"The Eighties - A Decade of Extremes" is an exhibition that presents a nuanced picture of the eighties with all its contrasts, cheerful and playful, but also hard and radical.
"The exhibition also recalls social and political events through a variety of materials, ranging from drawings by 'political cartoonist' GAL, vinyl records, magazines and movie excerpts."
GAL (Gerard Alsteens, °1940) is the éminence grise of the Belgian political cartoonists. Knack Magazine (2016,nr 23) published a 5 pages long interview with GAL.
In his cartoons you evidently experience his social engagement and contesting against everything what's wrong in the world.
The cartoonist is right when he states about his political cartoons of more than 30 years ago:
"I could publish them again today. I only need to replace the heads."
I looked in my bookcase and found this little book: "AAA...! 75 politieke tekeningen van GAL. (75 political drawings, 1977).
In fact it is not a book, but an edition of "kreatief" , a literary and art magazine.
If you watch the cartoons below, drawn in the seventies, you understand why you easily can change them into contemporary political drawings...
everything is possible again...
"le defi schaarbeekois"
You can visit the expo in the M HKA Museum in Antwerp from June 17 until August 7. More about GAL on our blog: GAL
In Lille, 2 weeks ago, I accidentally found this small book: "Cahier de l'art mineur: W.Hogarth" (association LIMAGE, issn 0339-3429,1977, 54p.). It's a part of a series of "notebooks" (cahiers) about graphic artists as W.Busch, Steinlen, Albert Robida, etc.)
The book is a French introduction to the art of the great William Hogarth.
"William Hogarth (10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects". Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".[1]" (Wikipedia)
Hogarth is one of the pioneers in caricature and fortunately there is an incredible amount of information available on the internet.
Gin Lane - 1750-51 - Etching and line engraving, 359 x 341 mm
"Among the strong didactic pieces by Hogarth is Gin Lane, his graphic lecture on the evils of drinking gin. "Idleness, poverty, misery and distress, which drives even to madness and death" - this is the price one pays for indulgence in this poison. The companion print, Beer Street, encourages the use of this beverage, for, as Hogarth said, it is an "invigorating liquor" and on this street "all is joyous and thriving. Industry and jollity go hand in hand." No modern copywriter could produce a more persuasive argument.
In most of Hogarth's plates one does not look for expert handling, for he used his craft to tell a story rather than to demonstrate a technical skill - which he did not, in fact, possess. We "read" his pictures. We must examine every section of the plate, as we would read every page of a book to know everything that happens.
In the lower left-hand corner is the notorious gin cellar. Over the entrance is an inscription: Drunk for a Penny/Dead Drunk for Two Pence/Clean Straw for Nothing. On the lower right is a cadaverous itinerant ballad seller who also retails gin and obviously has imbibed more than he has sold. In the background, the buildings are empty or toppling - the area is rapidly becoming a slum. In one exposed room a man has hanged himself. In the right middle section there is some gaiety, some fighting, and much drinking.
In front of a pawnshop on the other side of the square, a carpenter is trying to pledge his tools, a housewife her pots. Their receipts will, of course, go for gin. The most horrible scene is in the foreground, where a woman, breasts exposed and a drunken grin on her face, reaches for a pinch of snuff. She has lost her grip on her child, who falls over the railing to the pavement below. Hogarth's point is well made."
In 2014, there will be in the ECC an exhibition of cartoons of the Great War (WWI 1914-1918). One of the artists we must show is the great Italian political cartoonist Giuseppe Scalarini (1873-1948).
Yesterday Fernand and I met in Brussels with the kind Nando Levi and his daughter Noela and Antonio Garonzi. Scalarini was the grandfather of Nando. Nando told us a lot of interesting facts about his grandfather. There will be an article in Scherper about this meeting.
Antonio Garonzi, Fernand, Nando Levi, Noela Levi, Jan
We were given a well documented file and a Scalarini catalogue of outstandig quality: "Il veleno della storia".
Hereunder are some pictures of this catalogue. (the pictures are taken on the train..)
Antonio is the webmater of the official Scalarini website and he is proud to announce that the website soon will be available in English too. Visit the site to learn all about the great artist.
On YouTube, you can wath this videos about the work of Scalarini:
35 years after the publication of 'L'union fait la farce' by Jo Gérard and Daniel Polet, there's a brand new history of Belgium in cartoons. The books is a magnificent display of the history of our little country in caricatures. Historians Paul Van Damme (1959) and Stijn Van de Perre (1966) did an excellent job.
The first time I got informed of the book was when I saw the presentation in the news on television a time ago. Our members of parliament all got this book and some politicians were allowed to choose their favourite cartoons.
This is the news item:
Zonder Woorden? Een geschiedenis van België in Spotprenten (Dutch, ISBN 978-90-289-5988-0, Pelckmans Le Cri édit., 49 eur)
Dr. Timothy Benson informed me about the renewed website of the UK Political Cartoon Society.
The site looks great and I'm fond of the Cartoon Books section. I'm feelling like a kid in a candy shop when I'm seeing all those nice cartoon books!
On the site you can admire and buy new and used cartoon books. Some are rare to find. Here are some examples of books (I own) you can buy on the site:
