Otto Lothar

Cartoonists are not just artist, they are also kind of doctors or psychiatrists. One of the differences is that they don't earn as much, but sometimes they do the same works. Laughter is the best medicine, isn't it? And aren't cartoonists experts in laughter?

German cartoonist Otto Lothar (°1932) is one of those artists. He was so kind to sent us (t)his book for our collection. It's in German and the purpose is to make people laugh. A noble goal.
The booklet is illustrated with cartoons of Otto (ISBN 978-3-89798-340-3, 1254 pages). It costs 5 euro, a fraction of the cost of a visit to the psychiatrist.

I've translated where's the book about:

"The reader will find many laughs, good-mood tips and anti-depression advice in this 'Laugh-Booklet' in order to defy the adversities of life or simply to laugh again. The volume is enriched with aphorisms, anecdotes, jokes and not least the drawings by cartoonist Otto Lothar: his style is clear, naive and fresh; his cartoons are characterized by fine irony and black humor - they are imaginative everyday philosophy and such an excellent addition to the texts. This little book is a happy present for those who want to laugh. And also for those who are to be cheered, comforted or strengthened."

Thanks a lot Otto!

Learn more:
Otto Lothar Biography
Inventur, by Otto Lothar
Buy on Amazon

Bruegel anno 2017

This summer the Belgian town of ¨Peer was the place to be.
The small city celebrated that it was 650 ago, it obtained its city rights. One of the most eye-catching activities to celebrate was the Bruegel cartoon festival. It is not very certain at all, but in Peer one believes that  the world famous and great painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1530 – 9 September 1569) was born in the village of Grote Brogel, near Peer. Of course Bruegel is Peer's honorary citizen.

Along with the exhibition, presenting excellent cartoons based on the paintings of Bruegel, came an excellent catalogue (128p, full color) . On the cover there is a "state of the art" cartoon by the Belgian cartoonist KLIER (Kurt Valkeneers), living in Peer and president of the jury.

Bruegel - The Peasant Wedding (1567)

Catalogue cover by KLIER (Belgium)

Tony Houbrechts (Belgium)

cartoonist Kurt Valkeneers, aka KLIER (photo 'Het Nieuwsblad')

The Blind leading the Blind by Bruegel (1568)

Zaradkiewics (Poland)

Agim Sulaj (Italy)

Mauricio Parra (Columbia)

Bruegel - The tower of Babel (ca. 1563)

Mihai Ignat  (Romania)

Georgi Karaliev (Bulgaria)

Some more inpressions of the exhibitions and the cartoons...

Bob Darroch, New Zealand

Paul Kempeneers, Belgium

Stefaan Provijn, Belgium

The Winners...Slawomir Makal (Poland, 2nd prize), Nikola
Hendrickx (Belgium, First Prize, Sergey Sichenko (Israel, Third Prize)

Learn more:
Pieter Bruegel The Elder on Wikipedia

Beware of the cartoons by Klier, they are VERY funny. Captions are only in Dutch... for an English translation, just ask ;-)
Klier on Facebook.

Want to buy the catalogue? mail toerisme@peer.be

Alive and Kicking

It's been quiet on this blog for the last few months. I've taken a break but I did not stop exploring the wonderful world of cartoons and cartoon books.

Many cartoon books were added to my collection and some are quite unique treasures. In the next months to come, I hope to show them to you. Hope you will like them.

Searching for cartoon books in a church, Place du Temple, Braderie de Lille,  Sept 2 , 2017 (France)
Yes, I found one! (for 1 euro)

Good find on Marktplaats.NL -
bought a package of 30 books of which about 12 were cartoon books (not
al the books are displayed here )