 58 artist that present their work in the book are female. Good work!

With special thanks to mr. Bayram Hajizadeh, President of Azerbaijan Cartoonists’ Union, President of FECO Group Azerbaijan

Learn more:
Azercartoon, the Site of the Azerbaijan Cartoonists
Cartoonbook file

Wanna buy a pricy (?) original British cartoon?

There is another sale of original British cartoons at Chris Beetles:

THE SECOND ANNUAL CARTOON SHOW
8th April – 3rd May 2008

"Following on from the gallery’s highly successful exhibition last year, You Havin’ a Laugh? we are proud to present another selling show devoted to the art of British cartooning.
We have brought together some of Britain’s best-loved cartoonists from publications such as The Times, The Sunday Times, Private Eye, The Spectator, the Daily Express, the Evening Standard, the Telegraph, Punch, and The Economist, representing the best British cartoons of the last 100 years.
The great variety and diversity of cartoons are reflected in the range of prices, with works from £50-£5000.
This exhibition includes over 600 cartoons. You can view 100 of these online by clicking the link below."

Thanks Jean-Marie, for letting us know.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Knokke-Heist Catalogues for sale!

I am happy to announce that, for registrated members of our little club, we have a special offer. Registration is easy and free!
To expand your cartoonbook collection or to give a nice present to a relative or friend, you can buy some high-quality new catalogues of the Knokke-Heist Cartoon Festival (Belgium) at a very low price.
You can order the catalogue editions of 1989-1990-1991-1992-1993/2001-2002-2003-2005-2006-2007/and "Cartoons na '60" (a selection of best cartoons at the festval since 1960) - see cartoon file below
In collaboration with Uitgeverij Davidsfonds Leuven (publisher of the books since 1967) we can offer these books at an exceptionnal price and even less if you buy at least 3 of it (packages of 3 books). The most recent catalogues of 2006 and 2007 cost 12 and 13 eur (20% off the normal price). Older far less! Note: +shipping!
The books will be sent after payment to the publisher Davidsfonds with international bank transfer(EEC)
The orders are placed directly with the publisher.

Interested? Send me a mail. I'll mail you what you have to do to order.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

New Daumier book

The Frenchman Honore Daumier (1808-1879) can be regarded as the father of the presscartoon. He drew thousands of lithographs published in daily newspapers and satirical journals. He created art that was close to the people, art about everyday life and politics that was universally understood. But he was also admired by the intellectuals and artists of his time: Baudelaire, Balzac, Hugo ... In France ,at that time, there was no room for free speech and censorship was established. In 1832, Daumier was condemned to 6 months of prison for his drawing 'Gargantua' (cover of the new book).


Nowadays there are still many prints of the work of Daumier in circulation. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant caricaturists ever.

Time to present the new book. (thanks Saskia, for the information!)

There are coffee table books, there are research books difficult to digest for mortals without a PhD in art history, and there are those few and rare highly informative and well researched books on Daumier which offer in-depth information and non repetitive, or little knownbackground research with just a few pictures. Recently, a new book appeared on the market by Michel Melot, Art historian and former director at the Bibliothèque publique d'information at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, who still holds numerous important positions in French cultural life. The book's title is:

DAUMIER, L'Art et la République, ISBN 978-2-251-44339-3, published by Les Belles Lettres/Archimbaud, Paris 2008

It guides the Daumier amateur through new aspects of the rather unsuccessful 1878 Drouot exhibition, provocatively calling the first section of his book 'Comment Daumier devint un inconnu', a question certainly worth researching. The second section describes Daumier's career from the early beginning up to his time at the 'Boulevard', again a fascinating and in many aspects new research. The third and final section deals with Daumier's life as a celebrity, especially the period after his death and his acceptance beyond the borders of France.

To read such a fresh and in-depth publication about Daumier and his oeuvre is unusual and we would like to highly recommended it to all Daumier friends, be they collectors, Museum curators or University teachers. In this moment there exists only one caveat: you need to be able to read French. An English or German translation in this moment is unfortunately not yet available.
(sources: Lilian & Dieter Noack, Daumier Register, Scherper nr.3-sept2006)

A date to keep in mind: 2008 is the DAUMIER YEAR ! Activities, exhibitions and events around the globe to celebrate Daumier's 200th birthday.

Click here to go to the DAUMIER Website. There you will find complete information about Daumier's life and work, like: a detailed biography, a bibliography with more than 1'600 titles, a portrait-gallery, information about Le Charivari and other newspapers, an exhibition of fakes and reprints, a list of more than 700 Daumier exhibitions, Daumier News and Discussion Forum, an exhibition of unpublished Daumier prints, to name but a few topics.
You can visit the DAUMIER-REGISTER, the digital work catalogue which gives you all the details, background information and pictures for all of the 4'000 Daumier prints.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

In memoriam Roger Blachon (1941-2008)

I was informed by Jean-Marie that Roger Blachon, one of my favorite cartoonists died today of cancer. Roger Blachon (France) was one of the best sports cartoonists in the world.
For two decades Roger Blachon was a pillar of L'Equipe Magazine.
You can read a tribute by L'Equipe Magazine here (use google translate for English).
Pictures say more than words ... a tribute to Roger Blachon:
(Jean-Marie, thanks for your pictures of Roger Blachon, taken at the Festival du dessin de presse de Jonzac "Humour & Vigne" in 2006).