Cartoonfestival Knokke-Heist forever

I started collecting cartoon books in 1980. My first catalogue was the Knokke-Heist Cartoonfestival catalogue of 1980. This weekend was the opening weekend of the annual exhibition (June 22 - Sept.28-2008).

Collectors' Item: the first catalogue (1962-1963)

Since the beginning there was a catalogue. First it was UNICEF, later, since 1967, Davidsfonds released its "Kartoenboek", later named "cartoonbook" and "Cartoons".
The International Cartoonfestival Knokke-Heist has a long history. In 1962, the commune Heist organised the first "Salon van de humor" (Salon of humour). From 1964, the an annual festival, is organised in Knokke. The Cartoonfestival became known in more than 60 countries and every year more than 800 cartoonists send over 4,000 cartoons for the annual contest. It's one of the top cartoon events in the world.

I brought together for you all the catalogues since the beginning. A small history of the Knokke-Heist catalogues...
click here...

Toonpool.com - YouTube for cartoons

Last week I discovered, via the blog of Ben Heine, the Toonpool.com site. Toonpool.com is a recent Web2.0 site that should interest all of us. It's YouTube (or Picasa, Flicr..) for cartoon lovers and cartoonists! I even heard that there is a project going on that projects the cartoons in the tube (metro) of Berlin.
At the time I write this article, 1044 users and 559 cartoonists already signed in.


Toonpool.com is a German (Berlin) initiative and I truly recommend you to join it for free. You can sign in as user or cartoonist. Cartoonists can upload their cartoons and show them to the world. You can rate, comment, bookmark cartoons and cartoonists, you have an open diary, can link to your blog or website and there is a discussion forum.

I find it a splendid site and it's a way to discover cartoonists and their work.
But let's not forget that, despite all the digital possibilities, a good cartoon book is certainly not to be missed!

Take a look yourself and discover on Toonpool, for example:
Pawel Kuczynski (Poland)
Ben Heine (Belgium)
Yu Liang (China)
Sergei Elkin (Russia)
Constantin Ciosu (Romania)

and many, many others...

Learn more:
Article about ToonPool.com in Stern - in German
English translation (with Google Tranlations)

Assembled Cartoons by Roger Penwill

When I first looked in the book ‘Assembled Cartoons' , without knowing whom Roger Penwill was, spontaneously came to me the idea: "Yes, that’s why I collect cartoon books". A look at this collection just fun, but certainly not trivial, gag cartoons gives me a good feeling. The same feeling as when someone tells me a pleasant joke.

The desert island cartoon: fresh original ideas
for a concept that has been done to death

Roger Penwill is a professional cartoonist and humorous illustrator whose cartoons have been published and exhibited worldwide and even translated into Chinese.
The cartoons in the book are all digital artwork, exept one that’s an ink pen original. I found it without cheating! The book is a selection of previously exhibited, published and award winning cartoons.

At the time this book was produced, Roger was General Presdent of FECO. The slogan of Feco is ‘drawing the world together’ With these cartoons Roger Penwill succeeds wonderfully to obtain this goal.
A booklet certainly not to lack in your collection!
or as Tim Harries says:
“This is a well put together book - the cartoons are very well reproduced - and certainly worth picking up. “


The book is available and it costs 6.95 pounds sterling + postage. Potential purchasers can contact Roger Penwill at roger@penwill. com

Thanks to mr Penwill for his kind permission.

Read more:
Roger Penwill Cartoons – the site of Roger Penwill
Picture of Roger Penwill and Mike Lynch
Review by Tim Harries
The Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain

'Les Parisiennes de Kiraz' et Carla Bruni

Kiraz is born in Cairo in 1923. There, he first worked as a political satirist, in a style close to David Low, during WW II. He moved to France then, from 1948, he changed his style and published humorous cartoons in various French papers & magazines, especially in “Jours de France” where he created his “Parisiennes” characters, on 1959. These modern and fashionable young women brought him fame as well in France as abroad.
Half a century years later, The Musée Carnavalet, the Paris museum about Paris, is holding an exhibition showing a large body of his work (open from 14 May to 21 September 2008). This first major retrospective of his work includes 130 pieces: original cartoons (like the ones he is publishing, from 1970, in “Playboy” magazine), some paintings that have never been seen, sketches, photographs, advertising posters and press clippings.
This book also contains his self-biography, and a lot of information about his work




Kiraz is well-known for his instantly recognisable style of cartoons, especially his series of impossibly tall and thin young feminine characters called 'Les Parisiennes'. Here they are, before and after wedding, sometimes completely brainless, sometimes wickedly satirical, but ever so true and funny. Kiraz is a chronicler of contemporary mores and Paris fashions.
One must mention this book is prefaced by Carla Bruni, the actual France first lady.

Her last sentence is: < “Les Parisiennes” are the frivolous and timeless Parisian women, so I wish courage to their future husbands.> Well thought…
Kiraz has published fourteen other cartoon books, and one is dedicated to his advertising posters for the sugar substitute ‘Canderel’.



Learn more:
KIRAZ Artworks - Site officiel
Bibliographie of Kiraz
Cartoonbook file 'Les Parisiennes de Kiraz' - catalogue de l'exposition au Musée Carnavalet

Cartoonbook file 'Les Parsiennes se marient'

Unbelievable! Cartoons about men and religion

In Holland, our cartoon friends have a cartoon festival too. Each year a new catalogue is published and most catalogues are still available.

Pavel Constantin - Romania

The 15th edition (2007) theme was 'men and religion' and the catalogue is again a nice collection of cartoons about a sometimes contested topic.
The book's introduction states it that way:

Is our neighbors' lawn always greener than ours? Is their house bigger? Do they have a nicer car or more pleasant children? Are we jealous? Do we like their culture? Can we laugh with them?
Are they religious? Is one religion better than another one? Is our faith the only thrue one? Religion, can we really have fun with it? Cartoonists from different countries, from different cultures with different religions, they do. The "true belief" is not easy to hurt.

Lubomir Kotrha - Slowakia

A good cartoonist does not follow any intention to hurt or insult. He provokes, reacts, comments, makes us think and makes us smile. That's his job.
In this book you find a unique collection of cartoons around the theme of men and religion.

Unbelievably funny!

Thanks to Peter Nieuwendijk for his kind permission.

Ali Miraee - Iran

Learn more:
Cartoonbooksfile 'Ongelooflijk'

www.cartoonboeken.nl

Cartoonbooks about books 2: Le Savoir Rire

After Ronald Searle's 'Slightly Foxed but Still Desirable',here's another 'cartoonbook about books'.

It’s a funny collection of cartoons (without caption) about books and reading, drawn by well known European cartoonists (+ the American Virgil Partch)
This book was offered as a gift by the publisher. It was probably reprinted several times, as there are soft cover copies too. Although old actually, it is not too rare to find this anthology. As I’m collecting from ages, I quite often noticed that small size books are pleasant items.

Learn more:
Cartoonbooks file 'Le Savoir Rire'

The Wolf by Sgt. Leonard Sansone

A few months ago, I bought this book online for 1 euro I guess. I haven’t many ‘vintage’ cartoon books , I usually collect non-text cartoons, but ‘1945’ made me think of WWII and maybe the book could surprise me. It did! It really breathes the atmosphere of American GI life: in action, in the mess and most of all, in relation to girls…



This is what I found in the book (Copyright 1945 by Leonard Sansone)
“Along with the jeep, the robot bomb and Spam, the wolf in GI clothing will become one of the historical mementos of World War II. The most amusing testimonial to this wartime phenomenon is a dead-pan cartoon character who has been entertaining serviceman. His name is The Wolf. His face is familiar. The brain child of sgt. Leonard Sansone, The Wolf has become a veteran soldier in the 18 Army months. He has had the complete training program, has been shipped overseas and has seen action. But his attitude toward a two-day pass remains essentially the same.



