Jean Bosc (1924-1973) - part 1

"Alain, Michele, Gerald and Joelle DAMMAN, nephews and nieces of Jean-Maurice BOSC, are pleased to welcome you on its official website, and thank you for your interest in his work."

This is the welcome word of one of the most complete and interesting sites dedicated to a cartoonist: the official BOSC website. I had some contacts by mail with Alain Damman, and I think Alain asked himself why I didn't make an article about Bosc earlier. Bosc is one of the greatest cartoonists ever. Alain made it easy for me: all you should know about Bosc is on his website, so I just have to link to it.

Les Boscaves (1965)

You should take a look at the pictures part and the impressive bibliography, it's a pleasure for collectors. It has 3 parts: books of Bosc in French, Bosc in other languages and books of Bosc with other cartoonists. At least 210 books are published with one or more Bosc cartoons!
You'll find cover pictures, and some more information on every book. Some collectors will recognize books they already have or notice books they should have and some books they could only dream of to have... because they are very rare to find.

Alain, keep going on with your site and promoting the great Bosc.
Vive Bosc!

The site is in French, but with 'google translate', it's available in many languages.

Here's a short biography of Bosc. Other biographies are on the site.

Bosc Jean (1924-1973)

"Bosc is een French cartoonist, poster designer and animated cartoon director born in Nîmes, France, on December 30, 1924. After his military service in France and Indochina, Jean Bosc rejoined the weekly magazine Paris-Match in 1952 and contributed cartoons to other publications as well (Punch, Esquire, France-Observateur). Many of his drawings have been published in the albums Gloria Viktoria, Homo Sapiens, Mort au Tiran ("Death to the Tyrant"), Les Boscaves ("Bosc's Fools", 1965), Si De Gaulle était Petit ("If De Gaulle Was Short",1968) and La Fleur dan Tous Ses Etats ("Two Flowers", 1968).

All his cartoons show absurd and often cruel incongruity, portraiting look-alike, almost interchangeable long-nosed men and children who wait on long lines or walk in funeral corteges or interminable parades. Bosc's long stint in the army is probably responsible for the strong antimilitaristic slant in his work, with officers depicted as heartless fools, sometimes reduced to beribboned and bemedalled jacquets only, and privates seen as inoffensive, mechanical dunces forever performing menial and useless chores. Bosc also directed a few animated cartoons: Le Voyage en Boscavie ("Travels in Bosc Country"), which won the Emile Cohl Prize in 1959, and Le Chapeau ("The Hat").

Like Chavel, Bosc saw no escape from the absurdity of the human condition: in 1973, at 49, he killed himself in Antibes, on the French Riviera. That same year, the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, Germany, held a two-month exhibit of his work, along with that of Chaval and Sempé."(Source: The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons)

Bosc Gallery

Learn more:
The official Bosc Site - Biblioghaphy: 210 Bosc books Impressive!
The official Bosc Site - Bosc photo gallery
The official Bosc Site - Exposition
Article on Mike Lynch's blog: Cartoons by JM Bosc in "Cartoons the French Way" (1955)
I agree with Mike...

Morbid fun with cats and rabbits - Skip Morrow and Andy Riley

First of all I want to be clear and say I like cats.  Sometimes I like teasing them and I like cat cartoons.

our 3 cats...

For those who (dis)like cats there is Skip Morrow's "The Official I Hate Cats Book" (1980). I have a Dutch version and the cat cartoons in that book are very funny.

"Beware of people who dislike cats." - Irish proverb

You can see Skip Morrow's "I hate cats collection" on his site.

For our friends, the rabbit-lovers there is "The Book of Bunny Suicides" by Andy Riley (2003). You must be crazy to make a book of rabbits wanting to suicide, but the result is hilarious.

As above, I have a Dutch version "Het boek van de zelfmoordkonijntjes".

"The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want To Live Any More (2003) is a collection of mostly one-image black comedy cartoons drawn by author Andy Riley. It was a bestseller.

Each cartoon shows one or more white rabbits in their creative attempts to end their lives using a variety of items. Revolving doors, a toaster, a cricket ball, a boomerang, a hand-grenade, the shining sun, a magnifying glass, smoking of several cigarettes and bowling balls are all featured as suicidal tools. The book also features a few cultural references, most notably a parody of a scene from The Wicker Man, where the rabbit is atop the burning figure. A reference to the Terminator movies is also included, as well as a reference to the scene from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove where the captain of the bomber rides the atomic bomb as it drops and explodes. Noah's Ark is also featured. While all the other animals are boarding the ark, two bunnies stay behind suntanning on the beach.

The cartoons are often drawn in such a way that the bunny's exact method is not immediately obvious, leaving the reader to work out exactly how the bunnies plan to end their lives.

In 2004 a sequel was published, under the title Return of the Bunny Suicides

The book proved so popular that pirate scans started to circulate heavily online as "Bunnies Suicide" or "Bunny Suicide", facilitating DMCA notices of cease and desist [1]. Cartoonist Liu Gang was inspired by the book to create his Suicide Rabbit.

A special edition, The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, was released in the UK in 2007. It contains every bunny suicide ever.

This book has been withdrawn from bookshelves in Shanghai, China for fear of children imitating the scenes." (source: Wikipedia)

Cats and rabbits: some similarities...

