Kurt Caesar (also known as Cesare Avai or Caesar Away, true name Kurt Kaiser; 30 March 1906 – 12 July 1974) was a German-Italian painter, journalist and comic book artist. He was born at

Montigny-lès-Metz Montigny-lès-Metz (, literally ''Montigny near Metz''; , (1940-1944) ''Montenich'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is the largest suburb of the city of Metz, and is adjacent to it on the west. P ...

, Alsace-Lorraine, to German father. He studied Engineering in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, but later he moved to the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin; in the meantime he had a boxing career which led him to win a German title. In 1929 he became correspondent for a magazine in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

and collaborated for several German magazines; his journalist career led him to travel in Europe and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. After his marriage he moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, where he started to work at successful comics, such as Romano il Legionario, a popular nationalist character published in ''

Il Vittorioso ''Il Vittorioso'' (Italian for "The Victorious") was a weekly comic magazine published in Italy from 1937 to 1966. History and profile The magazine was born on the initiative of the Azione Cattolica association as a catholic response to the secu ...

''. He also drew "Aeroporto Z" and "Will Sparrow" for ''

Paperino e altre avventure Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American Pekin, white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shi ...

''. During World War II Caesar was in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

and Spain, and, in 1941, again in Africa as interpreter for

Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

. Captured by the English, he returned to Italy after the end of the conflict. Here he continued to work at ''Il Vittorioso'' until, in 1952, he was called as cover artist for the science-fiction magazine '' I Romanzi di Urania'', for which he realized some 170 works until 1958, when he was replaced by

Carlo Jacono Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

. Caesar then moved to other popular magazine-book series for the same publisher,

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

, '' I Gialli'' and '' Segretissimo''. Other series he worked to include the unsuccessful Italian science fiction magazines '' Oltre il Cielo'' and ''Cronache del Futuro'', and the German ''

Perry Rhodan ''Perry Rhodan'' is a West Germany, West German/Germany, German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. Having sold approximately two billi ...

''. He died by infarction in 1974 in his house at

Bracciano Bracciano is a small town in the Italian region of Lazio, northwest of Rome. The town is famous for its volcanic lake ( Lago di Bracciano or "Sabatino", the eighth largest lake in Italy) and for a particularly well-preserved medieval castle Cast ...

References

External links

March and fight of the German Africa Corps in 1941: Drawings by Kurt Caesar
more than 90 drawings, at AllWorldWars.Com 1906 births 1974 deaths People from Montigny-lès-Metz People from Alsace-Lorraine 20th-century German painters 20th-century Italian male artists German male painters 20th-century Italian painters Italian male painters German comics artists Italian comics artists German male journalists German journalists German male writers {{Europe-comics-creator-stub