Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Léon - Léon van Roey (1921 - ?)

A time ago we got a question  if we knew who was LEON. After some research  by Jean-Marie (thanks!) we found out who was the artist Leon. 

For Léon, this is a Belgian artist whose name is: Leon Van Roey. He was born in Antwerp in 1921, but we do not know if he is still alive (he should be 93 now). Please let us know if you have some more information.

This painter was also a ceramist, illustrator, stage designer, and of course, cartoonist.
He has published in the press in Belgum: La Nation Belge, Le Patriote Illustré, La Libre Belgique, Weekend, Moustique ; 
in the French press: The Canebière Humour Magazine, Noir et Blanc, Ici Paris, Le Rire ; 
in the Scandinavian press: Expressen.
His drawings were reproduced, from 1956 to 1959, in the series of anthologies Best Cartoons from Abroad, published in New York by Crown Publishing (books also published in London by Alvin Redman)

Best Cartoons from Abroad 1956 (Crown Publishing, New York 1956)
Best Cartoons from Abroad 1957 (Crown Publishing, New York 1957)
Best Cartoons from Abroad 1958 (Crown Publishing, New York 1958)
Best Cartoons from Abroad 1959 (Crown Publishing, New York 1959)

Léon is originally from Belgium, but moved to Denmark in 1952.

Jean-Marie found 2 publications with information about the artist.

First, there is the booklet "De lachende tekenpen Kartoens" (Gaston Durnez, Vlaamse Pockets, 1964). 













The last scan is a page from the book of Walter Amstutz: Who's Who in Graphic Art. Volume 2 (From Clivo Press, 1982 Dübendorf) :


Ik hope we helped mr "Anonymous" ... and I've learned again to know another artist.

This was the oringinal question we received:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Yrrah Deadline":

Excuse me, Mr. Jan Oplinus...
Have you heard of Belgian (?) cartoonist Leon? Apparently his gag cartoons were widely published in Stern (Germany), Se (Sweden)and other periodicals in the 50s and 60s. His cartoons were also featured in the 1955 book CARTOON TREASURY as well. Sadly, I have no other info on him and I'm unsure whether he's alive or not. Maybe you can help me. Here's a sample of his work:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QMuDihPPyPA/SRogew_BKXI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/MaeVZDhIg5Y/s1600-h/Untitled-5a.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QMuDihPPyPA/TKvPWK81wkI/AAAAAAAAOag/9aAwCqrGUEs/s1600/001.jpg

1 comment:

Christoffer Holmsteen said...

Leon van Roey was a good friend of my stepfather textile designer Rolf Middelboe of Denmark.
Leon died suddenly around the first half of the 90s, survived by his wife Helga, who is probably also no longer with us. They had met at a very young age in Berlin, and shared a long and fantastic life filled with love and art together, but had no children. Thankfully, the world still has Leon's amazing art.