Olympic Humor cartoons by Blachon and Serre

The Olympic Games 2012 in London are 100% English, but the cartoon books below are draw by 100% French cartoonists.

If humor was an olympic discipline,  the French Roger Blachon (1941-2008) and Claude Serre (1938-1998) would certainly have earned gold medals.

Roger Blachon was one of the greatest sport cartoonists ever... enjoy some cartoons of him to come into the spirit of the olympic games... (Mehr Spass Beim Sport, Eichborn, 1992, ISBN 3-8218-2118-3/ and Dessins Sportifs Tome1 , Glénat Humour, 2002, ISBN 2-7234-4035-4)

The cartoon above is the first cartoon of Blachon published in 1985 in 'l Equipe Magazine. He got some bad reactions such as 'I find your sence of humor not funny at all' and 'it's scandalous  to publish such a drawing in an interesting magazine...>' 

Of course, we cartoon lovers, know better...

In 'Le Sport', (Glénat, 1977, ISBN 2-7234-0071-9) Claude Serre, drew some other great sports cartoons...

Of course, the Belgian cartoonists must not be forgotten. Please read the article on the ECC blog about Olympic cartoons in the Belgian House at het 2012 Olympics in London.
You can admire some great cartoons by Cost, Jan Dufour, Nicola Hendrickx, etc...


Learn more:
Roger Blachon on our blog + links
Claude Serre on our blog + links
London 2012 – Olympic cartoons in the Belgium house

Cartoon book exhibition

In September our local library is putting the cartoon in the picture. There will be an exhibition of drawings by Karl Meersman and I was asked to present some cartoon books to the public. The big task is to choose which books I'll put in the exhibition. The place is limited, and the book selection will be tough.

The idea of promoting cartoons in libraries is fine. In Flanders (Belgium) where I live most local libraries have were high quality standards,especially of course the library of Wevelgem ;-) ... and Kruishoutem.

I'm curious how cartoons are presented in libraries in other places and countries. Please feed the discussion on our facebook page! What kind of cartoon books do you find in your town's library?

Tour de France 2012 - what I saw...

Stage 2 of the Tour 2012 finished in Tournai, Belgium yesterday, 2 July 2012. I had never seen the Tour 'live' in my life and Tournai is only 35 km from my home... so I got to be there to watch one of the biggest sports events in the world. As always... there is a cartoon link as you'll notice further in this post.

Tournai, 3 km from the finish line - 2,5 hours before The Tour arrives
in town

One hour before The Tour passes, the Publicity Caravan arrives...

To my surprice I spotted drawings on the Vittel (a water brand) publicity vehicles that looked  familiar to me... and yes, I was right: those were the style of the great French cartoonist Roger Blachon (1941 - 2008).

Roger Blanchon style publicity drawings

Some cyclist cartoons by the great Blachon published in the "Dessins Sportfs" series:

This publicity caravan really is crazy!

And finally the cyclists passed by.... in a few seconds!

attention, attention... course!

The Tour de France: a circus!

And the winner was... Fabian Cancellara!

Learn more:
cartoonist Roger Blachon on our blog (previous posts)
download The Vittel Press Kit 2010  (pdf) - with illustrations and cartoons by Roger Blachon

Tour de France 2012

La caravane publicitaire du Tour de France

Anti-war cartoons and a visit to In Flanders Fields

The In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres (Belgium)  reopened its doors on 11 June 2012. The ECC prepares an exhibition on WWI and war cartoons in 2014, so my visit to the museum last monday was an excellent start to feel the atmosphere of war and all the horrible things that brings along a war.

War horse...

I climbed the bell tower and had a superb
view over the region

Yes, I have an eye for caricatures. This one is exhibited
in the museum.

and this object too.

"The City of Peace Ypres and the In Flanders Fields Museum conserve the link with the war past. Because it is important for those who want to speak about peace and war today."

If there is one cartoon book, that shares this noble aim, it's "The Great Anti-War Cartoons" by Yoe Craig (Fantagraphics Books, USA, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60699-150-3).


"A collection of stunning artwork spanning the centuries and the globe, from titans of the art and cartooning world. Together, these cartoons provide a powerful testament to the old adage "The pen is mightier than the sword."
For centuries, cartoonists have used their pens to fight a war against war, translating images of violent conflict into symbols of protest. Noted comics historian Craig Yoe brings the greatest of these artists together in one place, presenting the ultimate collection of anti-war cartoons. Together, these cartoons provide a powerful testament to the old adage, “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and remind us that so often in the last couple of centuries, it was the editorial cartoonist who could say the things his fellow newspapermen and women only dreamed of, enlightening and rallying a nation against unjust aggression.
Readers of The Great Anti-War Cartoons will find stunning artwork in a variety of media and forms (pen-and-ink, wash, watercolor, woodcut — single images and sequential comic strips) from the hands of Francisco Goya to Art Young, from Robert Minor to Ron Cobb, and from Honoré Daumier to Robert Crumb, as well as page after page of provocative images from such titans as James Montgomery Flagg, C.D. Batchelor, Edmund Sullivan, Boardman Robinson, William Gropper, Maurice Becker, George Grosz, Gerald Scarfe, Bill Mauldin, Art Spiegelman and many more (see below for a complete list of contributors). The book also includes an Introduction by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus and a Foreword by Library of Congress curator Sara W. Duke.
This book is neither ideological nor parochial: The cartoons range across the political spectrum from staunch conservative flag-wavers to radicals and hippies, and span two centuries and the entire globe (Australia, Russia, Poland, France...). But their message remains timeless and universal.
16 color and 96 black-and-white illustrations" (source: Amazon.com )

 

Learn more:
In Flanders Fields Museum
The Great Anti-War Cartoons - reviews on Fantagraphics Books (with PDF-excerpt)
Yoe Craig - pre publishing info (with some pics)

Kamagurka presents Kamarama (Bruges Belgium 1.05 to 01.08.2012)

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to have a guided visit to the Kamarama exhibition in Bruges by the great Kamagurka (Luc Zeebroek, Nieuwpoort, Belgium, 1956)  himself .  In Belgium and abroad, Kamagurka the cartoonist is famous for his absurd and shocking cartoons (Humo, Hara Kiri, ... ).

You can see some pictures of the guided tour here.

In the exhibition we learn to know 'Kama' the artist and Kama the painter. I really was impressed by some very colorful paintings exhibited in the 'ateljee'. Visit the links below to learn more about Kamagurka.

For those who like the cartoons by Kamagurka there is the Holy Kama. (ISBN 978-90-5856-386-6, Stichting Kunstboek, 2011)

"It weighs a kilo. It contains no less than 896 pages. With almost as many cartoons. It comes in a hardback edition with gold foil. And each page is gilt-edged.

It belongs on every bedside table, in every hotel and motel room, in every toilet, at every brothel, at every airport, at every summit meeting between Frau Merkel and Monsieur Sarkozy, in every jail, in the White House, in every bar, in every museum, in the Vatican and on every pulpit: The Holy Kama. From Bruges to Beijing - and Beyond.

 

Holy, holy, holy cow, this book has turned out truly magnificent! The Holy Kama contains almost 900 pages with as many cartoons: the result of a strict selection of ten years's worth of tireless drawing. The criteria: translatability, timelessness and comic quality." (source: Kamagurka, Blog )

 

Learn more:

Kamagurka.eu

Kamarama 

Kamagurka on Wikipedia