Vriend over Vijand - De Grote Oorlog in spotprenten by Paul Vandamme / Friend on Foe -The Great War in cartoons

Last Thursday I attended the presentation of Paul Vandamme's newest book 'Vriend over Vijand'  - De Grote Oorlog in Spotprenten (Lannoo, Belgium,  ISBN 978-94-014-0695-6, 40 eur)  . Title translation: Friend on Foe - The Great War in cartoons).  He couldn't choose a better place: the In Flanders Fields museum in Ypres. On the occasion of the publication of the  book by Uitgeverij Lannoo, a number of cartoons from the collection of the author and the IFFM are exhibited.
In the large cabinet the museum displays a number of original two- and three-dimensional caricatures, in the corridor hang eight large reproductions of famous caricatures.

 

Paul Vandamme is a belgian historian, history teacher and passionate collector of historic cartoons. In only a few years time he collected an impressive amount of WWI cartoon and caricature books, drawings, magazines and postcards from all over the world. In the book, a  reference work, about 400 historic cartoons tell and illustrate the history of WWI. The army of WWI cartoonists, armed with pencil and paper,  fought their battle to influence, to inform, to satirize, to boost morale... Magazines such as Simplicissimus (Germany), La Baïonnette (France), Punch (GB), Die Muskete (Austria), etc. published thousands of cartoons.

I've started reading the book, and I must say this an outstanding reference work. In about 10 chapters and 200 topics, the author tells the story of The Great War, starting in 1870 with the French-Prussian war and ending with the Pact of Locarno (1925). The drawings that  illustrate each topic have been selected with great care and fit perfect in the topic's context.  One notices that the author has spent lots of time in research. The author also explains the drawings in a comprehensive way. One of the most difficult things when I look at historic caricatures or cartoons, is trying to understand the drawings and their meaning. The author has done a good job and gives the reader a good insight in the different topics and cartoons.

Paul  was so kind to send us an English translation of some pages.  An English
translation of the book isn't available yet.

The book is available in Dutch and let's hope there will follow an English translation.

Maarten Vansteenberghe, publisher general non-fiction, Lannoo

Paul Vandamme signing the book I just bought...

many people attending the publication

one of the large reproductions hanging in the IFF corridor

Learn more:
Uitgeverij Lannoo
Standaard Boekhandel

Fashion (and cartoons) - Alexsandro Palombo - Vanitas, Inshallah

This week I received a press release:



Available in the best bookstores as from March 2009

aleXsandro Palombo
VANITAS, INSHALLAH
XI years of dreamlike color

The fashion world portrayed in the incisive and brilliant illustrations of aleXsandro Palombo in a poetic and colorful universe, surreal and provocative in a new book in the series "Chic et Simpliciter" from Hazard Editions. The first catwalk-book ever.
VANITAS, INSHALLAH is a veritable illustrated tale, extravagant and provocative right from the title. The main character of this adventure is Vanitas , a clown who lives with joy and passion, between dreams, memories and reality. He loves travelling, art and culture. His gaze is able to capture the vices and virtues of our society and unmask the misdeeds of our times. His stories are full of irony and provocative, poetic and moving, making you both smile and think. His duty is to distribute dreams, yet he will have to face life’s snares.

The world of fashion becomes the set imagined by the author which brings together characters and celebrities, thoughts and surreal hypotheses, precognitions and fantasies, in a series of incisive and exceptional illustrations characterized by an amazing sense of colour.

This publication is a fascinating fresco of our society, its passions, its hopes and disappointments, its amusing aspects, its suffering and its contradictions. It shows Palombo, the story-teller and illustrator of anecdotes, who uses the simple language of dreams, of fervid and captivating fantasies, original and profound, while always retaining that ungraspable and unique element which characterizes the author’s style. A journey between the real and surreal which opens our minds and takes us into the poetical imagination of one of the most original and surprising artists of the Italian and international scene.




Learn more:
Alexandro Palombo biography.
For the fashion lovers... a Fashion Week blog.. another world.

Humoro Sapiens by Diego Herrera alias Yayo

Last week Jean-Marie informed me about Humoro Sapiens, the new cartoon book by the Canadian cartoonist Yayo (born 1961).
Yayo, also known as Diego Herrera, is a Colombian-born cartoonist and humor illustrator, residing in Montreal. His work is published in magazines, newspapers, and children’s books in Canada and the U.S.