Learn more:

Books by Skip Morrow

Skip Morrow search on eBay

Cattoonbook (by B. Kliban) is another cat cartoon book

Interview with Andy Riley on Stripelmagazine (Dutch)

Interview with Andy Riley (English, translated with Google Translate)

Andy Riley search on eBay

Cartoonbook files:

Cartoonbooksclub Service - Oct. 2008

This is a service message. With this service, we like to promote cartoonists and their books who write us. You can sent your book(s) to review to:

ECC Cartoonbooks Club
Oude Tramweg 27
B 8560 Moorsele (Belgium)

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I got mail from mr. Tetsuro Sumu who is a Japanese cartoonist and acupuncturist. He's a member of the THE JAPAN CARTOONIST ASSOCIATION and member of the JAPAN ACUPUNCTURE & MOXIBUSTION ASSOCIATION.

I didn't receive books, so I have to rely on the information and links in the e-mail mr Tetsuro sent to me. Some links don't seem to work. This is what what mr Tetsuro wrote : 

The book on the acupuncture and moxibustion where I drew the cut-in illustration is published

and it sells very well.
I published the "Japanese acupuncture" series.

My books on Amazon

My bio:

1960 Born in Japan
1980 One man show of collage
1983 Exhibition of Susumu's own pictures
1986 Start to write own novel
1996 MANGA
1997 Osakanews.com; kamabokonews.com's special recognition; poper
1998 Appears in morningweekly.co.jp
1999 Kyodonews Appears
2000 Kyodonews Appears
2001 Kyodonews Appears
2003 Kyodonews Appears
2004 Kyodonews Appears
"Jaka b´d´ ... 2004"
http://jaka2004.republika.pl/
2005 Iwanami book
2006 Iran footnet
2007 International Cartoon Festival-Occupation

Winning

International cartoon exhibition selecting of Brazil
The third place international pet cartoon exhibition winning a prize of China
British CARTOONET cartoon announcement

Contact: Tetsuro Susumu [susumu@po.minc.ne.jp]

Karicartoons and Antoon Beuckels

cover with Ben Crabbé and Marcel Vanthilt

Last week I was pleased to meet cartoonist Antoon Beuckels (°Oostende, Belgium, 1951) in the ECC. For the first time I heard the word "caricartoon" for the art of combining caricatures with cartoon. So Toon showed me his new "Karicartoons" book with 100 drawings of famous belgian people, as our king Albert, Walter Van Beirendonck, Clouseau, Reborn, Nathalia, etc...

The people mentioned in the book are very recognizable and that's of course due to the talent of the artist. His past as a photographer is clearly reflected in his style. The popular character of his cartoons makes them very accessible to the general public. To all Belgian (female?) hairdressers and barbers I say: you should have this book too. I'm sure it will be a fun topic for your customers while waiting ...
The book is available in Standaard boekhandel or contact the artist.

Since I saw the art of Karl Meersman, I adore artists who are able to make caricatures in combination with a cartoon or should we say cartoons related to caricature or portraits?
Here are 2 other nice works of Toon:

Panamarenko
(artworks and pics)

king Albert II of Belgium
as referee

Antoon Beuckels on YouTube

Thanks to Antoon for his kind permission.

Learn more:

Visit the website of (An)Toon Beuckels:

www.karicartoons.be

www.car-toon-beuckels.be

Cartoonbook file:

Chinese Satire & Humour in 1987

Times have changed, China has changed and I don't know if Deng Xiaoping was a cartoon lover, but more than 2 decades ago, another catalogue "Satire & Humour" was published in China, adhering 'socialist principles'.

cover

To be honest, I'm not able to understand most cartoons in this book. Although there is an English translation on the first pages of the book most cartoons are very difficult to appreciate.
Nevertheless I'm happy to own this book of non-western cartoons.

Here's a part of the introduction:

"Caricature, an incisive, vivid and interesting form of art, has always been loved by people. Closely linked with real life, it reveals what happens around us in daily lives.
In the field of this art form, the past decade could not be surpassed by an other single period in Chinese history in its production of caricatures, number of caricaturists and variety of themes. This development has undoubtedly made positive contribution to the construction of socialist cultural civilization.
However there is room for improvement in the creation of caricatures, such as the lack of depth, pedestrion form, and imperfect drawings of some works. We express our sincere thanks to those readers who have sent their criticism in the hope of improving this publiciation.
Since its first issue early 1979, Satire & Humor has published about 8000 pieces of works, offering a favourable condition for both the development of the Chinese art of caricatures and the growth of caricaturists. Adhering to socialist principles, Satire & Humor has done what little it can to emancipate the ideas, to help start criticism against social evils, and to lead the caricatures creation on the socialist road. ... " (Satire & Humor - editiorial department)

Some cartoons in the book (and its English title):

"Surely you can recognize a geat horse
when you see one, can't you?" (Wang Fuyang)

Calculating over personal gains and losses (Sun Yizeng)

The pockets of nepotism (Miao Di)

"So you guys don't want to eat fish, hun?" (Xu Jin)

The bridegroom and his budget (Xu Pengfei)

"Eat some of this old news, it's good for you!" (Li Nailang)

Perils in the pathway of progress. (Wei Tie)

Learn more:
China's Cartoon - history of Chinese cartoon
Cartoonbook file:

Van Cartoonbooks Files