Peter van Straaten (25 March 1935 – 8 December 2016) was a Dutch

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

. He is best known for his

political cartoon A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine a ...

s as well as his

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip '' Vader & Zoon'', which ran in ''

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

'' for almost two decades.

Biography

Van Straaten was born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

in the Netherlands on 25 March 1935.Paul Steenhuis,
Tekenaar Peter van Straaten (81) overleden
, ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'', 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016. His elder brother Gerard also became a well-known illustrator. Van Straaten studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and started his career on 26 July 1958 for the Dutch newspaper ''

'', where he illustrated news reports.Peter van Straaten stopt in Parool
NOS, 25 februari 2012. Later he also drew political cartoons. From 1968 to 1987 he published a daily comic strip, '' Vader & Zoon'' (''Father and Son''), which became a huge success and inspired a television series. Van Straaten is best known for his

gag cartoon A gag cartoon (also panel cartoon, single-panel cartoon, or gag panel) is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech b ...

s based on observational comedy. His series ''Dagelijks Leven'' (''Daily Life'') depicts people in amusing recognizable everyday situations. The series ''Doe ik 't goed?'' (''Am I doing well?'') centered on gags about people having sex and men usually having trouble satisfying their female partners. Between 1984 and 2000 he drew a weekly comic strip about a single woman called ''Agnes''. His work was featured in comic books and a yearly calendar, ''Peter's Zeurkalender'' (''Peter's Nagging Calendar'', a pun on the word ''zeuren'' (to nag) and ''scheurkalender'' (a calendar where one can rip off one page a day to read a joke)). Van Straaten's cartoons have been published in ''Het Parool'', ''

Humo ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

'', ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'' and ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magaz ...

''.

Later life and death

In February 2012, Van Straaten announced that he was no longer drawing cartoons for ''Het Parool''. Two years later, in July 2014, he also cancelled his weekly cartoon for ''Vrij Nederland''. He announced his retirement on 2 August 2016 and died four months later on 8 December in Amsterdam, at the age of 81.Bas Schuddeboom & Kjell Knudde,
Peter van Straaten
, ''Lambiek'', 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.

Awards

He won the 1983

Stripschapprijs The Stripschapprijs is a Dutch prize awarded to comic creators for their entire body of work. It is awarded annually by the ''Stripschap'', the Dutch Society of comics fans, since 1974. The prize is non-pecuniary, but is considered the most import ...

and also won the five times, in 1994, 1997, 2003, 2011 and 2016. In 2006, he received the

Gouden Ganzenveer The Gouden Ganzenveer ("Golden goose quill") is a Dutch cultural award initiated in 1955, given annually to a person or organization of great significance to the written and printed word. Recipients are selected by an academy of people from the cul ...

, in 2009 he was appointed a Knight in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

and in 2010 he won the Jacobus van Looyprijs.Expositie Peter van Straaten in Haarlem
NU.nl, 27 augustus 2010 He received an honorary doctorate from

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

in 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Straaten, Peter Van 1935 births 2016 deaths Dutch cartoonists Dutch caricaturists Dutch comics artists Dutch editorial cartoonists Dutch illustrators Dutch humorists Dutch satirists Dutch erotic artists Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion People from Arnhem Winners of the Stripschapsprijs