Sgt. Leonard Sansone (1917- 1963, USA) has lightened the load for millions of G.I. guys and gals. He was working for the Yankee dollar in a New York ad agency’s art department when the roof fell in a Pearl Harbor. A few weeks later the government offered him a new smock if he would come to Fort Belvoir. After basic training he drew The Wolf as a one-shot cartoon for a local camp publication – the first appearance of that all-too-human character. The idea caught on and Sansone was syndicating his lupine glom for world-wide Camp Newspaper Service. Sansone insists that The Wolf is strictly a product of hearsay and observation. But to all working wolves and corner coyotes he wishes “Happy howling”.



Learn more:
You can still find this book at Amazon.com
Cartoonbooks file 'The Wolf'

Please Mister Postman... is there a letter in your bag for me?

(sounds like The Carpenters)
As I am collecting cartoon books and catalogues, I try to preserve the envelope from the books I've received. You can call it a kind of spin-off of cartoonbook collecting...
We can't live without e-mail any more nowadays, but there ain't nothing but real mail!

Here's a selection of some cartoonbooks-containing envelopes mr. Postman had in his bag for me:

From France:

From China:

From Azerbaijan (the biggest) :

From Iran:

From France:

From Korea:

Pinochet + Mother Theresa = Op De Beeck ?

What do Mother Theresa and Augusto Pinochet have in common? Of course nothing, but they are neighbourgs at the Jan Op De Beeck exhibition in the ECC Kruishoutem.

Jan is a top-class caricaturist, even known more abroad than in his own country Belgium.
Many of Jan Op De Beeck's caricatures were published in the Belgian press. He won many prizes both at home and abroad and is regularly invited to give master classes in caricature.
In 1989 he published his first book 'Bekketrekkers from Belgenland', in 1993 he harvested a lot of success with 'The Last Testament of the Belgians'. ' The Art of the caricature', which in 1996 went to press was even in published in a Korean and Chinese translation. In 2006 'Famous Corpes' was published. For details on this books, you can visit Jan's website.

I have a copy of his book, published by Glénat in 1993 'Het laatste testament der Belgen' (the last testament of the Belgians).

Jacques Schepmans describes how the unfortunate 'Belgian ship' is tossed to and fro on the waves of political storms.


Jan provides in this book over 50 depicting portraits of Belgian politicians.
Yes, he's a great caricaturist!


Some other pics of the exhibition (March 21 - June 15, 2008 ECC Kruisthoutem):

Pierre Ballouhay, Ro Burms and Jan Op De Beeck

Great caricatures!

Learn more:
www.opdebeeck.com
Cartoonbook file Het Laatste Testament der Belgen

About cartoon book databases and other Librarythings - part 1

When your book collection grows and grows, there has to be a way to organise all these books. For that reason I use Microsoft Access to arrange my books. Once you know this program you can do anything with the data: make reports, lists and even “cartoonbook files”.
My cartoon book friend Jean-Marie uses files he makes in Microsoft Word. Although Word is not a database program, he manages to make nice and well-ordened files.
Recently Saskia introduced me to “Librarything(Beta)”: a free web 2.0 application to share your books with others. It’s amazing! I experimented and created an ‘account' and a ‘group’for the ECC Cartoonbooksclub and myself. Learning by doing, is the best method to get involved…
Click here to see my first books on the web. You can easily change the language.
You can read here what other finds about Librarything. Here are 2 of the reactions I read:

"If you love books, and love people who love books, LibraryThing is for you. Start by using the service to catalog your book collection: Tag your books by topic, share your catalog with others, and then endlessly browse the titles that they have on their shelves. The utterly book obsessed can add the LibraryThing widget to a blog to show visitors what they have been reading lately."
"Have you heard of LibraryThing yet? For book lovers, it will surely be the Coolest Thing Ever. For obsessive catalogers, it will be even cooler. As a making-book-connections tool, LibraryThing will certainly surpass Amazon..."


Maybe Librarything can be a way for us cartoon book collectors to share (parts of) our collection. To be honest, I must say that my books are quite ‘rare’. There are thousands of people having ‘Lord of the Rings’, but there are not so much of them having good cartoon books…
I’d like your opinion , so feel free to comment and make suggestions!