Jean-Marie describes the book as follows:
A great blend of poetry and surrealism in life that offers top quality humor.
I agree and I'm pleased once again to know another excellent cartoonist.

Humoro Sapiens will be available in France through Seuil in February 2009. The book costs 14 euros.
Here's is small selection of cartoons in Humoro Sapiens. Other cartoons "the best of Yayo" are on the site of l'Actualité.



This is a list of Yayo's cartoon books:

• Diego Herrera. Humor Grafico, Centro Colombo Americano, Bogotá, 1989

• Le carton de Yayo, Éditions du Phylactère, Montréal, 1990

• Zoo-illogique , Éditions du Phylactère, Montréal ,1991

• Rêverire, Zone Convective, [Québec] , 1996

• Humoro Sapiens, Les 400 Coups, Montréal, 2008

You can read a recent interview with Yayo on Talleen Hacikyan's blog.
Thanks to Yayo for his kind permission and Jean-Marie for providing the data.

Learn more:
Yayo biography and bibliograhy
Yayo makes us smile: interview with Yayo
Book review (French)
Yayo exposition

Humoro Sapiens cartoonbook file:

New Daumier book

The Frenchman Honore Daumier (1808-1879) can be regarded as the father of the presscartoon. He drew thousands of lithographs published in daily newspapers and satirical journals. He created art that was close to the people, art about everyday life and politics that was universally understood. But he was also admired by the intellectuals and artists of his time: Baudelaire, Balzac, Hugo ... In France ,at that time, there was no room for free speech and censorship was established. In 1832, Daumier was condemned to 6 months of prison for his drawing 'Gargantua' (cover of the new book).


Nowadays there are still many prints of the work of Daumier in circulation. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant caricaturists ever.

Time to present the new book. (thanks Saskia, for the information!)

There are coffee table books, there are research books difficult to digest for mortals without a PhD in art history, and there are those few and rare highly informative and well researched books on Daumier which offer in-depth information and non repetitive, or little knownbackground research with just a few pictures. Recently, a new book appeared on the market by Michel Melot, Art historian and former director at the Bibliothèque publique d'information at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, who still holds numerous important positions in French cultural life. The book's title is:

DAUMIER, L'Art et la République, ISBN 978-2-251-44339-3, published by Les Belles Lettres/Archimbaud, Paris 2008

It guides the Daumier amateur through new aspects of the rather unsuccessful 1878 Drouot exhibition, provocatively calling the first section of his book 'Comment Daumier devint un inconnu', a question certainly worth researching. The second section describes Daumier's career from the early beginning up to his time at the 'Boulevard', again a fascinating and in many aspects new research. The third and final section deals with Daumier's life as a celebrity, especially the period after his death and his acceptance beyond the borders of France.

To read such a fresh and in-depth publication about Daumier and his oeuvre is unusual and we would like to highly recommended it to all Daumier friends, be they collectors, Museum curators or University teachers. In this moment there exists only one caveat: you need to be able to read French. An English or German translation in this moment is unfortunately not yet available.
(sources: Lilian & Dieter Noack, Daumier Register, Scherper nr.3-sept2006)

A date to keep in mind: 2008 is the DAUMIER YEAR ! Activities, exhibitions and events around the globe to celebrate Daumier's 200th birthday.

Click here to go to the DAUMIER Website. There you will find complete information about Daumier's life and work, like: a detailed biography, a bibliography with more than 1'600 titles, a portrait-gallery, information about Le Charivari and other newspapers, an exhibition of fakes and reprints, a list of more than 700 Daumier exhibitions, Daumier News and Discussion Forum, an exhibition of unpublished Daumier prints, to name but a few topics.
You can visit the DAUMIER-REGISTER, the digital work catalogue which gives you all the details, background information and pictures for all of the 4'000 Daumier prints.

New books December 2007

When there are new cartoon books to be published let me know. I'll put a link to your site. Of course when you send us a copy of your new book we will publish a review on the blog and make a cartoonbook file for our gallerie.

This month, we got a mail from Pierre Balouhey (France) for his new book:
"2007, Chaussettes"
- 46 drawings that appeared in Le Mémorial de l'Isère, The Guardian and Métro.