Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Ray Gilles - a peculiar cartoon style


A cartoonist with a very specific style is the Belgian cartoonist Ray Gilles. There's no much information to find about him. In the cartoon anthology 'De Lachende Tekenpen' (the laughing drawing pen) by Gaston Durnez (1964), there is a text about him. I found an English translation of this text on the blog 'The Ephemerist'. You can read the full article and watch some more cartoons here.

De lachende Tekenpen (Gaston Durnez, 1964)

"Ray Gilles was born on June 15, 1923 in Leuven (Belgium), studied at the Academy in Mechelen, at the Antwerp Higher Institute for the Visual Arts in Antwerp and later at the Terkameren Higher Institute. He had expositions in Brussels, Antwerp and Liège and took part in collective shows in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Mechelen, Molanwelz and Milan.
In 1961 he debuted with his cartoons on the Flemish Humour Festival (Salon van de Vlaamse Humor). He was asked to design a carpet for the Belgian Ministery of Economic Affairs and won the Prix La Métropole for young Antwerp painters. He contributed to magazines and periodicals like Tijd en Mens, Bouwen en Wonen, Summier, Art Abstrait and Kontrast.
Cartoons by Ray Gilles were published in [the Flemish daily] De Standaard, and he also designed books and magzines and theatre posters. His work is regularly bing published in Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. [The German journal - WL] Gebrauchsgraphik showcased his art, and Swiss magazines heralded him as “a master of graphical humour”.
Gilles is currently preparing a collected publication of his cartoons and a study of color in painting. He is married to Stella van der Auwera, a painter, fabric designer and teacher at the Mechelen Academy." (1964)

The book I own is "Rayquiem" (Belgium, 1965). Unfortunately I found the book without its dust jacket.
Here are some of the cartoons in the book.












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