Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Yrrah 55/80 (Harry Lammertink 1932-1996)


Yrrah 55/50 (Em.Querido's Uitgeverij BV, 1980, ISBN 90 214 8922 8) is a collection of cartoons choosen by cartoonist Yrrah out of a period of 25 years. Yrrah began publishing his cartoons in 1955, starting in Holland. Other countries followed. In 1957 his drawings appeared for the first time in the United States.  Even Iceland and Japan had magazines that published his cartoons.

The drawing style of Yrrah is exceptionally outstanding.

Hereunder a translation of the Dutch Wikipedia page:

"Harry Lammertink grew up in Apeldoorn. He moved in 1951 to Amsterdam. He went to work as a graphic designer and developed within a short time as a cartoonist with America as example. In the early days he worked for 'Het Parool'.

Yrrah usually drew on the dark side of man. Disease, death and decay were central themes. Perhaps this was a result of poor health he had to contend with from childhood. He had a great aversion to religion and fascism, but was obsessed with women. The Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands ever asked parliamentary questions about a cartoon in which a pregnant nun walked away from a statue of Christ.

Yrrah had a production of sometimes more than fifty drawings per month but was still often afraid that he would have no new ideas in a day. His drawings are characterized by a sharp pointe and a low viewpoint. He said to draw inspiration from his frustrations and to sign and from a foxhole. Yrrah published articles in Het Parool, Vrij Netherlands , KRO Studio, Humo, Rijam-school agenda, Stern, Playboy and Esquire.

Yrrah got his final resting place at the cemetery Zorgvlied in Amsterdam. He left more than 7,000 drawings. In 2002 there was an exhibition of Yrrahs work at the Kunsthal Rotterdam. That same year, under the title "Black blood", which can be understood as a synonym for melancholy, an overview of his work and life was released by publisher De Harmonie."










Learn more:
Yrrah Dies
Yrrah on Wikipedia

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Olense Kartoenale

Last summer I had the opportunity to buy 5 'old' cartoon catalogues for only 1 EUR per piece at a book market in Ghent. I couldn't resist...



The Olense Kartoenale (Olen is a Belgian village ) is a Belgian cartoon contest that originated in 1988-1989 . In 2015 the 27th edition took place. In the catalogues dated before 1994, the names of the cartoonists are not mentioned beside the cartoons.

1994 catalogue: theme "Animals"

cartoon by Khomyakov Valery, Russia

1990 catalogue: theme "The Market"

 1991 catalogue: theme "Music"

1992 catalogue: theme "Olympic Games"
cartoon by Brasser

Learn more: